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From 1954 to 1984, I acquired 640 jazz vinyl LPs before switching over to the more convenient CDs to stay current with the music I enjoyed most. Only recently, with the help of Mike Petillo, did I give a sense of order to my collection by arranging the LPs alphabetically by jazz artist on the online resource discogs.com.
There it was, right before my eyes, my collection history as a young man, a lot of which I had forgotten, largely because as of late, I had only sporadically selected an LP or two every so often to play. Now, thanks to discogs.com, I could take a nostalgic jazz trip down memory lane.
Of course, I remembered that I was the sort of aficionado who would fall madly in love with a particular artist’s music and then snap up every subsequent album he or she produced, whenever and wherever I could. And perhaps, not too much of a surprise, as can be seen below, Miles Davis tops the list with 29 LPs.
Looking at the rest of the top nine, I discovered a number of—what shall we call them—experimentalists, new thing, new wave, avant-garde musicians.
Obviously, I fell in love with the music of an eclectic mix of jazz people:
There it was, right before my eyes, my collection history as a young man, a lot of which I had forgotten, largely because as of late, I had only sporadically selected an LP or two every so often to play. Now, thanks to discogs.com, I could take a nostalgic jazz trip down memory lane.
Of course, I remembered that I was the sort of aficionado who would fall madly in love with a particular artist’s music and then snap up every subsequent album he or she produced, whenever and wherever I could. And perhaps, not too much of a surprise, as can be seen below, Miles Davis tops the list with 29 LPs.
Looking at the rest of the top nine, I discovered a number of—what shall we call them—experimentalists, new thing, new wave, avant-garde musicians.
Obviously, I fell in love with the music of an eclectic mix of jazz people:
| 29: 23: 19: 19: 16: 15: 13: 9: 9: | Trumpeter Miles Davis Saxophonist Art Pepper Saxophonist Charlie Parker Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim Keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp Trumpeter Don Cherry Pianist/composer Andrew Hill Art Ensemble of Chicago |
In addition to the above top nine favorites, I greatly admired other choice artists but purchased fewer of their LPs, numbering in the 8 to 5 range as listed below:
| 8: 7: 6: 5: | Anthony Davis, David Murray, Henry Threadgill Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Red Garland, Marion Brown, Stan Getz, Ran Blake, Charles Mingus, Roscoe Mitchell Modern Jazz Quartet, Arthur Blythe, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Art Farmer, Oliver Nelson, Don Pullen, Chico Freeman, Oliver Lake, Thelonious Monk, Mal Waldron George Russell, Sonny Rollins, Muhal Richards Abrams, Lester Bowie, and Jack DeJohnette |
Not every jazz enthusiast will recognize all the names above, but that would also be true for me if I checked out another person’s collection.
Based on the information above, I can see that 50 percent of my LP collection consists of multiple buys (5 and above) from 36 artists. Further, over a thirty-year period beginning in 1954, I was a fan with eclectic tastes, preferring a diverse mix of—shall we say—traditionalists (Parker, Gillespie, Pepper) and avant-garde musicians (Shepp, Art Ensemble, Pullen).
But this is not the whole story.
What about the rest of my collection, the remaining 50 percent that consists of four, three, or fewer per artist, representing a number of singular, transcendent one-of-kind albums?
I'll examine those in my next blog.
Based on the information above, I can see that 50 percent of my LP collection consists of multiple buys (5 and above) from 36 artists. Further, over a thirty-year period beginning in 1954, I was a fan with eclectic tastes, preferring a diverse mix of—shall we say—traditionalists (Parker, Gillespie, Pepper) and avant-garde musicians (Shepp, Art Ensemble, Pullen).
But this is not the whole story.
What about the rest of my collection, the remaining 50 percent that consists of four, three, or fewer per artist, representing a number of singular, transcendent one-of-kind albums?
I'll examine those in my next blog.
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