Latin Beat Magazine: Collector's corner for vinyl junkies

Many people collect as a hobby and become addictive collectors of baseball cards, stamps, memorabilia, comic books, dolls, paintings, cars, concert posters and Playboy magazines. For many years I've come in contact with vinyl 12" collectors looking to sell collections that would have cost anywhere between $7K-22K cash. Today collectors are using their computers as a way to search for vinyl or visiting record outlets in the hopes of finding that rare record.

Over these years I've received countless calls and e-mails from vinyl fans with the desire to buy and sell rare recordings. First of all, labels such as Riverside, GNP, Decca, Fiesta, Forum, Mardi Gras, Fuentes, Roulette, Fonseca, Blue Note, Epic, Remo, Atlantic, Egrem, Panart, Colpix, RCA/Victor, Columbia, Fania, Fantasy, Phillips, Majestic and Prestige in the '50s, '60s and '70s pressed very limited amounts of records because they were not sure how the markets would react to this specialized music (salsa, Latin jazz, etc.). Demand would determine if more would be made after an initial printing of maybe 1,0003,000 LPs. This already made hundreds of recordings rare because that second printing never happened for various For one thing, bad promotion usually led to the demise of a good recording. Many labels did not have the resources to do the album justice. Other recordings were simply ahead of their time, a testament to the vision of the artist, but a commercial failure nonetheless.

Collectors today can pay anywhere from a few dollars to over $400 for a particular vinyl depending on the condition, rarity of the print, and whether it's an original issue with original artwork and liner notes. Some vinyl was pressed in red, yellow, blue, green or white, and collectors loved them in spite of a diminished sound. Some covers were double folds or came in panels, as in the example of Ray Barretto's Barretto (1975), where the conga opens up to reveal all the credits on the backside. Research indicates that some of the rarest LPs belong to artists such as Willie Bobo, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Pete Terrace, Joe Loco, Héctor Rivera, Charlie and Eddie Palmieri, Mario Ortiz, La Playa Sextet, Jose Curbelo, Jose Fajardo, Culebra, Esy Morales, Noro Morales, Richie Ray/Bobby Cruz, Eddie Cano, Randy Carlos, Johnny Ventura, Al Castellanos, Juan Pablo Torres, René Touzet, Joe Quijano, and El Gran Combo (on GEMA), as well as anything recorded by Alfredito, Panart's Cuban Jam Session series (1957), early Alegre releases by Johnny Pacheco, any Federico y Su Combo LPs on Palacios, Sonero Clasico Del Caribe on FOCA or BASE the Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble on LPV, El Trabuco Venezolano series, Culebra on CBS, Ricardo Ray on Fonseca, Bobby Valentín on Fania and Las Estrellas de Areito series. For many of the artists mentioned, the earlier recordings--in particular 10" vinyl or 78 rpms~--are collectible. There are also jazz albums with Latin themes by Art Farmer, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Billy Taylor, Erroll Garner, the Jazz Crusaders, Houston Person, Lou Donaldson, Dizzy Gillespie, Bunky Green, Cozy Cole & the Cuboppers, Clark Terry, James Moody, Terry Gibbs, Tom Harrell and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, George Shearing, Stan Kenton are also sought after albums.

The better recordings have been reissued so many times with so many different labels and licenses that the originals become more exclusive. Labels Blue Note, Tico, Fuentes, Decca and BMG/RCA have yet to release recordings from their catalogs on CD, thus making the vinyl a must for DJs who still incorporate turntables, for music historians and for vinyl junkies hunting for that rare recording that will make them feel complete. I began to collect in the late '60s, and despite having a library of over 15,000 vinyl and 7,000 CDs, I still feel I'm missing hundreds of LPs that I overlooked or have not seen in print. Many people are now using the Internet as a way to sell and buy. Many have recordings stored away in the attic or basement gathering dust, while others left them behind at mom's house. When the CD became the way to listen to music, many threw away their LPs. Long Play 12" vinyl is part of music history and collectors know it. There is a whole new generation of vinyl fans and any collectors can email me their dream lists to n2001rod@aol.com.

The following list is one that collectors have determined to be rare. Many of these albums are on the expensive side and can be found on compact disc.