I met Tets on the streets of Kichijoji with Matty Fresh (from the previous post). He hadn’t any records with him in that moment so I didn’t really think to make his photo. But it was nice to meet him. It was even nicer to run into him again about 15 minutes later at HMV digging through the jazz records, and chat him up a bit more. He mentioned knowing Matty from his days in Brisbane and we got to talking about DJing and he pulls out an image from his phone of 2 face-to-face dueling DJ decks, 4 turntables set up at his flat, and I was, like, f’waaaa!?!? Quite a setup! He told me he’d been DJing for years, all genre but a lot of hip-hop and jazz. Cooool.
We had a nice chat and eventually, I said goodbye and left HMV meandering through the back streets back to my bike, wondering if I might see another happy record collector on the way. I didn’t. So I got to the garage, hopped on my bike, pulled out, and as fate would have it, there AGAIN was Tets and Matty, a third time(!!!) looking surprised to see me on a motorcycle. “Whoa!” said Tets, “Nice bike. My car is actually parked in the garage across the street under the tracks, along with all the records I scored today.” I said “Wait, so you got some records today too? That I can photograph? Well then we gotta get you featured on Tokyo Record Style. Let’s do it! I’ll meet you in the garage, I’ll come around the back way…”
So I met Tets in the dimly-lit car-park under the Chuo Line. I strolled up on his glossy fresh jet-black Nissan X-Trail with decked-out rims and trim as he pulled out a handful of Roberta Flack records, including First Take, a record that’s been my collection and on heavy rotation since ‘98 (I just checked my copy and that’s the date the Bart’s price sticker says). First Take’s first track “Compared to What” is a tune I often kick off a DJ set with, just sets a certain mood the way it sneaks up on you. I mentioned to Tets Roberta Flack’s tune “Reverend Lee”, another first track off another album called Chapter Two, which always gets people grooving. We had a nice chat.
For the Tokyo Record Style photo, Tets pulled out this copy of Quiet Fire, which I don’t know but really want to! What an iconic cover. I asked him to bust out that 4-turntable image and he happened to have an iPad in the back of the car, showed me again, and then did a couple of cool poses in the shady-looking garage. Felt a little like a vinyl drug deal. But all in good fun.
Had to throw some Roberta Flack on this morning for you Tets! Thanks for sharing some smiles, some stories, and some music appreciation with me this weekend! See you out there again! 🙂
Roberta Flack – Quiet Fire
Label: Atlantic – SD 1594
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, PR – Presswell Press
Country: US
Released: 1971
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Soul
https://www.discogs.com/release/825814-Roberta-Flack-Quiet-Fire
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