The Thrower Music Collection - Year 42

 October 1st is only a few days away, and anyone who has been following me for any amount of time knows the significance of that day.  It is the day, in 1982, that I got my first LP recording which kicked off a significant music collection that I have now.  In 42 years, you can do a lot with any interest, and the progress of my collection is very significant.   Let us first deal with the stats, and then I will reflect on specifics. 

As of October 1, my total music collection sits at approximately 3219 items, including 1869 CDs, 1145 LP records, and 207 DVDs.   This is up from 3187 total at this time last year.  The net increase then is 32 total new items, which includes 29 new CDs and 3 new LP records.  The CDs this year focused on some very significant items - one was the 16-disc Hal Kemp set that was recently released, which essentially has all of his recordings between the years 1926 and 1941.  Also, we got some vintage rarities, including a complete collection of pioneer bandleader Ford Dabney's material released by our good friends at Archeophone Records, a collection of early Carl Fenton material under his actual name Gus Henschen which dates from the early 1920s, and some newer stuff I have been after for a while, including Gypsy guitarist Angelo DeBarre and accordionist Ludovic Baer, and of vintage Italian bandleader Renato Carosone (2 discs there).  The acquisitions also included 4 discs of a legendary Philadelphia Mummer's Parade band called the Ferko String Band, and that was pioneering territory for me personally.  For those not familiar with what this is, the Mummer's Parade is practically a Philadelphia variation on the Mardi Gras theme, and one thing it features are these huge music ensembles of "string bands" - they include the typical brass instrumentation one associates with marching bands, but also feature concertinas, accordions, and banjos and ukeleles.  Like many of these traditional forms of music, during the age of the dance bands it became incorporated into the repertoire, in particular via the late bandleader Art Mooney, whose 1948 hit record of "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" capitalized on this sound.  In many instances, it is similar in a number of ways to some of the Czech and Bohemian polka ensembles that are in Texas particularly (the Shiner Hobos come to mind here), and in that context Mooney was filling a similar niche that Lawrence Welk did with the introduction of polkas to dance band music programs. The Ferkos have been around in some form for over 100 years, so their inclusion in my collection adds continual legacy.  In 2026, I will be working on my first comprehensive history of American dance bands, and plan on showing how the style of things like Mummer's Parade bands were incorporated into the catalogs of arrangements of bands like Art Mooney's, and it will be a history unlike any published in many years.  I have the collection now to work from, so it excites me to finally get into that here in a little over 18 months. 

LP records had a little less growth, as I am actually trying to move away from LPs as simply I believe I have all of those I am looking for.  I only acquired three of those this year, one being the 1957 coveted recording of the combined bands of Les Brown and Vic Schoen in creating Suite for Two Bands.  Making dance band productions which appealed more to the serious side of music is nothing new, as it dates back to at least Paul Whiteman in the 1920s introducing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite.  It continued into the 1940s, when many bandleaders (notably Freddy Martin) introduced composers such as Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninov to a whole new audience in danceable arrangements.  Then came Woody Herman in 1946 with Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, as well as leaders such as Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton embarking on ambitious projects of original compositions which took the dance band from the ballroom to the concert hall.  The Brown/Schoen collaboration in 1956 represents an apex of this, and it showcased the fact that rather than this great music being just for ballrooms and jukeboxes, it also had a place in more sophisticated cultural settings.  To this regard, it also dovetails jazz, which likewise saw a similar evolution over the years from being the music of dance halls and brothels in New Orleans to being a serious music that was played in venues such as Carnegie Hall.  And, it also means that the music merits serious scholarly inquiry as not only a cultural phenomenon, but also as a viable art form in itself.   The other two LPs I acquired this past year included two albums in the New World Anthology series, these focusing on rare territory bands of the 1920s and 1930s.   The New World set for many years was something one could only find in public libraries, but with the evolution of recording technology as well as the availability of platforms such as Amazon and Ebay, they are now available to interested collectors like myself.  Many libraries have jettisoned many of their vinyl collections, and a lot of them found their way onto Ebay and Amazon "storefronts" at very good prices.  It is almost redundant now to go to the thrift stores, flea markets, and junk shops to scour through boxes and boxes of records to look for that rare one, but in a way that is sad too because it was in places like that where my own collection started.  Other collectors (with good reason) often look down on acquiring records from thrift shops, citing the inferior condition as many are often badly stored, have scratches and nicks, and even mold/mildew damage on some records.  However, I am not as dismissive of those venues, as if one is open to checking them out it is highly possible that a rare gem can be uncovered, something that legendary collectors such as the late Joe Bussard and Greg Drust understood well.  I also don't just collect records due to the technical stuff - original serial numbers, certain labels, and all that are interesting, and if you find those hang onto them.  I collect out of simple love of the music itself.   If a collector is only collecting for pecuniary objectives and has no real love of the music, then that person to me is not a true collector - that person is simply a treasure hunter and slightly above the grave robbers that desecrated royal tombs in ages past.  Love of the music though is something different, and the best collectors have always had that passion for the music they collect, seeing it both as aesthetically pleasing as well as historically significant.  That means often our collections will have a lot of the more popular stuff - like Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" or Artie Shaw's "Begin the Beguine" - because we love the sound.  The rarer stuff though is a treat, not for the value that a pristine piece of vinyl or shellac will bring, but rather because it documents recorded history.  Have a passion for what you collect, regardless of what it is.  Don't just do it for economic advantage because "it might be worth something."  It already is worth something - it is quality music you love and it also represents a gold mine of important history, which is worth more than any money that could be offered for it.  

