Golden Grabs in Tokyo

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a reader named Stuart Levine asking if he could write an article for Jazz Collector about his latest experience at Disk Union “Jazz Tokyo.” Stuart has written some interesting posts in the past and, with me more focused these days on my radio show/podcasts rather than doing regular posting, I figured it would be nice to get another voice in. I was definitely intrigued by the opportunity.  A couple of weeks later, Stuart sent me a photo of Blue Notes galore. A few portions of the photo appear here. Last week, Stuart sent me the article and asked me to title it “Golden Grabs in Tokyo,” which, as you can see, I’ve done. Regarding the title, Stuart wrote this: “This pertains to the fact that it happened during Japan’s “Golden Week” holiday.  I assume you still have the image of all those Blue Note album covers for a Wow factor.” He also sent me a picture of his friend who, he said,  “made off with two Mobleys, 1550 and 1568. You’ll see the 1568 right next to one of your favorites.” So, without further ado, here is the article that Stuart sent me:

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Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Tokyo Style

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One of our readers living in Japan recently sent a note with a story to share so I said, please, write it up. He did and here it is:

By Stuart Levine

I am a regular reader (living in Japan), who especially enjoys Al’s record-collecting adventures. Well I have one of my own to share with the Jazz Collector community. It all started last September in Tokyo. I had heard of Disk Union and wanted to see it for myself. Perhaps, I could score on a nice LP.   When I got off the train at my exit, I could immediately see it to my left – an impressive brick building with a large Disk Union window sign. The only problem was this was not the store noted for its jazz inventory. The real deal, Disk Union “Jazz Tokyo” was about six blocks away. Had it not been for a fellow Southern Californian (wearing a Dodgers cap) walking me over to the right store, I would have come away from this experience very disappointed. My good fortune really started when I was introduced to the head buyer of used jazz vinyl, a soft-spoken gentleman named Katsu. He invited me to come back three months later on Dec. 19th when the store was having a big Blue Note record sale, to the tune of 500 original mono and stereo LPs. Read more