Published: Jamaica Gleaner Friday | October 1, 2010
Erin Hansen, Gleaner Writer
For vinyl collector Carl Percy, an estimated 70,000 LPs and 9,000 45s is considered a conservative assemblage. “I wanted records I can play today and still enjoy them as I did 30-odd years ago,” says Percy, who, in his early stages of collecting, quickly realised the importance of quality over quantity. As a member of the Vinyl Record Collectors’ Association (VRCA) and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at May 2010’s Collectors’ Sit-in, Percy, like many other members of VRCA, sees quality of a collection as a mandate for participation. This quality is upheld through the correspondence of its members who have developed a keen sense of sound for the classics. Percy explained, “I developed a knack for listening to a record and knowing if it had lasting qualities, if I could play it to myself 20 or 30 years from now.”
Collecting since 1962
Percy, who is considered a godfather to many vinyl collectors, began collecting in 1962 with the purchase of a record called Bongo Chant by Afro-Cubist Kenny Graham. In his younger years, Percy played violin for the Community Symphony Orchestra and spent his afternoons loitering at Headley Brown’s Royal Roots record store on King Street, listening to Jazz. Percy developed an affinity for Jazz early on, as live music was prevalent in the 60s at nightclubs all across Kingston. “These guys would be playing songs all over town by the best Jazz artistes and this is how you would know what was happening.” Ska has also made a significant dent in Percy’s collection. “When you listen to a Ska record and you listen to the melodic lines of it, it’s Jazz. What Jamaicanised the whole thing was this Ska beat or shuffle. That, to me, was just extraordinary.”
While Percy has spent a decent amount of time abroad scouring record stores for coveted LPs and 45s, many of his best records were found here in Jamaica. “In the late ’60s to ’70s, there were a lot of records you could get here that you couldn’t get anywhere else. The reason is that record specialists at Dynamic and Federal Studios were licensed to do records for a number of big labels. They would press some of these albums here and you wouldn’t find them in the States because they were specific to our market.”
Hunting lost gems
These days it seems there is hardly a record store left in Kingston, but that doesn’t stop Percy from scanning the Sunday paper for the phrase ‘Records for sale’, and when he can make it abroad, he hits up the sale section of his old haunts for lost gems. Once he reaches that sale section, Percy dives right in, sometimes pulling 50 records at once, and then quickly editing them down to choice selections. Percy explained, “You listen to the first couple of tracks, and if it doesn’t grab you, you move it nearer to the middle and if it still doesn’t grab you, well nothing else is going to happen.” With his right hand up to his ear and the left making movements like he’s flipping a pancake, Percy goes through the motions of his listening ritual. He then says, “if, as a musician, you can’t relate the story between the first couple of tracks to somewhere in the middle, you’re not cutting it, it’s not worth buying.”
Percy can often be seen playing his collection around town for friends and vinyl enthusiasts alike, and occasionally on Mondays, at 35 Burlington Avenue, Kingston.
Editors Note: Unfortunately Carl Percy died suddenly on April 30th. He will be sorely missed by his family, friends and the record collecting fraternity.