So, let me reflect some on where I am at with the collection as it enters its 43rd year.  I had some close calls these past couple of years due to economic challenges that almost caused me to lose my home and everything in it.  But, God has been good, and I am positive about the future of things.  Also, in the process of finishing up my Ph.D. (which I did in September and also have just received my official diploma yesterday from when I am writing this), I haven't been as focused as much on my collection as I once was.  There is another reason for this.  Basically, there is little else to collect at this point.  A true collector always continues looking for things as they come available, so no one ever stops collecting if they have a passion for the craft.  However, with "bucket list" items there may come a point where you will have almost everything you have been looking for, and then the focus shifts to just keeping an eye out for something that you may really be looking for.  That is where I am at now.  Although this past year has been somewhat fruitful in regard to collecting, it is not at the level of acquisition it was in previous years, but that is a good thing.  It means a goal has been reached.  In all honesty, I am not really looking to collecting much else in 2024-2025, so it may be a slow year as little new material has been released.  So, we are entering a new phase.

Given I have now finished my doctoral degree and have successfully earned it, my dissertation work on a totally different topic is completed and published, so I am catching up on other research interests. At this point in time, I am writing an article for an academic journal and I also have two other book projects I will be prioritizing through most of 2025.  However, one thing I have always wanted to do is a history of dance bands, and I already have several books in my library in that regard.  I have never really included books as part of the music collection, as they belong in my reference library, but I am in the process of acquiring several to facilitate a future book project of my own.  Many of the books I am planning to purchase over the course of the next year are big band biographies - Artie Shaw's book The Trouble with Cinderella is one of them, as well as Desi Arnaz's rare biography simply titled A Book.  As a historian, there are two major essentials for doing research - the availability of primary source material as well as an original approach to the topic being researched.  I am acquiring the first, and as for the second, there is something that has bugged me for some time.  Often, the terms "big band," "swing band," and "dance band" are utilized to label this great music, and other writers also lump it in with jazz and pop music.  However, I have found those terms as lacking inclusivity of what the genre really entails, as many of these orchestras were not technically big bands, many also did not play exclusively "swing" music, and not all of their arrangements were made for the dance hall either.  And, while many of them did include notable jazz legends (notably Duke Ellington) or pop icons (Desi Arnaz, Rudy Vallee), the music cannot be categorized as either, because in many ways it is both but also a unique musical tradition in itself.  So, my contention is coming up with a new term for this music that would be more inclusive of the entire genre, and that is what my research will be focused on.  No doubt I will probably get some opposition and controversy over my take from all sides, but that is a risk one takes when venturing into new territory.  My major thing over the years though is making my collection work for me, and I have wondered how to do that.  After all, there are literally thousands of dollars invested in it, and I need to make it profit on some level.  There are some pieces in my collection I have purchased for as little as a quarter, but I also have large sets I have paid hundreds of dollars for too. While it does satisfy my own musical tastes, it also needs to be utilized in a way that educates others as well as preserving its rich legacy. So, that is where we plan to go in year 43.

Thank you for allowing me to share a very large passion - my love of vintage music - and we will see how Year 43 goes now.  Have a good remainder of your week, and will see you next time.