Artists of Whom You Accumulated a Zillion LPs Without Really Trying

[Teasing the Korean]

Last night, Ms. TTK and I had her brother and his girlfriend over for dinner.  We all love jazz and we are all vinyl hounds.

At one point, I put on an Ahmad Jamal LP (At the Top: Poinciana Revisited) and we started talking about artists in our accumulations for whom we have acquired many, many LPs, without really trying or being aware of it.  

The four artists in particular we we agreed upon were:

• Ahmad Jamal
• Ramsey Lewis
• George Shearing
• And, of course, Herbie Mann

During the Great Vinyl Purge of the 1990s and early 2000s, albums by these artists were everywhere for low dough.  I think I have 16 Ahmad Jamal LPs, and probably around 30 by each of the other artists, or at least I had 30 at one time, before thinning the herd.  What is funny is that this occurred without any of us really trying.  We just woke up one day realizing we had accumulated huge catalogs of these artists.

Wondering if this is the case for anyone else, or if you would add others to this list.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[kh1958]

Cannonball Adderley, Shirley Scott, Jimmy Smith and Brother Jack McDuff are four more that have rolled my way without a lot of effort, in significant quantities.

[BillF]

Gerry Mulligan accounted for the greatest number of albums of any artist, but then my collection numbered hundreds, rather than thousands.

[Teasing the Korean]

21 minutes ago, kh1958 said:

Cannonball Adderley, Shirley Scott, Jimmy Smith and Brother Jack McDuff are four more that have rolled my way without a lot of effort, in significant quantities.

Yeah, I accumulated lots of Cannonball and Jimmy Smith also!

I can probably add Wes Montgomery to that list.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Big Al]

Cal Tjader Verve mono albums. Not zillions but still surprisingly easy to find. And enjoy. 

[Teasing the Korean]

10 minutes ago, Big Al said:

Cal Tjader Verve mono albums. Not zillions but still surprisingly easy to find. And enjoy. 

Yup!

[JSngry]

I seem to keep getting Gerry Mulligan records, long after I really cared about Gerry Mulligan. Seems like he often had interesting bands and made interesting records even if he himself was not a particularly interesting player! 

[Milestones]

TTK,

Of the artists you named, I have about 4 records in my collection.

I have a lot by Miles, Coltrane, Sonny, Kenny Burrell, Lee Morgan, and many more--but I have to say I was TRYING to get those records.

 

 

[Teasing the Korean]

3 minutes ago, Milestones said:

TTK,

Of the artists you named, I have about 4 records in my collection.

I have a lot by Miles, Coltrane, Sonny, Kenny Burrell, Lee Morgan, and many more--but I have to say I was TRYING to get those records.

Right, this is more about accidental accumulation as a result of price and frequency of encountering the records.  Albums by the four artists I listed were all routinely available for a dollar or two for a long time.

[jlhoots]

Not jazz - Tom Russell

[Tom in RI]

Willis Gatortail Jackson. For the longest time I only had one of his dates on Muse, then I kept seeing additional titles for cheap that I couldn’t pass up.

[kh1958]

Dave Brubeck is another; acquired lots of records without trying hard.

[mjzee]

I've recently amassed a large number of Louie Bellson records.  I can't even tell you why; it's not like I like big band jazz.  But they started showing up real cheap on Dusty Groove and, well...

[mhatta]

I have a lot of Mose Allison CDs.  I like him, but I am not really an avid fan of his music.  But somehow his records accumlated.

[Rabshakeh]

The idea of having 30 George Shearing records stresses me out. I have three shelves as a hard limit to my collection, which means that my collection of vinyl can’t outgrow 370 or so, so it is almost one in / one out.

Save for artists whom I consciously collect, I try to have only one record per artist (or one record per period, so two Stanley Turrentine records: one CTI and one Blue Note).

That way, if I am in the mood to listen to Cal Tjader, I can put on my Cal Tjader record (Latin Concert).

To be honest, 370 records is probably more than a person can regularly listen to anyway. That’s what I tell myself, as I hungrily lick my lips at Jackie McLean or Wayne Shorter reissues.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Rabshakeh

[Niko]

With Art Hodes and Don Ewell, I was surprised to learn that soon after you start collecting their records a bit you have to be careful it doesn't get out of hand... Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan are two that are surprisingly easy to collect on vinyl, compared to cd, so i did end up with slightly more than I need as well ...

