Comments on: Feeding the Obsession, Yet Again

By: Lisa A Williams

Lisa A Williams — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 04:51:54 +0000

My grandfather left me EVERY Duke Ellington vinyl record he ever made. I have no idea how much this collection is worth or where to find out hoping you can help. I also have Louis Armstrong Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald has part of the collection. I even have some RCA Victor record albums. ( like a photo album only with records in them).

By: Have I Ever Mentioned That I Like Buying Jazz Records? – jazzcollector.com

Have I Ever Mentioned That I Like Buying Jazz Records? – jazzcollector.com — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 12:37:04 +0000

[…] Rack to see what I may have missed and that was the inspiration behind the second story I posted on Jazz Collector, Feeding the Obsession, Yet Again, in which I wound up reorganizing all of my 78-RPM records and my 10-inch records and generally […]

By: Woody

Woody — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 17:19:10 +0000

Clifford – You’re right, Greenpoint not Red Hook, they moved shortly before I left the 12th St Store.
Typical old school Manhattanite, all the Boroughs are Greek to me.

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:50:26 +0000

Greenpoint, not Red Hook… I’ve never gotten the full skinny on how Mike at 12th/BK was able to keep the name of Academy when they are in fact different operations now, but perhaps it doesn’t matter in the end.

By: Woody

Woody — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 20:38:04 +0000

In 2000 the Academy Cd store on 18th street decided to build a lP only store to handle the overflow of collections at that time at the corner of 4th Ave and 10th St. We opened in 2001 but by 2003 the back stock was still building up and the owners decided to open a location in Williamsburg.
In 2007 the 10th St landlord want to sell the building and wanted the commercial spaces empty so we moved to 12th St between 1st Ave and Avenue A. The Williamsburg store moved around 2015 to Red Hook as Williamsburg real estate prices became unreasonable.My favorite part of buying original owner jazz collections was the owners themselves. As a professional editorial photographer my MO had been to interpret/illustrate a person by analyzing their environment. When evaluating a jazz collection for purchase I could often tell what years the owner’s kids were in college by when the original pressings stopped and then restarted. I’ve seen large collections organized by artist, or label(the spines looked so cool) or even by date recorded or date purchased. Even though we’re all educated collectors here, we often buy the same record for totally different reasons. But in the end it’s all about the emotional attachment to the music.

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 20:09:39 +0000

yeah I don’t recall the name of the bookshop but it is long gone.

Gryphon was also really good for classical but they moved and no longer present a viable option, from what I understand.

Also missed from NYC in that era: Shrine, Other Music, The Sound Library, and there was a really good jazz store in Park Slope I’m forgetting the name of, which closed some years ago.

By: ILYA

ILYA — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 22:22:07 +0000

Thank you, Clifford!

Agree, I recall their classical section being equal or larger than everything else combined then. I still have quite a few things I picked up at the 18th St store in the late 90s. The move I referred to was probably due to a renovation at the 18th St. store. It stayed closed for way more than 6 months. Then they opened that location that I cannot ping exactly anymore; it was definitely not the current EV location as it was only a couple of doors east the avenue. Picked up an original 1960s unplayed French press of a Claude Nougaro LP (quite scarce) and a bunch of other stuff before moving away post 9/11.

There was a book shop right across the 18th from Academy that also consistently sold jazz records. Once, while on a lunch break stop, I picked up a first press of “Time Waits”. It was only VG but also it was only $3. And they had a 30% off sale on records that day.

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 21:27:17 +0000

yeah, so basically the EV store (and Brooklyn annex) is a different organization. The owners split off sometime in the early 00s.

the 18th store has been pretty fixed since the 90s though they sell a lot more jazz, rock, folk and whatnot these days, in addition to their classical holdings (which are the best in the city).

By: ILYA

ILYA — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 18:11:51 +0000

OK, Woody, I need a quick catch-up on my NYC knowledge. It’s been almost 20 years since I lived there…

In the late 90s, Academy Records used to be on W. 18th between 5th and 6th Aves. I worked on 5th and 28th St., so it was only a short walk. They did a long move to somewhere in the 4th and 12th St area (maybe I am a bit off here but it was definitely south of 18th and east of Broadway) over the winter in 2000-2001. Then, I think, they opened a location in Williamsburg as well.

Now, I just looked on Google, and it looks like Academy Records is back on W. 18th, and the Academy LP store in East Village you are referring to seems to be a different organization? The store Academy was moving to over that winter (took them 6 months or so to re-open; I blame them for my collection being only some 3000 large) does not seem to exist?

New Yorkers! Cure my nostalgia a little, please!

By: gregory the fish

gregory the fish — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:37:15 +0000

I once decided on a great way to organize my doubles… as I was falling asleep at about 1am. I decided to see if it would work by testing one or two… and ended up doing the whole project, which also required me to move almost every single record I own. I finished at 6am, and then I went in to teach an 8am class. I think that day took about ten years off my life.