The Music Man

When it comes to music, a growing number of people might find records as foreign as a waning few still find MP3s. Not so for 84-year-old Murray Gershenz, whose Los Angeles record shop, Music Man Murray, has attracted music lovers and collectors from around the globe for more than 40 years.

photo: Old-fashioned vinyl at its finest

Hum, drum, or sing a bit to Murray Gershenz, and chances are he has that record.

Want to surprise your folks with their favorite song from the 1930s? Hum, drum, or sing a bit to Gershenz, and chances are he has it - and he can find it in his inventory of some 250,000-plus LPs, 45s, 78s, cylinders, and even cassettes and CDs, which consume a 2-story building.

Gershenz, a former singer with the St. Louis Municipal Opera, started off selling what he knew best: opera and classical music. "But it just swelled." Now - using his own idiosyncratic cataloging system - he purveys big band, jazz, rock, country, western, and more. He also sells retro record players. (Looking for a particular song? You can e-mail him your requests, or else you can browse the several thousand of his records, cassettes, and CDs that can be purchased online).

Specialty music shops can be found tucked into all corners of the country, whether you're into spinning on spiffy new turntables or charming vintage varieties, or tinkering with Acoustica's "Spin it Again" software to convert your old LPs to CDs and MP3s. At Floyd's Record Shop in Ville Platte, LA, there's a fantastic cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, and oldies collection, or you can make an appointment to see the vinyl-only room at Sonic Boom Records in Seattle, WA - they handle a range of genres from the 1960s to the present. The Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, IL, claims to have the world's largest selection of jazz and blues tunes, while Armageddon Shop in Providence, RI, deals with hardcore, punk, rock, and industrial LPs, EPs, CDs, and cassettes.

"Recently someone came in and knew the intro to this old song, 'Just a song at twilight, when the lights are low,'" Murray says, singing the tune. "They said they'd been looking everywhere [for the song]. The problem is [they had] the wrong title. It's called 'Love's Old Sweet Song.' I've dealt with so many records, a lot of it is stuck in my brain. By the way," he says, "I don't charge extra for my singing - but I should."

Posted on April 03, 2006