A Visit to A Record Store, Upstate NY Edition

Sometimes you are lucky enough to  find a decent jazz vinyl score where you would least expect it. Here’s one for you. The other day I was scheduled to pick up The Lovely Mrs. JC at the Amtrak station in Hudson, NY, for a weekend in The Berkshires. I’ve already checked out the record store in Hudson more times than I can count, so not much interest there. But I happened to do a search of record stores in the region and, voila, there was a complete guide to them all, courtesy of an online publication called Chronogram. I have wanted to check out the one in Beacon, NY, called Hudson Valley Vinyl, because our friend and sometime-contributor Clifford has recommended it to me in the past. Not to mention that it is on the way when I drive up from Manhattan to The Berkshires. But, alas, timing hasn’t worked out, yet. In the meantime, I noted one of the stores was a new one, just opened in April of this year. It is called Spike’s Record Rack and it is in Catskill, NY, just 10 minutes or so from the Hudson Amtrak station. The listing in the article was quite sparse because the store was quite new when it was written, but I had some time to kill before The Lovely Mrs. JC’s train was due to arrive, so, I figured, what the hell. At the very least I would get a lovely drive over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and the Hudson River during the peak of fall foliage up here in the mountains.

I was not disappointed on any level. It was a sunny day, late afternoon, and the scenery was absolutely spectacular, particularly going over the bridge, where you could see the fall colors in all of their brilliance for miles and miles up and down the river. Then I crossed the bridge and made my way to Catskill, just a couple of miles south. I remember Catskill from about 25 or 30 years ago as a really depressed, downtrodden, sleepy town that seemed to be headed toward oblivion. I had known that Hudson, NY, had undergone a gentrification transformation over the past dozen years or so, but I had not realized that Catskill fell into a similar category, starting a bit more recently. What had been a really rundown town is now quite vibrant with nice restaurants, artsy shops, a bookstore, even a theater. And, of course, it’s very own record store. Again, referring to Chronogram, Catskill is becoming to Hudson, what Brooklyn is to Manhattan. That is, a bit cooler and a bit hipper, still on the rise, not quite settled yet, but brimming with potential.

Anyway, I was able to park across the street from Spike’s and walked into a small but very neat, tidy and well-organized shop. I noticed the jazz right away towards the back on my left. There, above the several rows of records, was a wall display that was quite impressive: Max Roach and Clifford Brown at Basin Street; a nice Stan Getz on Norgran, and a few others. To be honest, I didn’t make more than a mental note of the wall display because they were all records I already own. But, the fact that each one on the wall was a true original collectible gave me cause for encouragement. No Blue Notes, but, nobody’s perfect, right?

I started going through the bins, the “New Arrivals” first and I was amazed at how many original pressings were in the lot, one after another, a bunch of Cannonball Adderley’s on Riverside and Mercury, some Gene Ammons. Again, I didn’t take much note of specific records because I had them. But then I started coming upon a few records I didn’t have. I checked out the prices on the back, and, they were actually quite fair. Not cheap, but not outrageous the way you see in some stores, where the owner has no idea what he is doing with jazz and just takes the older volumes of the Goldmine Price Guide or the highest prices on Popsike and tries to milk each record for all it’s worth.

At this point, I decided it was time to introduce myself to the owner and mention, casually, that I happen to do a Web site focused on jazz records. The owner’s name, you guessed it, is Spike, and we got along quite well. Of course, he was there to sell records and I was there to buy records, so we had a bit of a shared mutual interest from the outset. But he seems like a very nice, self-effacing guy, excited to finally have his own store after years of selling records on eBay and other online venues. You can see that he has put a lot of care into the store and, in chatting, we realized we had at least one mutual acquaintance, Joe Schwab of Euclid Records in St. Louis and New Orleans.

Anyway, Spike and I were chatting as I was sifting through the bins, and he mentioned that he had purchased a big jazz collection earlier this year, including a bunch of beautiful, mint Blue Notes that he had already sold, some in the store, some on eBay. He said the owner of that collection stored the records on shelves that were protected by Plexiglass doors, so they were pristine, including the covers. It was obvious in going through the bins, that many of the records from the collection were still in the shop, judging by the condition of the original pressings. I mentioned to Spike that I thought his pricing was fair, not underselling, but not trying to oversell. He said he generally goes by Discogs, but sticks to the more conservative end. To me, this makes sense because it keeps potential buyers coming back to the store, knowing they can do better at the location than they can do on eBay. Of course, not everyone has easy access to Catskill, NY, so there is downside to that approach as well. But, I suppose, if I had a brick-and-mortar store, I would do the same, trying to build a base of loyal customers and becoming a bit of a destination for collectors who may be in Albany, The Berkshires or even New York City.

As we were talking and I was pulling records from the pins and starting to pile them up, Spike mentioned that he also had 10-inch LPs from the same collection, but he doesn’t put them out on the shelves because no one is really interested. Now, of course, this was music to my ears, so I asked if they were in the store and he reached under the counter and pulled out a pile of very nice, 10-inch records in excellent condition, Pacific Jazz, Clef, Norgran. There was even a James Moody 10-inch Blue Note, which I already own.

As I continued piling up records, I asked Spike if we could do some kind of package price and he seemed amenable, which sparked me to add a couple of records I might not have put into the pile. In going through this process, I realized that I still have something of a jones for some of the old Norgrans and Clefs. It’s not necessarily the artists, but the packaging, the heavy vinyl, the Stone Martin covers. I’d pick them up and think about putting them back, but then I’d look at the price and it was too tempting, so I’d just put them in the pile, Louis Bellson, Flip Phillips, Charile Ventura. Records that would be of little interest to me musically, but would give me great satisfaction, looking at the covers as I peruse my collection. I guess I’m a sucker. There were some nice Clef and Norgran records, including a 10-inch Stan Getz Plays, but the price was too much to spend just to have a duplicate copy, so I left it behind for someone else. No Lester Youngs, Birds or Billie Holidays to my recollection, for those I might have gobbled up, even to have duplicates.

In the end, I wound up with a pile of 15 records, many of which I just don’t have, including a couple of Gerry Mulligan 10-inchers, as well as the afore-mentioned Bellson and Phillips LPs. There was also an absolutely pristine copy of Mulligan Plays Mulligan on Prestige, and the price was right, so that also ended up in the pile, upgrading the copy in my collection. The 15 records are pictured at the beginning and end of this post and I thought I did well for myself and by Spike, paying an average of about $25 per record. He started off with fair prices and was very easy to deal with. I left behind a few records that I would have liked, but by this time it was getting late to pick up The Lovely Mrs. JC and, having spent nearly $400 on records, keeping her waiting was not a good idea.

Back home, I’ve listened to a few of the records at this point, about what would be expected. I put on the Flip Phillips Clef record and was kind of amazed at how poorly recorded it sounded. It was as if the musicians were in a room with the door closed and someone was taping it from outside the room. Certainly not a Van Gelder, but also not up to the standard I would normally expect from this label. By contrast, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the Ammons record on Moodsville. He was never a favorite of mine, but this album is all ballads and he certainly knows his way around a ballad. Not quite Dexter, but quite capable and listenable.

I am looking forward to listening to all of the records, and also to visiting again with my new friend Spike. I just found out that The Lovely Mrs. JC has a train ticket for two weeks from Friday so, if you want to beat me to the punch, you have two weeks to make your way to Catskill, New York.