[Teasing the Korean]

7 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

The idea of having 30 George Shearing records stresses me out. I have three shelves as a hard limit to my collection, which means that my collection of vinyl can’t outgrow 370 or so, so it is almost one in / one out.

Me too.  I ultimately unloaded most of the schmaltzy Capitol albums.  I held on the MGM albums, live albums, Latin albums, Bossa album, solo piano albums, the one with Sandy Warner on the cover, and the groovy MPS album where they do "The World is a Ghetto."  That's still around 20 or 25. 

I have space for a few more more albums than 370, not that this is necessarily a good thing.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[soulpope]

Art Pepper ....

[Rooster_Ties]

Hindemith.  Happily, mind you (all CD, not LP).

The classical composers I have the most of are Henze, Ives, and Hindemith (and Grieg, because of Mrs.  Rooster’s interest there).

The Henze and Ives I sought out on purpose, and with wild abandon.  But the Hindemith happened over 10-15 years, and much more haphazardly.

[Dan Gould]

8 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

 

To be honest, 370 records is probably more than a person can regularly listen to anyway. That’s what I tell myself, as I hungrily lick my lips at Jackie McLean or Wayne Shorter reissues.

I admire your restraint on some level but the beauty of jazz its capacity to surprise. Having one Stanley Turrentine recording to represent his BN years, or one Mobley recording, that's cutting yourself off from too much. I would never get to the extreme of TTKs vinyl collection, but the hunt for new continues, as I also enjoy the "old" - or at least owning it one form or another makes me feel I can go back to when Workout, Soul Station, or Blowin' The Blues Away were truly new to me.

[Big Beat Steve]

There are many where I am in a (near-)completist mood and value them acordingly but there are others that very often ended up in my racks without me really trying (because - like TTK said - the availability just was and/or is enormous, and besides - they ARE important and usually make for rewarding listening so you cannot really go wrong).  But their number of records in my collection definitely exceeds their place in my imaginary ranks of personal and perennial favorites) :

- Duke Ellington (the RCA and Columbia anthologies alone make for a HUGE lot! And then there's the "rest" ...)

- Benny Goodman

- Louis Armstrong

- Eddie Condon

- Sidney Bechet

As for TTK's initial listing, I could have picked up a lot more George Shearings too but beyond the MGM period I remain very, very choosy about his Capitol albums, regardless of their availability and affordability.

On 4/24/2023 at 6:32 AM, Rabshakeh said:

To be honest, 370 records is probably more than a person can regularly listen to anyway.

You've got a point there, but as for the eternal question "Are you ever going to listen to all of your records again in the rest of your life?", my reply (and not only mine, that's for sure ) is "No, but do I know which ones I won't ever listen to again?" No, I don't, so for the time being they are keepers. 😉

Edited May 10, 2023 by Big Beat Steve

[HutchFan]

2 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

The classical composers I have the most of are Henze, Ives, and Hindemith (and Grieg, because of Mrs.  Rooster’s interest there).

The Henze and Ives I sought out on purpose, and with wild abandon.  But the Hindemith happened over 10-15 years, and much more haphazardly.

A quick aside:  HOORAY for Charles Ives !!!   

The two artists with the most representation in my music collection are Charles Ives and Duke Ellington.  However, all of those records were accumulated with deliberate intent.  So enough of this rabbit trail...  Back to the thread topic at hand.   

 

[Teasing the Korean]

13 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

As for TTK's initial listing, I could have picked up a lot more George Shearings too but beyond the MGM period I remain very, very choosy about his Capitol albums, regardless of their availability and affordability.

The live and Latin albums on Capitol are worthwhile, as is the debut, "The Shearing Spell," the Capitol studio album closest to his jazzier MGM stuff.

[Jim Duckworth]

As a much younger jazz enthusiast I did not enjoy Benny Goodman, but over time I came to seek out Charlie Christian, Teddy Wilson, Mel Powell and others in the Goodman orbit and ended up amassing a respectable number of Benny Goodman releases before I dug him at all.  Of course I get it now and my BG acquisitions are intentional.

[Big Beat Steve]

@TTK:

Well, without getting too OT, what I did pick up (without looking for them) so far from the Capitol era were "Jazz Moments"; "Shearing on Stage", "San Francisco Scene", and "Nat King Cole Sings ...". (The "Burnished Brass" LP bought long ago was relegated to the Easy listening corner but is still there ).