How Would You Describe Your Music Collecting

[paul secor]

Still have the fever after all these years. I do find that as I've gotten older that I believe that I'm listening with more attention than I did when I was younger, & I find that I'm collecting less for the sake of collecting and collecting more for the sake of listening, if that makes sense. I'm amazed that there's always music out there that I haven't heard before and that excites my spirit. There are times when I've thought about cutting down my collection as I get older to maybe 500-1000 "essential" recordings, but I've decided that wouldn't be as much fun.

[kh1958]

Slowing down after 37 years of jazz buying? No, if anything, I'm accelerating over the last few years, plus I'm interested in more other genres of music as time goes by.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

The disease began around 1958 and lingers.

that's my mother's line!

[CJ Shearn]

Slowing down after 37 years of jazz buying? No, if anything, I'm accelerating over the last few years, plus I'm interested in more other genres of music as time goes by.

Same here though I still collect a lot of artists I love, Blakey, Silver, Metheny, Corea, Hutcherson, Mehldau, DeJohnette, Garrett. I buy albums of various people where a configuration interests me, i.e. the new David Sanborn.

[.:.impossible]

I never really thought of it as collecting. Ever since I realized how much jazz and improvised music did for me, I've been on a constant search for something new, or something different. This seems more and more difficult to find now than it did in the first few years of discovery. I can only imagine how difficult it has become for many of you who have been exploring for so much longer than me.

Buying a new stereo amplifier has been a very revealing experience. I find myself pulling out my favorite albums and listening to them with a new ear. The other albums just sit on the shelf, as they have for most of the time that I've owned them. May be time to start weeding.

[Stefan Wood]

Still buying. Not as bad as in years past, but still adding to the "archives." Dusty Groove is a bad habit to kick. Been getting back into vinyl, filling in gaps (thanks Dan!), and dumping dupes and such on ebay. Upgrading my speakers has made music listening so much more enjoyable (Dahlquist 9s and Infinity RS4B).

[BeBop]

I started in junior high, when I was in "Stage Band", buying the stuff we played: Basie/Hefti, Maynard, Woody Herman. I did most of my collecting when recordings were cheap ($1 LPs and $2.99 CDs in the early, cut-throat days of the internet) under much broader horizons: trad to free, rock, world, electronic, techno, disco (just kidding). Reached about 10,000 items, then started traveling 24/7/365 for business and haven't seen my collection for 10 years, other than my annual week of vacation when I reload my MP3 players. Presently buy only the irresistible: Mosaics, other limited edition. Still, I know I'll be dead before I get back through it all. The bulk of my buying today is for gifts; music's still my favorite gift.

Alternative and more accurate answer: I collect music these days in the form of memories of live performances.

[A Lark Ascending]

Still exploring (new performers (to me), new genres etc). I love that moment when something new clicks and a whole new field opens out.

Given that a recording these days costs the same as an inexpensive meal in a standard cafe or a cinema ticket I don't feel any guilt. You can listen to a recording again without paying again (unless you insist on buying the deluxe version in a special edition gold-plated box).

I do enjoy hearing new and up-and-coming performers. I've never been hung up on the old masters thing.

I play music constantly and very rarely sit and listen to it with total concentration. Still thrills me, even if I probably have precious little intellectual appreciation of it (maybe for me music is more like a train journey through a wonderful landscape rather than an hour spent contemplating a single tree).

I hardly ever get rid of music I've bought - I've too many memories of deciding I've gone off a genre only to find renewed interest later down the line.

I'm probably a typical child of the post-war consumer culture - programmed to look forward to the next 'new' before I've even begun to digest the last 'new'.

So I voted 2!

Edited May 17, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I'm still, apparently, collecting hard, but les and less of it is jazz. Just checked and acquisitions over the last 20 years have been running around the 150-250 mark, with a few outlying years. This year, it's 81 so far, so that's about the same.

YR ACQ

1990 129

1991 121

1992 113

1993 128

1994 178

1995 187

1996 196

1997 210

1998 229

1999 186

2000 242

2001 295 (141 jazz)

2002 266 (192 jazz)

2003 253 (124 jazz)

2004 183 (121 jazz)

2005 127 (100 jazz)

2006 218 (143 jazz)

2007 183 (108 jazz)

2008 170 (111 jazz)

2009 216 (118 jazz)

2010 81 (23 jazz)

A fair proportion of this lot is stuff I had before on LP or K7, which I replaced on CD - perhaps a quarter, though I don't really know.

MG

[BillF]

A fair proportion of this lot is stuff I had before on LP or K7, which I replaced on CD

I remember seeing a cartoon in Private Eye around 1990 of a guy begging on the sidewalk with a sign saying "Converting to CD".

