Big Al Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I think my days of jazz buying are drawing to a close. 2,359 titles in the oldies.com sale, and I could only find TEN discs? And two of them aren't even for me, they're for a friend! I have yet to push the button, and I may just whittle it down to the two titles for my friend. I've got more than enough music to last a few lifetimes, and for some reason the joy of looking for music and buying music has left me. Hell, for the longest time it seemed as if I would buy stuff just because I might listen to it later and it was at a good price. Well, a lot of those discs are still waiting for me to listen to them and I've had 'em for a LONG time! Although my wallet is happy, this is a major bummer for me. I just don't have the time or the energy anymore. And that's depressing because this was one of the true joys of my life, and now I don't enjoy it anymore. And I know everyone says that everyone goes through this once in a while, but this has been going on for MONTHS. I knew I'd reached a turning point when a friend of mine who lives outside the US asked if I would mind having the RAY CHARLES COMPLETE ATLANTIC BOX shipped to my house until the next time he was in the States. Even said I could open it up and listen to it. Well, that box has been sitting here for two weeks and I have yet to listen to even ONE of the discs! And it's not that I'm not curious or don't want to listen to it, it just feels very overwhelming right now, as does all music-listening right now. It feels like I'm listening to music out of a responsibility to justify the purchase(s) as opposed to listening to whatever is going through my head at the moment. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Hey, I think I understand. I haven't been buying anything for months. It feels like a year. I haven't felt inspired to seek out and buy new music in a while. Aside from the music made by people that I personally know, I've been on hiatus. Not intentionally, just the way it is. The few times I have been through phases of disinterest, somehow, early free jazz makes its way back into my stereo and I am rejuvenated. It has been a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Once again, I'm completely out of sync with current trends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 C'mon, paps; all the cool kids are doing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Al, I know the feeling! I think that part of it is that I haven't been really excited by much of the new stuff that has come out in the past five years. Another part of it is that there was only a finite amount of good jazz recorded during the 50s and 60s (my favorite period), and a great deal of what interests me has already been reissued. And finally there is the issue of my collection. I try to listen to all of my CDs at least once a year. Most years I come close, and last year I did it. Anyway, when you only hear a CD once or twice a year, it is almost like listening to a new CD. So I don't need a lot more CDs to be satisfied. Put it all together, and I don't enjoy buying CDs like I did ten years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Time to put that money towards things other than jazz and/or going to see live music! Or better yet, learn an instrument you've always wanted to learn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I know the feeling too. I feel just the same and agree with most of the comments posted above. And it's not just my age! Like GA I love my 50s/60s stuff and a few later artists but there is so little happenning of real interest now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowT Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Slightly off topic and I apologize, but this thread got me to go look at oldies.com for the first time and build up my own shopping cart of sale items. Certainly great prices, but then I noticed this statement: "Fantasy Warehouse Clearance Sale product may be specifically marked for one-way sale." Can someone verify whether these sale discs are cutouts or drill hole versions? Also, does anyone know when the sale is expected to end? As far as being tapped out on jazz titles, I've got a long way to go given my relatively recent conversion to jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Slightly off topic and I apologize, but this thread got me to go look at oldies.com for the first time and build up my own shopping cart of sale items. Certainly great prices, but then I noticed this statement: "Fantasy Warehouse Clearance Sale product may be specifically marked for one-way sale." Can someone verify whether these sale discs are cutouts or drill hole versions? Also, does anyone know when the sale is expected to end? As far as being tapped out on jazz titles, I've got a long way to go given my relatively recent conversion to jazz. lots of discussion of that sale in the last pages of this thread http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...c=39290&hl= (though i'm not sure your specific questions are answered) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Sad to say but what Big Al says rings true here too. I haven't bought all that much during the past 12 months or so either, and what I've bought sometimes still sits on the shelf waiting for a FIRST-TIME listen. The reasons? A combination of reasons, I guess: First of all, at 6,000 LPs and somewhere between 500 and 1,000 CDs you do have a LOT to choose from when you get into another intense listening mood again, and as time wears on you realize you never get around to listening to lots of discs (or styles of music) all that much anymore and they sit on