East of the Sun

So a couple weeks back, I was doing some vinyl digging at Goodwill in an undisclosed town (sorry kids, I can't give away all my secret locations), someone had donated a large quantity of vinyl in good shape. There was a good bit of jazz and blues, some in better shape than others.

The gem of the day for me, was a pristine copy of Paul Desmond's- East of the Sun. Now, I won't claim to be a jazz elitists, but I do know a little something. I am a fan of Dave Brubeck, as well as his quartet. Yeah yeah, white boy jazz I know. I'd rather think of it as pop-jazz. I realize he does not compare to the likes of Parker, Davis, Monk or Mingus, but it is a different style, and an equally good artist. So with that, you anti-Brubeckians can either listen to what I have to say and be a bit open minded, or continue to miss out on great music because your taste is all an illusion. Anyway of his quartet I specifically enjoy the sax player- Desmond. So the album I came across in the dusty bins at Goodwill was a NM copy of East of the Sun. This particular LP was released in 1981 on the now defunct record label, Discovery Records. This LP is a remastered version of the original 1960 First Place Again released on Warner Bros.

The story only gets more interesting, I had never actually heard this record, but given the artist, condition and incredibly low price, I bought it. When I got home and put it on my table, it did not even require a dusting (although I gave it one.) The sound quality was phenomenal; granted I was playing it on my Music Hall MMF-5, into McIntosh amps and Klipsch Cornwalls, but thats a discussion for another time.

I had the record a week or so, and decided to show it to my father, not surprisingly, he was blown away and had to have it. Considering I paid $1 for it at Goodwill, I assumed it may be available elsewhere for a bit more. To my surprise the damn thing exists NOWHERE! He thought he was funny when he offered me $2 for the LP, "you've made 100% profit!" I rejected the offer. On another note, we jointly purchased a lot of 100 or so LPs from a guy online. Great shape my portion of the lot was about $100. He offered to pay for my LPs if I handed over the Desmond. I knew at this point he wanted it badly, and I would forever regret parting with it. Time to take action- I scoured ebay, CDnow.com, and did various google searches through various record resellers- no luck. I took my search one level farther and began to search for the original First Place Again, thinking if the remaster was impossible to find, this would be as well. To my surprise, I found one online and promptly ordered it. This copy now resides in my fathers shelves of LPs. Oh and it sounds great. So the total price for my copy and his, including shipping on his, came to a grand total of $25. Not bad if you ask me.

The moral of the story is this: you never know what you may find in the most unlikely of places. Keep your head held high and dig through all the crap that you're sure to find, because one day, you may find the diamond in the rough.