London Recomendations for Jazz Clubs & CD and Book Shops

[Alexander Hawkins]

  sidewinder said:

  mikeweil said:

  sidewinder said:

Where abouts is your gig?

I have no idea - we get picked up at Heathrow and are taken straight to the venue, I have no adress or whatever. Kurdish organization borders on chaos, in most cases. Mikail Aslan's webiste hasn't any details, either. I have the exact flight details 'cause I booked it myself!

Magical Mystery Tour !

If you are passing through the Picadilly Circus underground, you might want to try the old Tower Records site which is accessible from there, now rebanded 'Zavvi'. Was in there briefly yesterday - prices are ludicrous though (especially compared with good stores in Germany) and it's not as good as the old 'Tower'. 'Rays' remains your best bet (and the coffee is good there too).

Hmmm...my sense was that Zavvi was a good deal cheaper than Rays (if proportionately more souless...)...

Edited April 26, 2008 by Red

[sidewinder]

  Red said:

Hmmm...my sense was that Zavvi was a good deal cheaper than Rays (if proportionately more souless...)...

Pretty shocked yesterday when I saw their price for Conns - £17 ! Are these things linked to the petroleum index?

Oh for the days of Fopp when these things were often £5 a pop.

Other than RVGs at about £6 or £7 a pop, prices were high I thought. There again, I'm comparing it with prices in the boondocks. You may well be right though about price comparison with Rays. Everything in London is extortionate.

Edited April 26, 2008 by sidewinder

[Alexander Hawkins]

True - can't begin to imagine living in London! £17 for a Conn...ouch.

And right about Fopp...although I gather the one in London may still be open (for some reason)???

[sidewinder]

Ah yes, wasn't it HMV that bought some of the stores out? Not too many of them though (the one in Bath for example is now long gone). £17 for a Conn though takes things back to circa 1994. And these shops wonder why the internet is killing trade !

Edited April 26, 2008 by sidewinder

[Alexander Hawkins]

That could be right about HMV - I just don't know! I think I assumed at the time that administrators were keeping the most profitable stores open to try to shift whatever stock they could, but that's just guessing...

[Alexander Hawkins]

p.s. I was 13 in '94, and remember coveting the Coleman Hawkins/Roy Eldridge 'Live at the Opera House' CD which sat in the racks at my local independent...financially, totally out of reach at £13

Got it in the end though...and probably should have coveted other things at age 13, but anyway...

[sidewinder]

I'll guess we'll look on the last 10 years as the golden era for buying jazz CDs in retail stores the UK. It's back to the dark ages now, by the look of it. Thank goodness though for Dusty Groove and US snail mail !

Anyway, I digress from Mike's original thread.

Edited April 26, 2008 by sidewinder

[BillF]

  Red said:

That could be right about HMV - I just don't know! I think I assumed at the time that administrators were keeping the most profitable stores open to try to shift whatever stock they could, but that's just guessing...

In July Fopp went out of business, closing 81 stores. A few weeks later HMV re-opened a few still-profitable ones, trading under the name of Fopp. They are in Bristol, London (Earlsham St), Edinburgh, Glasgow (Union St and Byres Rd), Nottingham and - fortunately - Manchester.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Ah - I see. Thanks Bill!