the shelf untouched for years (and YET you could only bring yourself to disposing of maybe 20 or 30 items out of the LOT, as the rest is nice to have "just in case"... And as there are spells when undisturbed, peaceful listening occasions get rarer due to other commitments the music you have tends to "last" even longer. Secondly, thirdly, etc.: - Like GA Russell said, a LOT of that favorite period of collecting (30s to early 60s in my case) has already been reissued and is in the collection, and what isn't probably isn't that essential (and special sales from the used jazz vinyl bin yielded a LOT of non-essential items at givewaway prices anyway through the years). - Those overlaps with what you already have that you are BOUND to come across when you check out new reissues just wears you out and you just give up, wondering if buying discs if you already have half or two thirds of it is worth it anymore at full price. - Music by new or recent acts in your favorite genre(s) - yes, but in the total this doesn't account for much. In short, the urge to add to one's collection and fill gaps that used to beset me regularly really is largely gone. Although ... that recent early blues thread here as well as the possible change in European reissues (due to that copyright extension issue) has recently prompted me to stack up that Amazon shopping cart while the items still are around. :D It's just that the "Buy" button hasn't been hit yet ... Oh my ... enough of that world-weariness now ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I have way too much, but I can't see this happening to me... There's so much early jazz around, with all those specialist labels, radio broadcasts, etc etc... And also, there's so much lesser known stuff, non-US stuff... much of it expensive and hence not stuff I regularly buy, but there's plenty of music around there that is of interest. Finally, there's all the other stuff than jazz... world musics, avantgarde stuff of any kind... just read a few issues of The Wire to get some fascinating new ideas! To me (young and foolish... well, past the big 3 by now...), it seems endless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Might be good if this happened to me, I really wish it would. It hasn't. There is so much to explore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Peacock Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I've had a few times where I walk away from music for months. I find that curiousity gets the best of me and I end up reading about new music. I soon find myself clicking on the shopping cart. I'm curious about some of your responses about the 50-60s era. While I do love that music I am so taken by the modern 'new' releases that I think I'll never run out of recordings to choose from. What makes that era better to your ears? Is it that it was novel at the time and that there were far fewer players with jazz sensitibilities relative to today? To my ears the newer music has richer harmonies and rhythms. The musicians have assimilated more sounds and have a larger pallet to choose from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alocispepraluger102 Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 although i no longer buy compulsively, the mention of an unknown to me jeanne lee, red garland, nina simone, mal wardon, lester young, paul bley, wayne shorter, rova, or philly joe recording excites me and all defenses are off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 nah, the older music is the richest, really... before they all turned into post-Trane robots seriously... i guess that 50s/60s/hardbop fixation here still goes back to the roots of this board, when it was founded after the Blue Note board had been closed. Discussions about other kinds of music (I'm thinking more of anything avant or free, rather than all the new retro and new mainstream stuff, much of which I find rather cold and boring rich/complex harmonies notwithstanding) always had more of a difficulty getting started here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 @Drew Peacock: What you call "richer" would in many cases be "neither flesh nor fowl" to me. "Crossover" music styles are alright and I realize working all kinds of influences into one thing has been all the rage for quite a while in these circles but IMHO you can only go so far without sacrificing the soul and essence of the original style that you are trying to "advance". And I've often found all those jazz-cum-rock-cum-world music-cum-you name it just lack that vital ingredient - outright SWING. Guess I am just too "classicistic" in my listening habits. And therefore I even found SOME of those 90s neo-swing bands that mixed big band swing with Las Vegas lounge sounds and even outright PUNK ROCK more stimulating than some of that way-out "world music" and "experimental" mishmash - if taken in MODERATE doses. At least and for a time it opened up a new direction of "development" of swing-era jazz that had not been explored before. Maybe not so sophisticated and advanced as other crossovers (including 70s "jazz rock") but definitely more gutsy and with an immediate appeal with no fuss and no pretenses, just like in the old days when jazz was supposed to provide basic ENTERTAINMENT! And yet the old masters still reign supreme. BTW, I'm not one of those who are all set on hard bop (quite to the contrary, I pity those who cannot look further back back into jazz - either style-wise or historically - beyond Trane, Morgan, Mobley, Blakey, etc - there's much more to jazz than hard bop). And King Ubu isn't all wrong with those "post-Trane robots" - isn't this what a lot of "Post-Bop" is all about in essence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 jazz-cum-rock-cum-world music-cum-you name it Latin or pr0n? