When I started collecting, I bought into the popular opinion that Jimmy Smith isn’t “collectible” and didn’t pay him any attention. But then I found this great 1965 German documentary on him serving as evidence of how “incredible” he really was. From the live performances where he plays with so much heart and frankly, tears it up… More→
It’s rare that I hang on to a record in VG condition, but this record has a couple things working for it: 1. Despite the pops and ticks, it has no groove wear, 2. I got it for (the vintage jazz record collecting equivalent of) a dollar bin price, and 3. The music and performances are both spectacular. Like my copies of Saxophone Colossus… More→
For the next installment of Jazz Collectors of Instagram, I’d like to introduce another veteran collector, @djpari_. Pari approaches the hobby from a similar angle to myself, having his roots in DJing. His collection boasts a long list of hard-to-come-by rarities, including Sonny Clark’s Cool Struttin’, Lee Morgan’s Candy, J.R. Monterose (Blue Note … More→
Well it pays to give the jazz sections in record stores a quick flip on each visit. Though usually less than mediocre, I’ve found that jazz LPs often skip the new arrivals bins — a longstanding staple of record stores — and go straight to the genre section. My method is usually to flip quickly through each of my favorite players’ sections and the… More→
It appears that along with a recent change in my philosophy of collecting has also come a change in my luck. I recently decided to go all in on creating the most authentic vintage mono jazz LP listening experience I could. This meant a new turntable (a gorgeous Garrard 301 which I have already secured), a separate component tonearm… More→
When it rains, it pours. Just a day after I found my first blue label, RVG-stamped mono Prestige reissue, I found this. While visiting a friend upstate I made a stop at a favorite record shop for a very quick flip-through, not expecting to find anything as per usual, and there was this copy of Soultrane. Again it looked… More→
Before stereo sounded the death knell of the mono format in the late 1960s, mono records were made with the intention of being played with a conical stylus measuring one thousandth of an inch, also known as 1 “mil”, at its longest radius. On the other hand, stereo records have always been made … More→
When I lived in Albany, New York, the East Greenbush library had a killer selection of classic jazz CDs, and the 1989 Original Jazz Classics reissue of this album was one of them. Flipping through the racks, this album piqued my interest because of its super-hip cover and the name “John Coltrane”. I became more familiar with this album over the years and acquired the Original Jazz Classics LP a few years… More→
A while ago I happened upon the YouTube channel of “KoolKatJazz”, a collector who takes pride in finding cheap original pressings of vintage jazz records that, while perhaps grade VG or lower, sound great at times nonetheless. Being a collector on a pretty strict budget made me think that this might be a collecting strategy I might want to… More→
There’s something about the Internet that has a tendency to bring out the worst in people, namely prejudice, close-mindedness, and personal attacks in instances where a simple, respectful debate would do. In light of this and several disheartening exchanges I’ve had with other collectors of late, Deep Groove Mono has decided to remove … More→