While it is easy and cool to buy stuff off other people's favorites lists, there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of making musical discoveries of your own. However, as any amateur record collector knows, a trip to the jazz section of any mega-store or online outlet can be daunting, disappointing, and downright expensive. Many are the times that I have blown $15-$20 on a promising looking CD, only to be bitterly disappointed when I got it home. Therefore, I decided to put up some guidelines to make it easier for the non-jazzophile population to have more success when shopping for swing music.
First, some absolute truths about record shopping:

1. If it says SWING on the record cover, it usually stinks.

2. If it has pictures of dancers on the record cover, ditto.

3. People working at Virgin, Tower, Wherehouse, etc., with RARE exception, have NO idea what swing music is and will make you buy bad music if you aren't careful.

4. Always know what the return policy is.

Now on to some tips:
The coolest thing, I think, about starting a record collection is that you learn a lot about the history of whatever music you are collecting, if you pay attention. And, paying attention is the key to buying good sounding, well produced, quality music. Here are the 4 steps to knowing what you are buying without the benefit of a listening station:

1. The Artist - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Williams, these are names we hear all the time. You can bet that if you buy one of the big names of the genre, the music itself will be of good quality. But there are many other factors to consider before you go buying the entire catalogue of one of these artists.....

2. The Date: What year was it recorded? Between 1945 and 1955 there were huge advances in the recording industry that made the quality of recordings much better. Some prefer the older, lo-fidelity recordings. I prefer hi-fidelty, especially if I'm going to use the tune as a DJ.Hi-Fi sounds much better over a PA system. Albums produced by reputable labels after 1950 tend to have much better sound quality. One other thing to keep in mind about the date is that, in the Sixties and Seventies, many well respected artists put out albums full of pop covers (i.e. Basie's Beatle Bag) or teamed with string orchestras (Chet Baker and the Carmel Strings). These unfortunate records were produced simply for money and have little or no artistic value whatsoever. So if you think it might be fun to own a record of Count Basie performing "Eleanor Rigby", think again.

3. The Label - Most modern jazz record labels produce high quality albums. Labels like Verve, Prestige, Blue Note, Concorde, Sony, and Pablo are all reputable and known for their sonic quality. The trouble with labels really is with the older music. Many small labels are buying the rights to the music of the 30's and 40's and repackaging it for today's listener. Some of these re-releases are of excellent quality, some are very poor. When looking at albums that were originally released in the earlier part of the 20th century it is important to note whether the album has been re-mastered before it's re-release or not.(re-mastering, in short, involves bringing up the sound quality of the recording to something, hopefully, resembling today's standards.). If an album has not been remastered and is being released by a small label, chances are that the sound quality is not all it could be.

4. The Back Up Band: This, I think, is one of the most important things to learn about if you hope to purchase good music on every outing to the record store. You may never have heard of the artist on the album cover, but unexpected treasure may be hiding on the backside of that CD. If you know the names of the guys in the rhythm section, you know whether it's going to swing or not. Here is a short list (by instrument) of some palyers to look out for. BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS LIST IS JUST OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD AND I WILL ADD GREATLY TO IT LATER.