[sidewinder]

Out of control in a Gordon Brown sort of way..

[kh1958]

I'm still, apparently, collecting hard, but les and less of it is jazz. Just checked and acquisitions over the last 20 years have been running around the 150-250 mark, with a few outlying years. This year, it's 81 so far, so that's about the same.

YR ACQ

1990 129

1991 121

1992 113

1993 128

1994 178

1995 187

1996 196

1997 210

1998 229

1999 186

2000 242

2001 295 (141 jazz)

2002 266 (192 jazz)

2003 253 (124 jazz)

2004 183 (121 jazz)

2005 127 (100 jazz)

2006 218 (143 jazz)

2007 183 (108 jazz)

2008 170 (111 jazz)

2009 216 (118 jazz)

2010 81 (23 jazz)

A fair proportion of this lot is stuff I had before on LP or K7, which I replaced on CD - perhaps a quarter, though I don't really know.

MG

A torrid pace!

[medjuck]

Slowing down a bit and starting to buy almost as many downloads as cds.

[gmonahan]

uncontrollable, insane, unstoppable addiction. 4000 cds, 1000 lps (left), 500 or so 78s...and counting. And I've been at it since the 60s. Of course, then, I couldn't afford as much. Not like that stopped me.... Sure doesn't now!

And this board definitely enables and supports my addiction. Shame on all of you!

gregmo

[GregK]

I am only constrained by finances. If the family didn't rely on me to feed and house them, I'd have more than three Mosaic sets, to begin with.

[John Tapscott]

uncontrollable, insane, unstoppable addiction. 4000 cds, 1000 lps (left), 500 or so 78s...and counting. And I've been at it since the 60s. Of course, then, I couldn't afford as much. Not like that stopped me.... Sure doesn't now!

And this board definitely enables and supports my addiction. Shame on all of you!

gregmo

Strong words, but yeah, some days I feel like that. Similar numbers on the CD's too, but no '78's, a bit heavier on the LP's/cassettes - yes, I used to buy those for listening in my car, still have a bunch.

I once overheard someone ask another person why they didn't quit smoking. The person replied, "I like it too much to quit." That's my trouble, really. I like jazz way to much to ever quit, at least completely. Cut back, yes, but quit - not likely.

[jeffcrom]

I've never worried about my addiction until recently. I buy a fair number of CDs and LPs, but I have really come to love 78s lately. They take up a lot of room, and I live in a small city house. I just added another storage box today. I'm worried....

[papsrus]

1,000 Jazz Albums You Should Hear Before You Die

[peterintoronto]

(sold the bulk of my vinyl to finance the Art Ensemble box).

Now that's commitment and a love of music!

Me? I pay $150 a month more than my girlfriend so that we can live in a two-bedroom apartment. The $150 is for my 'music room' that houses my stereo, 1000 CDs, 2000 LPs, and countless books on jazz. And I'm still buying more records every week!

[David Ayers]

[...] a recording these days costs the same as an inexpensive meal in a standard cafe [...]

Given the choice between a Mosaic and lunch at the Maze I'd go for the latter. In fact I recently was given exactly that choice and that's exactly what I did. Uh, I'm sure your cafe is nice too.

[paul secor]

1,000 Jazz Albums You Should Hear Before You Die

Dying or listening to some of those might be a tough choice.

[papsrus]

1,000 Jazz Albums You Should Hear Before You Die

Dying or listening to some of those might be a tough choice.

Yes. He got off to a bit of a shaky start with that first selection.

The whole idea that there are 1,000 albums that are 'must-listen' is a bit bizarre/OCD. I wonder what the 1,001st album was -- the last one eliminated? Boy that would be tough.

[Dan Gould]

In all honesty I think when you're going for a thousand, there's no real marginal difference between #s 999, 1000 and 1001. Or for that matter, #800 and #1001.

And he did say that there is no order or ranking. But I was pleased to see two Gene Harris dates in the first 150.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

upcoming penguin

Edited May 18, 2010 by Man with the Golden Arm

[A Lark Ascending]

[...] a recording these days costs the same as an inexpensive meal in a standard cafe [...]

Given the choice between a Mosaic and lunch at the Maze I'd go for the latter. In fact I recently was given exactly that choice and that's exactly what I did. Uh, I'm sure your cafe is nice too.

I can cook for myself far cheaper. I really do penny pinch on meals out (when I was a kid we always brought sandwiches on days out!) unless its a social thing.

A colleague of mine once had her friends categorised as 'musos', 'filmos' and 'foodies'. I know where I fall (but what happened to 'reados').

Edited May 18, 2010 by Bev Stapleton