Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Part 1

I’ve had a very interesting couple of days. In my life I’ve bought one complete jazz collection, from my best friend Dan Axelrod more than 20 years ago. It was a transaction of convenience: I got to keep the records, and he kept them in the family and could visit them whenever he wants. Since then, I’ve seen collections but either didn’t have the money or the inclination to buy them. Then I started doing Jazz Collector and a few weeks ago I put a little advertisement on the site that states: We BUY Collections. Ever since I put up that ad, I’ve been getting at least one or two inquiries a week and then, on Friday and again yesterday, I looked at two jazz collections. I will write in more detail by the end of the day, so stay tuned, but here’s the bottom line: After driving up and down the New York metro area and up to New England, I am looking across a sprawl of records in my music room that includes nice original pressings of Capuchin Swing, Gil’s Guests, Sonny Rollins Movin’ Out, most of the Coltrane Prestige and Impulse albums, and many, many more. And, of course, I had a blast doing it.