Saturday, December 08, 2007










There's this little place, iris records, not ten minutes walk from our apartment, that deals in used vinyl. I knew of its existence a while ago, strolled by a couple of times, but it's the sort of joint that keeps irregular hours. Like not opening for a few months in a row, that sort of thing. So I'd never been in.

This week, the owner posted on a neighborhood list that there would be a sale this weekend, so I figured it worth the amble over. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming bulk of merchandise is rock and disco, the latter probably being the prime source of what income they make. Boxes of stuff all over, categorized in the general sort of way that allows the World Saxophone Quartet's "Zürich Concert" to nestle in a box labeled "Soul". I was hoping to find a forlorn crate with a tag that indicated something along the line of contemporary classical, electronic, "weird" or anything other term that might lead me toward possible goodies. No such luck, though the proprietor acknowledged that he should have such and promised he would for the next sale. A paltry "world" selection as well.

But I did manage to rescue a few odds and ends:

Charles Tolliver - The Ringer (1969), released by Arista/Freedom in 1975. The early incarnation of Music Inc., I think, with Cowell, Steve Novosel and Jimmy Hopps. I used to have the Strata East releases from the early 70s, stupidly traded them in (too mainstream, I imagine I thought at the time). This one's on now and sounds real nice. Good to hear Tolliver's "On the Nile" again, a lovely theme.

Betty Carter - Social Call, the Columbia reissue of the 1955 and '56 dates.

Paul Bley - Copenhagen and Haarlem, 1975 Arista/Freedom reiussue of the 1965-66 Freedom dates, with Kent Carter, Mark Levenson and Barry Altschul.

Ravi Shankar/Ali Akbar Khan - The Exotic Sitar and Sarod, Capitol. Not sure of the date, but looks like the late 60s.

Lui Tsun-Yuen - Chinese Classical Masterpieces for the Pipa and Chin, Lyrichord. Looks to be late 50s, early 60s (pre-Zip Code--I love seeing addresses at the bottom of the back of the sleeve like, "141 Perry Street, New York 14, N.Y."!)

6 comments:

Seth Tisue said...

The Lui Tsun-Yuen disc is a winner. Lyrichord was a pretty reliable label.

Jon Abbey said...

that's the place over by me? should have told me you were coming, I have a few discs for you.

Brian Olewnick said...

Yeah, I was thinking about it but I want to get caught up with the stuff I already have....

Jon Abbey said...

that's cool, although it's not much different if they pile up here or there.

are you going to see English Monday night?

http://www.rasbliutto.net
/concerts/sigogglin.html

Brian Olewnick said...

I've often noticed this before and do so again while listening to the Lui Tsun-Yuen album--back in the olden days, I'd've been rather annoyed at a large number and variety of pops while playing vinyl. Since I've gotten entirely used to hearing them used as a musical element over the last 10-12 years, it doesn't bother me at all!

I'm listening to this one, half expecting Ground-Zero to well up at any moment....

Brian Olewnick said...

"are you going to see English Monday night?"

I'm hoping to. I have to go over to attend Pete C's thing at NYU (I helped a little bit with his research) and plan on walking down to the Knit. Not sure if I can make it by 8 (his panel's at 6:30) but I'm going to try.