Amoeba Haul, Part 1: Jazz

I honestly thought that I would get some blogging done while on vacation on the left coast last week. I figured on having lots of downtime and I have a few big posts that have been in the works for a while, so I was sure that I would finally get some writing done. Alas, it was not so. Between Disneyland, a Dodgers game, seeing my step-sister and my 7-month-old niece, visiting a teacher-friend at his school, jamming on Phish tunes, and just soaking in the California sun, blogging just wasn't meant to be. But that's not to say I didn't partake of all things musical out there. In addition to the aforementioned jamming and being schooled in the ways of Michael MacDonald, one of our gracious gracious hosts, Adam, also took me on a pilgrimage to Amoeba Music.

Amoeba has three stores in California (San Fran, Berkeley, and the one I went to, Hollywood) and all of them are widely considered to be prime locations for both "regular" CD buyers and more hardcore CD and vinyl collectors. I tend to fall somewhere in between, and always have a running list of things I am "hunting" for, so the location seemed an ideal place to drop some of the cash I acquired for the recent (and 32nd) anniversary of my birth. Two and half hours and $207 later (I know I know I know), here are some of my impressions of the store via (somewhat) a detailed list of the things that came home with me. While I try not to cubbyhole stuff, I will use the same system most record stores use to classify the stuff I bought.

Jazz/Blues:
Up until about two and half years ago, I was a casual jazz listener. I had a modest collection of "classics" from around the middle of the 20th century and knew a fair bit about the CD's I owned, but would have hardly considered myself and authority on anything in the way of jazz. My turning point into the realm of "schooled"came when I simultaneously started to play upright bass and enrolled in graduate school. In an effort to avoid the stigmata of "shitty musician" attached to being a voice major and "failed performer" attached to being an education major, I enrolled in a few jazz courses, and started telling people I was a bassist/guitarist despite my really being a Music Ed./Voice major. Not only did the jazz courses captivate and inspire me more than most of the classes I had ever taken, but I also didn't want to look like schlub in the playing department, so I started woodshedding on my new upright. One thing lead to another and, in addition to getting pretty good on bass, I started a mental and physical list of books to read, and, more importantly, jazz recordings I had to get my hands on. I acquired a ton of stuff in mp3 and CD format, but, having also recently upgraded my home stereo setup at the time, I was bitten my at-that-time-dormant vinyl bug and started to lust after original LP pressings of my favourite jazz records. These items quickly crept to the top of my list and I have spent bits and pieces of the last two years both adding to said list and scouring ebay and the P-REX for whatever I could find within my means; but the search isn't easy. When looking for records you really want to enjoy - as opposed to just have - you are always trying to find the perfect balance between what sounds good and what you can afford. See: jazz records at a record shop generally fall into 5 categories: (this is not "official" in any way, it's just a system I have put together in my head)

1. Beaters - old records that have been sold back to the store for a reason. Maybe they are shitty records everyone already has a copy of. Maybe they are in terrible, or even, useless condition. They generally cost between $.25 and $3 dependent on the store or popularity of the artist. Unless it's something fun or odd, I usually pass on these.
2. "NOS" - every once in a while, you find an older, yet still sealed, record - or "new old stock". These generally run in the $5-$infinite range. Serious collectors look for early pressings 'cos they sound better, but they are also a lot more expensive. Most buyers will take what they can get in this category - myself included. However, these are fairly rare in general as jazz record companies didn't often press in excess of what they would sell.
3. Mediocre to decent condition but still well worth it - these are generally albums that are more widely recognized as good or even "classics", or are by someone with an instantly recognizable name, but aren't in good enough condition to be considered true collectors items. I would say I buy these most often as I don't know the music well enough to be looking for the super "deep" or unknown stuff and they're a good deal in the $10-30 range.
4. SERIOUS collectible shit - these are the classic albums in excellent to mint condition. These are usually kept in a special place in most record shops and you need to ask to see the actual record (the sleeve is in the rack with a note on it) or even see their "good stuff" inventory at all. Depending on the "classicness" and the condition of the album and its jacket, these can run between $30 and infinity. I have had some good luck with this stuff on eBay but am usually too intimidated to ask too see them at record shops.
5. Reissues - There has been a serious resurgence in people's interest in LP's over the last few years. New technology and the scarcity of copies of classic stuff in the general vinyl marketplace has given cause for a few record companies to remaster and reissue several classic titles. Many of these releases have garnered mixed reviews as the remastering methods are inconsistent in term of both method and quality, thus producing highly mixed results that very from album to album. Some of them are seemingly as good as the originals, whereas some of them will make you realize you should have just stuck with the CD. Generally $15-$20.

