Vinyl Spins - 3rd Street Jazz Impressions

Back on the 3rd floor today spinning some records. Jazz. Becky and I had begun exploring jazz in the mid 70’s. We listened a lot to Temple U’s radio station where they played serious jazz at the time with an emphasis on hard bop. We soon realized that the place to learn about jazz and buy records was 3^rd Street Jazz in downtown Philly which had opened in 1972. The first time we walked in there was a revelation seeing an entire wall displaying nothing but John Coltrane albums. It was awesome and turned out to be a great place to hang out. The staff was very knowledgeable and were excited to make recommendations. I bought two albums that first day. John Coltrane’s Impressions and Art Blakey’s Moanin’. We ended up buying a lot of jazz there. A year or so later the store opened their basement for selling punk and new wave records. We went to that store many times up until we left the area in 1979. It was sad to hear of their closing in 1997.