Peter Friedman

People that come to my house and see many thousands of CDs on shelves in about 4 rooms in my house frequently ask me if I am able to find CDs easily. I actually do know where almost every Cd is located with only the very very rare exception. Things are filed in 3 categories. 1.Classical CDs are filed by composer in alphabetical order. 2. Jazz and blues vocalists are filed in alpha order by last name of singer. 3. Jazz instrumentals, which make up 80% of my collection are filed by label, with labels in alpha order. Within each label CDs are filed in alpha order by leader. As has been mentioned by others, there are a few filing issues that are not always easy to resolve. When it comes to record/CD labels, sometimes the label originally used has been changed for some reason. For example, some recordings originally released on Riverside may have been reissued on Landmark or on Milestone. Classical recordings might be divided into music by 2 or more composers, say a String Quartet by both Dvorak and Schubert on the same CD. So it becomes a value judgement as to where it should be filed. The same kind of thing existed on some vocal recordings.

Martucci - Piano Trio Op.59 and Schumann - Symphony No.1, Op.38 "Spring"

I am just the opposite of some here. I have been an obsessive collector going way back many many decades. If I like a musician, I begin to search out more recordings by that person and over time try to get everything that individual has available. And that mean searching all over the world if necessary to locate that one recording done in South America, or Japan or Poland, etc. That has meant my collection has become huge, which means I am unlikely to be able to listen to every single LP or CD on my shelves in the time I have left on this planet. Though I have to admit that while I was never interested in streaming jazz recordings and wanted hard copies, as I have reached my "old age", I stopped purchasing hard copy recordings about 3 years ago and now subscribe to Apple Music where I download items that interest me that are not among the multiple thousands of LPs and CDs on my shelves throughout my house.

With Willis Jackson & Houston Person

Czerny - String Quartet in E minor and Kuhlau - Piano Quartet No.2, Op.50

I had a good friend who would pull all the records he had by a specific musician - for example Hank Mobley or it could be a rhythm section player such as Paul Chambers. He would then listen to then all in a row, even though it was over a number of days. I never really preferred to listen like that. One of the things I enjoy about jazz is the large diversity of musicians and styles. So it is not unusual for me to mix up my listening a lot. I may choose to listen in these artists one after another - for example - Art Blakey & Messengers, Stan Getz, Pee Wee Russell, John Coltrane, Lightnin' Hopkins, Bud Powell, Eddie Condon, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Sullivan, Dizzy Gillespie, etc. And to add to the mix, I also throw in classical music recordings, especially string quartets by Haydn and Beethoven.

Beethoven - String Quartet Op.18/6 and von Herzogenberg - Quintet Op.43

Count Basie - Live, 1959 and 1959