Gerald The Jazzman
Diary of an vinyl addict turned dealer

There is one addiction that's hard to break, the obsessive pursuit of elusive dusty funk 45s and wallet busting soul singles, not forgetting obscure European jazz, rare Cumbia killers and library oddities. Once hooked the poor soul will find it impossible to walk past any emporium that has vinyl within. In fact on any trip to anywhere the first consideration will be 'where are the record shops'. Even better will be sourcing a flea market in Prague or a swap meet in Pasedena to obtain the class A shit. If vinyl were a 'real' drug (which it kinda is) it would be up there with heroin. Nothing will satisfy your blood like turning up a rarity, for instance there's no substitute for an original copy of, say, 'I Turn You On' by The Latin Breed. If the government decided that addicts needed something to wean them off wax, the funk infused methadone would probably be a 12" of KC & The Sunshine Band, and let's face it, that ain't gonna work.

So let us meet one wretched but happy addict who turned his addiction into a world class business selling rare funk, soul and jazz originals and progressing into reissuing 45s and LPs. Gerald Short first became hooked on jazz in 1988 when he began DJing at Club Corinto in Liverpool. In 1992, with 'the hunger' firmly in place, he set up his small windy stall in Camden Market selling original LPs to collectors and DJs in the burgeoning rare groove scene. The goods were collected on many trips stateside to hoover up the mountains of vinyl for a few dollars a piece. This was way before eBay had transformed the market, and even the now ubiquitous James Brown LP's were considered rare.

The business grew and became highly respected amongst other vinyl freaks as a choice place to find amazing music. The logical progression for Gerald was to start reissuing records on his own labels so 'Jazzman', and subsequently 'Funk 45' were born. Unearthing artists like Kathleen Emery, The Soul Tornadoes, Dee Felice Trio, The Chefs, The Prepositions and re-pressing onto loud well pressed vinyl, and in doing so he made these otherwise unobtainable gems available to a wider and eager audience.

The other gold star point was that he quite properly contacted the artistes, paying royalties where due. Something the massive bootleg market has no interest in whatsoever. This also enabled Gerald to compile extensive sleeve notes on LPs such as Midwest Funk to enlighten us about these obscure small town American musicians. This attention to detail, an unswerving level of quality control and simple good taste has resulted in Gerald's reputation being positively caked in respect. Good mates with all the main players like Shadow, Keb Darge, Cut Chemist etc, he has access to music and knowledge that is beyond comprehension to mere mortal record collectors. He exists in the upper echelons of the funk universe and through all of this has created a fantastic rare records business and an impressive back catalogue of releases, with many more in the pipeline.

With the release of the eagerly awaited Ian Wright compilation 'Sister Funk 2' on Jazzman Records, we caught up with Gerald to find out whether he's in vinyl rehab yet...

1. What prompted you to start dealing in records?
The records I wanted were expensive and hard to find. There were dealers around, but there was a fair few shifty deals going on, cover-ups etc, and I thought to myself 'I might as well go to the US and find these records myself'. My dad was living over there, so I knew I would have a base to work from.

2. How often did you go on buying trips and where did you frequent most?
I would go 3 or 4 times a year, borrowing my dad's car and sleeping on people's floors. The US is huge and records are everywhere, so unless there was a specific place to go there wasn't much point in traveling far outside the Washington - Boston - Pittsburgh triangle. Now I've traveled to all the states apart from the north western ones.

3. Was it hard not to keep all the good stuff at first?
Err, I did keep all the good stuff!

4. Does your own 'taste' permeate what you sell, or do you deal with some music that you don't personally like?
My own taste counts very highly in what I sell. Otherwise I'd be selling heavy metal or country. Obviously I don't like everything to the same degree, but I do think that I am able to tell good, sellable records from bad.

5. Why did you want to start re-issuing records?
I like to reissue rare or obscure records that deserve to be heard by more people than the few who are lucky enough to possess a copy. I don't think it's fair that rare records can only be listened to by those people rich enough to own them. Records are only rare because the people that made the music didn't have enough cash to make many of them, or had the stock lost/stolen/destroyed, or lacked business savvy. Either way, the musicians want their music to be heard by as many people as possible - and get paid, so all I am doing is facilitating that, albeit many years later.

6. What's a typical process to finding a rare record and getting it to re-issue, does it involve a lot of travelling to the US?
First you have to find the record, which either I do myself by old-fashioned digging or by listening to a recommendation etc, then we use the information on the label to locate the artist or record company, using the internet and the phone book. Once they have been contacted, it's all about working out a deal where we get permission to make a release. Quite often the musicians involved are reluctant to do business to someone in the UK they've never met, which means we have to go to the US and sort things out with them in person. So we save these ones up, go to the US, travel around visiting these guys and sort it all out one by one.

7. What made 'Sister Funk 2' take 5 years to complete?
This one took so long not just because of the time it takes to locate the artists and negotiate the deals, but to find even ONE record of a specific genre that is a) rare enough that nobody has heard it before and b) good enough to go on the album, would normally take the average collector a year or two to find. Ian however is more dedicated and resourceful than most, so all in all 5 years isn't too long at all!

8. How has the internet and eBay affected you?
The internet has been great because it links me with customers and record contacts all over the world. Ebay not great from a selling point of view, because my customers and stateside dealers now trade amongst themselves, cutting me out of the equation. On the other hand anything that brings people into contact with each other that enables them to buy and sell and share the music isn't a bad thing and can only encourage the appreciation of the music, which is what it's all about.

9. Where do you see Jazzman heading?
I'm aiming for JM.100 in a few years' time. Then JM.101, then JM.102... and so on. Get the idea?

10. What's your favourite Jazzman and Funk 45 releases?
For the Jazzman release that has everything - quirky, independent, odd, rare - it has to be the one that started it all, Kathleen Emery. The FUNK45 one has to be the Mickey & the Soul Generation 45, because it's once in a blue moon that you find something previously unissued - that's good - by such an important artist.

11. And finally, what's your most craziest record digging story?
Going through a warehouse, pulling multiple copies of sealed David Axelrod, Dorothy Ashby, Black Jazz etc. Over 1000 LPs in total. The motherlode. Then the whole lot got stolen en route back to my place in the UK. Oh well.

Links
Jazzman Records
Jazzman on Myspace