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 @Drew Peacock: What you call "richer" would in many cases be "neither flesh nor fowl" to me. "Crossover" music styles are alright and I realize working all kinds of influences into one thing has been all the rage for quite a while in these circles but IMHO you can only go so far without sacrificing the soul and essence of the original style that you are trying to "advance". And I've often found all those jazz-cum-rock-cum-world music-cum-you name it just lack that vital ingredient - outright SWING. Guess I am just too "classicistic" in my listening habits. ... BTW, I'm not one of those who are all set on hard bop (quite to the contrary, I pity those who cannot look further back back into jazz - either style-wise or historically - beyond Trane, Morgan, Mobley, Blakey, etc - there's much more to jazz than hard bop). i like to call the thing that's missing BEBOP CHARM ... which was already lost in a lot of blue note hard bop, came back partially with ornette coleman... somehow i just don't hear the beauty of, say, early fifties al haig in the music of john scofield and joshua redman... that said, i do listen to and enjoy lots of jazz which is entertaining or doesn't have a lot of bebop charm in it... and i have checked out some recent stuff lately and liked it a lot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelz777 Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) I haven't reached the saturation point to the degree that I've quit browsing for and buying new music but I'm starting to seriously feel that way more and more over time. I've gotten a lot better about not picking things up just because I'm kinda interested in them, reserving purchases for things I like a lot. Unfortunately, that still allows for a lot of buys. Even now, about 16 new titles made their way or are in the works for making their way into my collection over the last month or two. I've encountered too many good sales. When discs are only $5 to $6, how can you not pick up at least a few? Maybe a solution would be to get a family member to randomly select a disc or two from my collection, put it them a mailer and stick them in the mailbox once or twice a week. Edited July 16, 2009 by mikelz777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Monday Michiru turned me out a few years ago, and I ain't comin' back, that's all I gotta say. The zombie woke up and gladly comitted suicide. Good will always be good, and old will always be old. It's important that we recognizr both of those points and proceed accordingly by not conflating the two in order to serve our own "personal needs". Art Blakey, for example, will always be great, but it ain't ever gonna be 1959 again either. I'm at peace with both of those realities, so...when I need great, I can always go to Art Blakey. And when I need 2009, I can go elsewhere. And when I need to contrast and compare, I can go both palces at once and find etrnal verities. But I don't need (any longer) to look for "now" in "then", becuase sooner or later, god willing, you do wake up and realize that what Lee Morgan "meant" in 1969 & 2009 are at best only somewhat the same thing. And that if "jazz" in 2009 does not mean the same thing in 2009 as it did in 1969, then that's ok...I don't need jazz just because it's "jazz", dig? I need the truth of the now just as much as i need the truth of forever, and i'll find it where it is, not where i think it should be. And that, dear friends, is a challenge! Ok, that's all I gotta say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 This hasn't happened to me, and I've been listening to jazz since 1973. The best solution to music ennui is to stop living in the past all the time. Find some new artists (or new genres) to be excited about. The best way to find new artists (or to revive your interests in older but still living artists) is to hear live music. Since you live in Dallas/Fort Worth, this is rarely possible. So the solution is to travel to a jazz festival, or go to New York City (a jazz festival is in pregress there 365 days of the year). Prices are as cheap now as they will ever be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Sometimes a break away from collecting will get the fire going again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Financial problems of course derailed my collector bug...but at some point during my self-imposed exile from collecting...I began to lose interest in it. Since January I think I might have bought about 5 CDs, none of them jazz...I used to not be able to go through a week without buying stuff, but it doesn't really hit me anymore. Part of "getting out of the habit" was not paying much attention to what is being released, if I don't know about it, I'm not going to miss it. I'd much rather spend money on social things now, instead of buying a CD to listen to, I'll go see a band instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 The best way to find new artists (or to revive your interests in older but still living artists) is to hear live music. Since you live in Dallas/Fort Worth, this is rarely possible. So the solution is to travel to a jazz festival, or go to New York City (a jazz festival is in pregress there 365 days of the year). Or else get high as a mf and listen to the sounds in your head. :g :g Legally of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Since you live in Dallas/Fort Worth, this is rarely possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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