jazz record mart - deer wan

Well, the Jazz Record Mart is no more. It felt like ti had been coming for some time now, a classic shop but they hadn't moved with the times and downtown Chicago rent didn't help them at all. The doors closed on the February 15th. I managed to get in one last time a couple of days before they closed. I took a list to save me from getting carried away. I left with only one album, Kenny Wheeler's Deer Wan, which wasn't on my list (in fact, they had nothing on my list!). There was one Mal Waldron I forgot to look for and by the time I was able to return they had closed. I picked up plenty of albums there going back to 2009 on my first trip to Chicago (back then the staff were a lot more surly than the more recent crew) and I'll will miss being able to pop in there (it was handy to home). The stock was purchased by Wolfgang's Vault in Reno.

I couldn't find my pics of the store so I flogged this one off Yelp

Vinyl Revival?

Over the past year or so there have been plenty of "Vinyl is back!" articles. It's nothing new though, this article is from the May 1996 issue of Jazz Times (click on image to view full article - 4 pages). The likes of Michael Cuscuna and Bob Koester share their thoughts on jazz vinyl in the mid-90s. As for me, I only have a dozen or so LPs (albums that are yet to be reissued) that made the journey with me to Chicago. I left the turntable behind and haven't replaced it just yet. Even without a turntable I still fight the urge when I hit the record stores. It's probably for the best.... at least my bank balance thanks me for trying.

Record Store Day

As you may have heard Saturday April 20 was Record Store Day. I took it pretty easy and only went to the Jazz Record Mart. I timed my run to coincide with the in-store performance of Nick Mazzarella (as) Devin Hoff (b) & Mike Reed (d).

Nice to see a decent crowd in the store (the pics below are from after the trio's set and the crowd had thinned a bit). It was quite pleasant strolling the aisles accompanied by a live band.

I picked up two solo saxophone albums - Anthony Braxton's classic "For Alto" (Delmark 1969) - not sure why it has taken this long for me to get it - and Evan Parker's "Chicago Solo" (Okka Disc 1995) - Parker's first album dedicated to solo tenor (after many solo soprano albums).