Like I said, I had recently come into a little bit of cash for my birthday, had a respectable little list, and was in "vacation spending" mode (yeah, you know what I mean). I was also definitely in "jazz-buying" mode as I have recently become more interested in soloing and my wife reminded me that I often wonder aloud as to why I don't own more jazz records. So I fully intended to walk into Amoeba with my list, talk to the "jazz guy" and ask to see the "good stuff" and actually buy anything that was on my list and under $80. Like most record stores, Amoeba kept the sleeves to most of their good stuff in the racks with the other used jazz LP's with notes attached telling you to "see the clerk" or "ask at front desk" if you wanted to check the actual records out. They also had some of their choice stuff displayed high up on the wall with similar notes attached. While their prices for the "serious" stuff was consistent with eBay and most of the other shops I have seen, they, quite frankly, didn't have much in this department. Even more disappointing than their lack of "high caliber" inventory was their more specific lack of anything I was looking for. Sure they had the same Charlie Parker compilations in shitty condition of which I am always skeptical. They had some of the projects led by Bop and Hard Bop sideman like Cannonball Adderly. They even had a few original pressings of Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef records in decent condition for $20 or so (but not the specific titles I was looking for), but for a record store with such a solid reputation, they were oddly lacking in this area. *sigh*

What they did seem to have a lot of were reissues. I'll admit it: at first I foolishly believed that I had NOS copies of a few choice items under my arm, but upon closer inspection a tiny 3/4" sticker in the lower right hand corner of the back of the jacket let me know that what I had in my hand were actually Warner/Rhino 180-gram reissues. As I mentioned earlier, I had my reasons to be skeptical of these, but as it became apparent that they didn't have any "real" copies of the stuff I wanted but did have these reissues of a few titles, I thought it best to ask the guys behind the desk. Unfortunately, my first trip yielded no conclusive results as the "jazz guy" wasn't in yet; but after checking back an hour later I was reminded that a) the stuff I was after is incredibly hard to come by, and b) if I do happen upon it, it will be expensive as all bloody hell. He also said that the only complaint he had ever heard about any of the titles in this series of reissues is that they had made some original mono recordings into stereo mixes during the remastering process. Knowing full well that this was not the case with the three albums I had under my arm and realizing that none of these would cost more than what I might spend on a CD version of the same recording, I took the plunge and grabbed three jazz LP for betweeen $10 and $15 each. Here they are:

Charles Mingus,
"Blues & Roots"











Yusef Lateef,
"Yusef Lateef's Detroit Latitude 42º 30º Longitude 83"











Herbie Hancock,
"V.S.O.P. The Quintet"



I won't lie: I have only listened to one of these so far - but if the overall sound quality of "Blues & Roots" is any indication of what's in store with these, I may have just made some of the best music purchases I have made in some time. Seriously: this Mingus LP is yet another reminder (much like when I got that near-mint Eric Dolphy record on eBay last year) of just how much better most jazz sounds on vinyl. If the other two are even half as good as this, I might even up and order that "A Love Supreme" reissue I have been contemplating for some time.

I also grabbed Archie Shepp's "Attica Blues" on CD ('cos they didn't have it on LP) - a disc that I have been meaning to get for some time - but that's just not as fun to talk about. CD's are CD's.

OK! I really did intend for this to be a short little post, but alas, I got excited. Guess I will do it as a multi-parter. Pop/Rock, DVD's, etc. to follow...