Three months ago Down
Beat magazine ran an extensive article titled “Where to buy jazz.” It
wasn’t about large chains that deal in volume; it focused on those small, idiosyncratic
stores you might find in the hippest neighborhoods of New York City, Boston, or
Chicago. But the picture illustrating the article had a two-word caption: Bop
Shop.
There’s no doubt about it, one of the last of the great
independent music stores is right here in Rochester. Tom Kohn has owned the Bop
Shop for 23 years. In recent years he’s branched out, sponsoring over 100
concerts in the Village Gate atrium and many more at Milestones.
The Down Beat article
goes on to say that the heyday of brick-and-mortar stores is over. That will
not come as news to Kohn; he knows he’s a dinosaur.
“A customer will come in and if I don’t have it they’ll get
it on the internet,” says Kohn. “It’s kind of sad because I can probably land
it in three to five days and I can probably beat the price. Sitting at home and
buying everything you want to buy at the computer… there’s a point where it
becomes kind of creepy because of the lack of human contact.”
Kohn knows that the internet is the future of the record business
if not the present. Thanks to the Bop Shop’s website, his store on Amazon, and
his items on eBay, a substantial share of his sales come from Finland, France,
Australia, and other countries.
“I couldn’t live without it now as a tool,” he says. “But I
get so much out of helping people find things and discover things. You can’t
sing a song to somebody on the internet and have them help you find it. And I
get that all the time. You can’t ask the internet which Miles Davis album to
buy first.”
What sets the Bop Shop apart from surviving brick-and-mortar
stores is its staff; every member is either in a band or an aficionado of the
music.
“In the music industry I’m the upscale restaurant to the
fast food,” Kohn says. “I don’t do this because it’s a business, I do it
because it makes me feel good at the end of the day. The point is trying to
make it easy for people to find out and discover things.”
He doesn’t have to convince some of the top musicians in
jazz. Keith Jarrett, Kenny Wheeler, Bob Brookmeyer, Branford Marsalis, George
Russell, and others have visited his store.
It’s the younger generation
Kohn is a bit perplexed by.
“They prefer downloading something without art work. I need
something to make it make sense to me.”
He also bemoans the lack of outlets for truly innovative
music. As a result of homogenized radio, he believes there is less curiosity
than there used to be.
He puts on a CD. It’s Petra
HadenSings: The Who Sell Out (Charlie
Haden’s daughter). It’s all a
cappella and it’s a hoot, but you won’t be hearing it on the radio. He’s made
his point.
At the same time he’s encouraged by some recent events at
the store.
“They’re asking questions,” he says. “A kid came in today
and he went to the Peter Brotzmann bin.” Brotzmann, a German saxophonist, is a
wild improviser.
Kohn can’t resist relating a story about a rare Peter
Brotzmann record he found at a record store in Binghamton. The store was going
out of business and he was looking through the stock to see if there were items
to buy for resale at the Bop Shop. When he found the Brotzmann record he put it
on the store’s turntable.
To illustrate the sound of Brotzmann’s record, Kohn makes
elephant noises.
“The owner looked at me in horror and said if you take it
off, I’ll give it to you.” The record, Brotzman’s first, is now worth over
$1,000.
Kohn is perhaps most outspoken when it comes to the current
pop music scene.
“I have no time for people remixing shit at home. I’m sure
I’m showing my age, but I just have a very hard time embracing anyone who would
take a little computer at home and make a record,” he says. “The media seems to
be embracing this tsunami of homemade records. Any 16-year-old can buy the
equipment and make a record. The whole hip-hop thing is nonsense. Music to me
is art and it’s also something that, as in good art, shouldn’t be that easy to
make.”
But, he admits home recording has its good side, opening the
doors for people who really have talent.
Kohn’s taste in music
is all over the place from jump blues all the way to free jazz.
“I think some of the most creative music that’s happening
right now in the country is the new jazz — Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Paul
Smoker. I think Mike McNeill, a young, local jazz pianist, is going to be a
star.”
