My second mode of listening is background, and for that I sometimes choose vinyl, and sometimes not. It depends on what else I am doing. If I am doing something that takes 20 minutes or so, or if there are a lot of people in the house and we are playing a game or something, I often put on vinyl because I am being active and don’t mind walking over to the turntable every 20 minutes and turning the record over or putting on a new record. But if I have music on in the background when I am reading a book or relaxing on my iPad with the New York Times or a crossword, then I typically will listen to a digital format, usually Sonos, which I have in all rooms and all locations. I will often put on music that is comfortable in the background, maybe some Ella or Art Tatum or even Bill Evans, stuff I know and don’t have to concentrate too much on, but is comfortable and somewhat soothing even. At night, going to sleep, I always use Sonos. I have created about 60 or 70 playlists I have labeled “Ballads,” as in Ballads 1, Ballads 2, Ballads 3, Ballads, A, Ballads B, in multiple combinations using a mix of music, jazz and vocals, plus other favorites such as James Taylor, Allison Krauss, Nancy Lamott, Sinatra, and The Beatles.

Then, there is the question of what to do with new records that I purchase. In the past, I have always tried to listen to each record before putting it on the shelves and immersing it into the collection. But, that stopped working years ago when I started buying more and more records at at time, and then collections, and, at the same time, stopped spending as much time listening as I did before life got in the way. So, sometimes, new records will get buried in the collection without a listen but with the promise that someday, when I get old and retired, I will have all of this time to put great music on the turntable and it will all come as a pleasant surprise to have fresh music in my ears after all of these years. I do realize that scenario is just a pipe dream and, if the time ever does come where I do have more time to listen, I will much more likely go back to my old friends and enjoy their company and remind myself of great times in my life and how and when I purchased each record and where I was when I first heard it and all of the other associations it brings and all of the other things you do when you get together with friends and family and reminisce.

And that’s my story, today, Dec. 8, 2019. I am perhaps somewhat nostalgic on this day because this was the date, 39 years ago, that John Lennon was shot, just a few blocks from where I am sitting now and writing this post. Sometime this afternoon, I will walk over to Strawberry Fields in Central Park and join the crowds of people there singing Beatles and Lennon songs and paying tribute.

But I knew the music wasn’t going to knock my socks off and it didn’t. I had a much better experience with the Mulligan Plays Mulligan record on Prestige, which I probably hadn’t listed to since I first purchased it more than 30 years ago. Great record, both sides, the tentette as well as the quintet/sextet. It’s hard to believe the ensemble sides were recorded in 1951, they still sound so fresh and innovative. And Allen Eager was a mother. It was eye-opening to sit back and really listen to him play. So that inspired me to put on a bunch of other ensemble records, including Miles Davis Birth of the Cool and Benny Golson The Modern Touch, two of my favorites. All in all, I spent a couple of days listening to new records, sorting out duplicates and following the inspiration from discovering a new record then moving to a record in my collection and generally having a good old time just listening.

This, of course, inspired me to take another trip back to Spike’s Record 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 making a mess of things, what with slicing the paper sleeves of 300 78s and stuffing the records onto my shelves. The second visit to Spike’s brought a new round of records, including the 10-inch Blue Note James Moody and His Modernists, as well as a few others that filled gaps in the collection. Writing about the trips to Spike’s Record Rack also elicited an invitation from the owner of another record store in the general area, Hudson Valley Vinyl in Beacon, NY, and, of course, how could I pass I an invitation to a record store I had never before visited, particularly one that had previously been recommended to me by our friend and sometimes contributor Clifford Allen.

So a few days later I was back in the car with Marty the dog on my way down the Hudson River to lovely Beacon NY to look at more records, the results of which can be seen in the picture at the beginning and end of this post. For me, the highlights of this excursion were the Gene Ammons Prestige and the Dave Brubeck Plays Leonard Bernstein. The Ammons was only $8, which felt like a bargain, considering that the condition was excellent. It is one of the only records that features John Coltrane on alto sax and, for that reason alone, is a worthy addition to any collection. I listened to that one first when I got home and was also pleasantly surprised. Coltrane on alto is quite interesting, and you can hear that he kind of approached it the way he later approached the soprano, with a lot of energy, hard blowing and a lot of notes. He doesn’t really sound like any other alto player you could readily identify.

I was pleased to get a copy of the Brubeck record because 1: It was an original pressing and sealed and 2: It has become one of my favorite listening records, the side with the West Side Story music, and I wanted to have a copy for my studio apartment in New York. Call me greedy, what can I say. For $20 it was well worth it. I’ve become swept away by the creativity of Paul Desmond’s playing over the past few years and he has become one of my absolute favorite artists, and he shines particularly well on this record. I also want to commend the owners of Hudson Valley Vinyl – nice store with an excellent collection of jazz vinyl at fair prices. I would recommend that Jazz Collector readers go there, although that belies my general instinct to keep these places to myself, although in this case I know it’s way too late to harbor any such illusions. Seems like I’m the last one to know about this store.

I am now a couple of weeks past these sprees and I have many more records to place on the turntable and perhaps I am not done yet with this latest round of purchsasing. There is still the local guy with 1,500 records who is not returning my calls and a collection of 10-inch LPs and 78s somewhere in the middle of the country that may have some promise. Stay tuned.

When I first saw the article, my immediate reaction was: “Why would Sonny lend his name to something so stupid.” Turns out he didn’t. The New Yorker figured it would be funnier to attach the quotes to the world’s greatest living jazz musician without his consent and just let it sit out there for the public to absorb.

Well, the public has absorbed and the short answer is pretty simple: NOT FUNNY!

The longer answer is a broad scathing reaction to the piece, including an interview with Sonny himself reacting to the article. In Sonny’s response, which is definitely worth the price of admission, we learn that Sonny is a fan, supporter and even subscriber of Mad Magazine. Do a Google search if you have time — you will see massive public reaction and broad displeasure/anger/agita. The New Yorker has tried to backtrack by putting the following caveat on this article: “Editor’s note: This article, which is part of our Shouts & Murmurs humor blog, is a work of satire.” Too little, too late.

I’m not one to take things too seriously in general, but I do have to agree that the piece simply wasn’t funny and was made worse by attaching the unfunny and silly comments to a musician of great import in our history. I found it quite disrespectful, in fact. What about you? You have to question: Would they have done the same thing to someone like Leonard Bernstein or Bob Dylan or Stephen Sondheim, to name just a few white musical giants of our time?

This is a later pressing and it is in M- condition. We have it on the turntable now and it’s quite nice. We’re on the West Side Story side, Tonight, Maria, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere. It is what you would expect. Nice swinging jazz with some playfulness with the time signatures, some nice percussive Brubeck and, as always, terrific Paul Desmond. The other side features Brubeck in a Carnegie Hall concert with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic from December 1959, almost exactly 50 years ago. If you’re in the U.S., check out the Kennedy Centers Honors show on CBS tomorrow and let us know what you think. Mel Brooks will also be among the honorees, so you’ll get to laugh as well as enjoy the music. In order to be eligible to win this LP, all you have to do is comment on the Jazz Collector site any time between now and Jan. 11, when the contest will close. As always, we provide the free record with free shipping anywhere in the world to the lucky winner.