Jazz Record Center

Jazz Record Center is a Manhattan jazz specialist with a loft-style setting and a deep accumulation of records, CDs, posters, photographs, magazines, and jazz ephemera. It is not a casual storefront in the usual sense; people tend to come deliberately, often with want-lists, research interests, or a serious collector's ear.

The interview below is especially useful for sellers and estates with jazz collections. Condition and pressing details matter heavily here, and the shop may start by asking for an inventory or sample photos before arranging a visit.

Interview with Jazz Record Center

Jazz Record Center is the specialist's specialist: a loft in Manhattan devoted entirely to jazz on record, in print, on paper. How do you describe the shop's mission?

Our goal is to have a broad selection of jazz related material: LPs, CDs, DVD, posters, photographs, magazines and ephemera representing the history of the genre.

The loft setting changes the visit: people come deliberately, not on a whim. Does that shape the whole experience?

I think so, though we have never been in a storefront. Most of our customers - particularly those who had to struggle to find the store - feel as if they have entered a comfort zone.

Who comes through: collectors with want-lists, researchers, musicians, international visitors making the pilgrimage?

All of the above, including regulars, some of whom come in daily.

What separates a jazz record that's collectible from one that's merely old? You must field that question constantly.

Age may have little to do with collectibility: there are many small independent labels who issue CDs and LPs in limited editions. Other than those, the issue as to what is collectible and what is not is largely determined by the jazz community.

The books, posters, and ephemera alongside the LPs make it an archive as much as a store. Which corners of the stock are deepest?

I prefer not to use the word "archive", though I know where you're coming form. I prefer "accumulation". After more than 43 years, there are things here that I have forgotten about and stumble over usually just by chance. Aside from the LPs and CDs, the deepest inventory is magazines. When I started the business, magazines like Down Beat and Metronome were a big deal. There are probably well over a thousand magazines here, some going back to the 1930s. They are historically significant but are now irrelevant. If I sell one magazine a year, it's a lot.

When a serious jazz collection comes up for sale, what makes you move on it, and how should an estate or collector approach you?

Most inquiries are from strangers, usually families of a deceased or incapacitated collector. They are rarely familiar with the collection and tend to assume that they are sitting on a goldmine. Sometimes that is true, in which case I try to establish rapport by understanding their situation and offering help with the collection. "Serious" collections - those with valuable records in ideal condition - can be beneficial for both parties and that is what I try to convey without pressuring them. Initially, I ask if there is an inventory of the collection. If not, can they send some sample photos. Depending of the location of the collection (within the tri-state area or beyond) I try to schedule a visit as soon as possible.

At the collector level you work in, how much do pressing details and condition grades genuinely move value?

Condition is everything, for LPs both the cover and the record. Pressing details can impact value up to 90% Even a single missing detail can have a 50% effect. The bizarre aspect of the marketplace is that there are a lot of buyers who are ignorant of these details and will sometimes pay more for a later pressing than for an original.

Someone's making their first visit and loves jazz but has never bought a collectible record. Where do you start them?

I steer them away from "collectible" and focus on the music.

Last updated: 2026-07-23