Kohn refuses to give up on free jazz concerts in the Village
Gate atrium even though he loses money on many of them. There are exceptions:
200 people came to see David Murray.
For those who don’t understand the abstract nature of the
music, Kohn offers an analogy.
“Many people look at a Jackson Pollock painting and aren’t
sure of what to make of it,” he says. “Is it beauty or chaos? It’s really the
same thing at times. But the first time I went up to a Jackson Pollock painting
in person and looked at it, I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. I
understood that what improvisers are doing musically is what those guys were
doing on canvas.”
Kohn records every concert. After his engineer makes a
finished product of it, he gives a tape to the artist. In some cases an album
results. (Kohn has no financial interest in the CDs)
“The acoustics of the room are very special. It’s all about
the spirit and it’s all about the moment,” Kohn says. “Some of the greatest
moments in jazz have been experienced by a few select people and never
documented.”
He encourages people to give the concerts a try: “If you
don’t like it, leave. It’s free.” His last concert this year features the Steve
Rush/Tom Abbs/Geoff Mann Trio at 8 p.m. June 22. (Info: Bopshop.com).
Kohn has also gotten involved with the Rochester
International Jazz Festival. This year Kohn gave festival promoter John Nugent
a list of 20 or 30 acts to consider and Nugent hired quite a few of them.
“Last year’s festival was great, I think this year’s going
to be astounding,” Kohn says. “It’s such a beautiful thing for the community.
We all live in this place together and it’s a great city. There are great
things going on and I wish people would get off their duffs and go out and support
things more.”
The Bop Shop is
at Village Gate Square, 274 North Goodman Street. 271-3354
Kohn comments on Bop Shop concerts released on CD:
Kahil El’Zabar/David
Murray — We Is: Live at the Bop
Shop (Delmark)
“One of the greatest tenor saxophonists of our time (Murray)
and one of the most active members of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement
of Creative Musicians, percussionist El’Zabar, played a rousing duo concert in
2000 which went from gospel spirituals to avant-garde roar.”
Paul Smoker — Duocity in Brass and Wood (Cadence)
“Smoker is the artist who has performed the most at the Bop
Shop. This double disc set is comprised of two concerts he gave in 2001, one
with bassist Dominic Duval and one with bassist Ed Schuller. Despite the unorthodox
lineup, this record has garnered excellent reviews in the international press.”
Nu Band — Live at the Bop Shop, Rochester, NY (Clean Feed)
“A group of leaders — trumpeter Roy Campbell, reed player
Mark Whitecage, bassist Joe Fonda, and drummer Lou Grassi — was performing
for only the third time ever as a group in this exciting set recorded on a cold
winter’s night in January, 2001.”
DKV Trio — Trigonometry (Okkadisk)
“A Chicago powerhouse trio with saxophonist Ken Vandermark,
bassist Kent Kessler, and drummer Hamid Drake released this set they recorded
at the Bug Jar in a Bop Shop co-produced concert.”
Trio X — On Tour… Toronto/Rochester (Cadence)
“Trio X is multi-instrumentalist Joe Mc Phee, bassist Dominic
Duval, and drummer Jay Rosen. This disc contains the definitive version of a
Joe McPhee classic, ‘Old Eyes.'”
Sabir Mateen/Ben
Karetnickย — Sun Xing (JMZ)
“New York underground saxophone legend Mateen paired up with
Vermont-based drummer Karetnick for this remarkable set of duets. The musical
journey went from sections of impassioned, Coltrane-ish spirituality to moments
of beautiful quiet meditation.”
Ralph Alessi — Hissy Fit (Love Slave)
“Alessi, a former Eastman School of Music faculty member (who’s
gone on to international recognition) brought in a sextet he called Modular
Theatre (including legendary cellist Hank Roberts) for an evening of jazz and
poetry.”
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2005.
