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WHEN JAZZ WAS FASHIONABLE →
A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
The philosopher Isaiah Berlin divided everyone into two types: those whose knowledge was broad but not deep, and the reverse. One he characterized as a hedgehog, the other a fox, and I do not remember which animal reportedly had which intellectual profile.
But yesterday the Beloved and I met a man who knows many things well AND deeply, and I celebrate him. He's BOB WIRTZ, and he's on his way to Ohio to look at another huge record collection.
While we were in Portland, Maine, a lovable town, I spied a used record store on Congress Street. ENTERPRISE RECORDS was closed whenever I walked by, and it became even more enticing: records arranged neatly in browsers, a Jim Hall – Bill Evans issue in the window. On our last day in town, I walked over and stood in front of the window, disappointed that I wouldn't get in. As I was about to turn away, the door opened and a compact, thoughtful man in a red floral shirt asked quietly if he could do anything for me. I identified myself as a jazz collector and asked if I could come in for a few minutes if I promised not to talk to him. He grinned, waved me in, saying that talking was OK, although he was on his way to Ohio.
Since I get overwhelmed easily, I was happy he didn't have acres of jazz records — but (to paraphrase Spencer Tracy) what he had was choice: from Sweet Emma Barrett at Preservation Hall to Herman Foster to Sun Ra and beyond. I gleefully found a reissue of one of the Dicky Wells Felsted sessions (Benny Morton, Vic Dickenson, Jo Jones), a Columbia two-record Jimmy Rushing reissue which contained a few duets with Helen Humes backed by Ben Webster, and a Jim Robinson record that had the poetic Raymond Burke in the band — all for less than twenty dollars. My kind of music! When we fell into collectors' conversation, I learned that Bob had run this store for twenty-one years and was interested in most kinds of music.
The conversation turned to more normal matters — like food — when the Beloved entered, and we told him that we were on our way north and had been told to stop at a famous tourist spot, Moody's Diner, for its good food, its local color, its popularity. Bob said with great intensity, "You don't want to go THERE! Everything there is straight out of the freezer!" He was fervent and compelling and offered an alternative in Gardiner, the A-1 Diner. And anyone who worries that people will eat poor food and warns them away from it is someone to treasure.
We found Moody's Diner en route, and stopped in to see if Bob was right. Oh, was he ever! The iced coffee was distinguished only by being brown and wet; the packaged slices of pie had been left over from a James Whale film shoot, and the best thing was the restroom . . . .
Thank you, Bob Wirtz! May all your enterprises prosper.
BOB WIRTZ, ENTERPRISE RECORDS, 650 CONGRESS STREET, PORTLAND, MAINE 04101 (207.773.7672). enterpriserex@aol.com; www.enterpriserecords.net.
This entry was posted in Ideal Places, The Things We Love and tagged A-1 Diner, Ben Webster, Benny Morton, Bill Evans, Bob Wirtz, Dicky Wells, Enterprise Records, Helen Humes, Isaiah Berlin, James Whale, Jim Hall, Jim Robinson, Jimmy Rushing, Jo Jones, Maine, Portland, Raymond Burke, Spencer Tracy, Sun Ra, Sweet Emma Barrett, tourist spot, used records, Vic Dickenson, www.enterpriserecords.net. Bookmark the permalink.
2 responses to "A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND"
John Herr | July 16, 2008 at 10:25 PM |
Michael: Last post you mentioned Zen, & I was reminded of the old joke: Q: What did the Dalai Lama say to the hot dog vendor? A: Make me one with everything. I appreciate that you don't want to wish too hard for the Frankie Newton 78s & Nat Pierce '50s records, for fear they'll never come your way, but if you have a modest want-list of titles, I'd be happy to find them for you. As a jazz & classical collector with 4000 LPs & an equal number of CDs, I can report that most of the worthwhile material on 78s, EPs & 10″-33s eventually made the jump to LP & CD. Much of it you could find on CDNow (Amazon) or GEMM tonight. Of course, I enjoy nosing around used record stores & record shows as much as the next collector, but I use that effort to discover gems of which I was previously unaware or which were never reissued in any format. There is also a universe of material never sold commercially that is now available for internet download, such as an '80 trio session from a Stockholm radio studio featuring Plas Johnson, Tommy Flanagan & Red Mitchell or '84 Canadian concerts by Stan Getz, all professionally-recorded. Leo Rayhill, who runs a nightly show of mostly early jazz on WCNY-fm91.3/WCNY.org, just gave me a CD 2-fer of '43-'44 radio transcriptions (not airchecks) called Masters of Classic Jazz: The Trumpet that features previously unreleased performances by Muggsy Spanier, Bobby Hackett, Red Allen, Roy Eldridge, Jonah Jones & Charlie Shavers, some stretching to 4-5 mins. New material becomes available all the time. Will you be attending the WFMU Record & CD Fair at Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W 18th St, Manhattan, 10/24? John
jazzlives | July 17, 2008 at 8:45 PM |
John, your offer goes beyond generous and perhaps someday I shall send you a request. But I find I approach the whole business of collecting and "completing" differently than I did twenty years ago, when I tried to have everything I could by my favorite artists. Perhaps since there is so much to listen to that's newly uncovered and so much to try to rehear, I will be happy having near at hand the familiar and rare things that give me so much pleasure. Perhaps it has to do with learning to want less and to enjoy what we have? There, that's some more Zen for you. Gratefully yrs – – – –