sidewinder

Found a page of a Yellow Pages inside a newly acquired LP the other day. ‘Plumbers’.

Amazingly good article.

He was pretty active in the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble in the 1980s in particular. Sorry that I never got to see them.

This one? If so, same as my copy.

Sorry to hear this, RIP. What a great looking shop.

Plus this gem from the Mosaic. Sound holds up very well indeed.

More from the Mosaic box..

Maybe email Ken Poston?

Get the joss-sticks burning !..

In the Mosaic LP set

Is that one the Herman Orchestra after Woody had passed? I did get to see them at Scotts with Woody at the helm - a short performance before the show that night was televised live but since then I have seen no mention of it or clips on Youtube etc. Tiberi was leading the sax section.

Is it really 13 years since this thread started? Jeez !

Not heard this one but it is from that fine Gearbox label in London and is legit. The tapes, I believe, were from the Les Tomkins archive.

I think the ‘Butcher’s Shop’ Honest Jon’s was in their first early 70s Portobello store. By the 2000s they were in their current location - plus briefly that overflow section for LPs I think. Yes, it was a bit of a squeeze.

I got my Toshiba CD of the Tyrone from the old Tower on Sunset Strip with its fine Japanese import section. Also picked up an original Liberty LP in great nick over here too - and very reasonably priced - at around the same time. Since then I have occasionally seen other copies of the Liberty LP here in the UK.

Interestingly, it mentions the ‘expanded’ Portobello Road operation of the late 1990s/early 2000s. I recall an expanded upstairs area around that time with more jazz vinyl than is now the place (must have been what was in the jazz basement). Picked up a couple of nice Liberty Blue Notes in that version - the guys said that the LPs had been brought over from an exped to the US and that they had been sitting in a store room for 30 years. I like the bit about the original Portobello shop having been a butchers originally and that the store had blood marks on the wall and meat hooks at the back. They don’t make shops like that any more !

This is uncanny. Years back at an LA gig, I was chatting with a guy who claimed to own the ex-Dolphy house and who mentioned finding a bass clarinet of his. Must be the same.

Yes, the Cartwright book is ‘Going For A Song’. No massive revelations in there but there is good coverage of the London jazz stores. Great little article on Honest Jon’s history here - https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2076 The Portobello shop is still there and a great shop to pop into, with very helpful staff. Their mail order operation is first rate too.

Just racked my brain over this and in fact what I thought was Reckless which was closing down on my last visit was in fact called Rhythm Records and it was in the very same shop location as Honest Jons. You are correct, it did have a spiral staircase and the jazz was downstairs. I must have been there around 2010/2011. I thought it looked strangely familiar - in fact I recognised the old wooden racking from the HJ days. I came out with a couple of A&M Horizons from their sadly very depleted stock (hardly anything left). I wouldn’t be surprised if these were old stock from the 1970s ! All very sad though - what used to be reggae in the main section upstairs had morphed into the usual non-musical tourist tat and most of the space downstairs was taken up with cheap t-shirts etc. Bill - worth getting hold of the Garth Cartwright book as there is quite a bit on Dobell’s, Rays, Mole etc. in there. The ‘Bermuda Triangle of the West End’, ie. Oxford St/New Row/Shaftesbury Ave up to King’s Cross ! Definitely the same place.

I bought a whole mass of that ‘Free America’ series on CD in NYC, including the Thornton. It was at that big J&R store near the Twin Towers site (now long gone I believe) and they were all on special ! The same store had a couple of copies of that humongous great Jazz In Paris box. I was tempted but I would have had to buy another plane ticket.

I have the CD. Will give it a spin. Remember when Mole and Honest Jon’s stocked it for about £3.99 !