It's the time of year when music nerds start thinking about compiling best-of lists. And for the first time, I won't own physical copies of most of the titles in my rankings. I'm not a big fan of MP3s but there just aren't any Kansas City retailers that stock much current jazz. Find me an area store with a copy of Apex by Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green in stock and I'll buy you a beer.
It wasn't always like this. I remember buying albums on the ECM label at Classical Westport. I first explored the Miles Davis catalog during 3-for-$10 Sony "Nice Price" sales. Yours truly once managed the jazz section at a Penny Lane Records store. (While the opportunity thrilled me, I suspect that my manager LeRoi Johnson bestowed the title on me in lieu of a raising my hourly pay.) The Record Cabinet and the Music Exchange are also sorely missed.
I'm curious- how do Plastic Sax readers acquire new music? Do you download (legally or otherwise), order from e-retailers like Amazon or resort to picking up old vinyl at neighborhood garage sales?
And in case you're curious- Bobby Watson's The Gates BBQ Suite is my album of the year.
(Original image by Plastic Sax.)
I love all the formats I own, from original 78's on through my current practice of sharing music over the Web. Converting You Tube videos to mp3 is easy and there is more available than time to download and convert. But I miss the community of a record store. The other day I snagged the complete output of Wynn Stewart. Pop a top...
ReplyDeletei'd still rather buy cds because i want the liner notes, credits, etc., and if i do, it's from amazon, or maybe barnes & noble. but for jazz in particular, i download - legally - from itunes.
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I do it all: vinyl, CDs, MP3s. For the latter, I tend to gravitate towards Amazon more so than iTunes. And wherever the vinyl is...
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