They flipped it like it mattered, did the old jazz standard...
After listening to Graceland yesterday I felt the urge to get some great old albums on vinyl. I had heard about a place called Charlie's on Classen here in OKC so I decided to look it up and see what it was about.
It took me a bit of circling to find the place. It turned out it was on Classen Circle but its really not far from where I live at all. I walk into the store wearing a Smiths Meat is Murder t-shirt. I see nothing but LP's in bins around the whole place. The smell of incense and soothing voice of Ray Charles gives a warm and inviting feeling. No other customers are in the place at the time. An older black gentlemen wearing what appeared to be green OR scrubs comes out of the back and asks me if it was my first time in. I said yes, he introduces himself as Charlie. He asks me if I have a turntable. When I respond that I do a warm smile appears on his face and he says he's very glad to hear that.
I went through nearly all the jazz records in the store and ended up with 3. I complemented Charlie on such a great selection of great music and he seemed appreciative. Every record it seemed was in in pristine condition, obviously taken excellent care of. There must have been nearly 30 different Miles Davis albums on hand. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the one I was looking for, Bitches Brew.
I did end up with 3 great ones. Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz, Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners, and Miles Davis - Round About Midnight which I'm listening to for the third time at the moment.
I am really blown away by Round About Midnight. Its got an amazing sound. It features a young John Coltrane on saxophone before he really got big. Shortly after the release the group as it was on this recording was broken up by Davis. There really is some magic going on here. It seems so vibrant and full of life.
I will definitely be going back to Charlie's for some more music. He also has a great selection of old R&B and Blues that I'd like to try.