Good music is in the ear of the beholder. Out of the genres I listen to, this album by the late David Sanborn is one of my favorites in the collection I managed to preserve over the years. The basis of this post is that I just heard one of the songs from this album on a live-stream radio station.
Obviously, this one I bought when I lived in Japan and the condition of it is where I can play it on my Teac all-in-one system for albums, CDs, and cassette tapes. It still sounds like the day I bought it when I put the needle to it. And yes, I still have a collection (ML says way too many) of tapes from years gone by that I listen to occasionally.
The first album I bought of Sanborn was 'Hideaway' back when I was in high school. So if you do the math, you can guestimate where I'm at on the scale of life, and man does time seem to fly when I look at things that way. Another way I suppose I could look at it is when I bought this particular album I was already a non-commissioned officer in the Air Force on my second assignment and only five years out of high school. 🤷
Listening to this album brings back good memories, and especially at the time it was purchased. I would like to think the practice is continued since the Japanese are obsessively customer-service oriented, but each time I would buy an album at this particular music store I frequented, the cashier would remove the album from the sleeve and inspect it to make sure there were no scratches on the album. Then, would slide it back in with care and replace the album's plastic cover with a new one. Quite a few times, I would see an album by an artist but wouldn't know any of the songs because it was so new. Radio for contemporary jazz was non-existent back then, so it was understandable that a customer would want to know what was on it before buying it - at least at this store. I would bring it up to the cashier and ask if I could listen to it, and they would allow me to listen on their Denon turntable and sound system that would play in a low but respectable volume as to not bother other customers in the store. Often, it would be just one or three songs I'd hear, and I would buy it. It was great to be able to do this and led to many albums being purchased, which is why I feel they did this.
Good album and good times. 'Imogine', 'Chicago Song' and 'A Change of Heart' on the album are on a playlist of favorites on my phone. If you subscribe to Spotify or go to YouTube, you can find the album and give it a listen. ~
