Jump to content

Jazz CD & Record shops in London, UK?


Bol

Recommended Posts

Sadly, the ranks of Jazz LP and CD shops in London and much of the U.K. have sadly been depleted over the last decade or so, Bol. Even the flagship HMV store closed up shop, thanks to the Internet.

First port of call would be Ray's Jazz located in Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road. Not a huge place but always worth a look, plus they have a decent selection of jazz literature and a really great coffee shop.

Honest Jons in Portobello is always worth a look - particularly if you like Sun Ra, Art Yard etc.

In the suburbs there's the likes of Soul Brother located in Streatham, good for soul jazz in particular.

Never been a great fan of the vinyl places in Soho but some of them are still in operation around Berwick St I think.

Your timing is good for the London Jazz Festival in November - The Cookers and Wayne Shorter are both appearing, there's lots going on by the look of it, worth checking out. Interesting things like Evan Parker at Kings Place, Mike Westbrook solo plus quite a few free events e,g, at Barbican.

Best of wishes with your move !

 

Edited by sidewinder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to London!

Sidewinder's covered the essentials, I agree. It's not an overwhelming selection these days I'm afraid

Depending on your taste you might enjoy a visit to https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/ which is in Soho and a few minutes walk from Rays and Berwick Street. I agree that the Berwick St. shops aren't very Jazz-centric but Reckless can have some fairly interesting second hand CDs, vinyl less so.

Other secondhand shops that have Jazz sections are Flashback (three shops) http://flashback.co.uk/ ; Music & Video Exchange http://www.mgeshops.com/music-video-exchange-38nhg/ the Notting Hill branch I remember has the Jazz selection.

there's plenty of live music if you're so inclined

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could always hop over to the Netherlands and visit our store in The Hague! We've had a few Londonners in the shop over the years and they all rave about our selection and lack of it in London! Even the guys from Level 42 visited us some years back and begged us to move to London........Cheers and all the best, Reinier (Jazz Center is the name of my store).

Edited by Bluerein
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

More shops this time in North London....first Alans Records in East Finchley, then Flashback in Crouch End and the Little Record Shop (right next to Konk studios home of the Kinks) also loads of vinyl in Audio Gold between Muswell Hill and Crouch End.....that little lot should keep you going for a bit...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
On 10/1/2016 at 3:12 PM, Fer Urbina said:

Welcome to London, Bol!

Besides what Sidewinder said, Harold Moore's in Great Marlborough St is worth a visit for their second-hand jazz CDs and LPs downstairs.

F

Sorry to report that Harold Moore's is gone. I only learned about this last Saturday, but apparently it's been closed for a few weeks. I've read on FB that this was done without notice, not even to the staff. That's all I know.

F

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/2/2017 at 9:08 AM, Fer Urbina said:

Sorry to report that Harold Moore's is gone. I only learned about this last Saturday, but apparently it's been closed for a few weeks. I've read on FB that this was done without notice, not even to the staff. That's all I know.

F

Holy cow!  I had no idea.  What a sad loss...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was in London today and had a briefest look at a couple of the old haunts. Since I was last in Foyle's, Ray's Jazz has parted company with the café and moved downstairs into much reduced premises. At least the jazz book section was nearby, enabling me to check out in Golson's biography the "Clifford-meets-Louis" story currently under discussion in another thread. At £33 you'll appreciate that I didn't buy :( Reckless Records is still there in Berwick Street, but with a very shrunken jazz section, something called "Jazz Fusion" now being uppermost :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As you say Bill, London is sadly depleted on the jazz front these days. They moved Rays away from the cafe some years ago. To be honest, not totally a bad thing as the cafe size has improved so better chance now of getting a seat at busy times (I recommend the lunchtime main course + wine deal for a tenner :)). Last time I was in Rays the CD selection wasn't too bad at all and their were some nice second hand offerings in there.

Not sure on the stores around Soho but I suspect spiralling rents have kyboshed the more interesting offbeat places.

Bring back Mole ! :(

9 hours ago, Bol said:

Holy cow!  I had no idea.  What a sad loss...

Yeah, heard about this. Too bad - albeit more of interest to classical fans than jazz, I always thought. No doubt to be replaced by another purveyor of trendy designer tat. I heard that the original financial backer of the store, who provided their stable base, had retired and that the bean counters pounced..

Edited by sidewinder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Interesting - the Harold Moores place always seemed to me to be like a classical records version of Gringotts, with the staff near-ringers for Gringotts elves.  The ground floor classical area was stacked with rare and very pricy old analogue classical pressings, usually in superb shape. Much of it priced at £50 plus.

The downstairs jazz selection was usually a disappointment (initially upstairs, in the last period when Mole operated there). I did see an original Mike Taylor 'Trio' on the wall once at about £300 but the sleeve looked pretty beat up. In retrospect, probably a bargain.

Never got to see those 8000+ jazz LPs, although I have seen mention of that legendary story in various places.

Edited by sidewinder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...