STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And now we have a story about what happens when a hobby becomes a mission. Kevin Coombe is a D.J. and a record trader in Washington, D.C. He was preserving the glory of a bygone music scene. NPR's Leah Scarpelli spent a day with him.
LEAH SCARPELLI: Kevin Coombe's record collection numbers in the thousands, filling floor-to-ceiling shelves and small cases around his apartment.
KEVIN COOMBE: There's so many aspects of why people buy records. Some people are just trophy buyers. Some people are straight collectors. Me, I look for all kinds of independent funk and soul stuff that's good for dancing, like, good for parties.
SCARPELLI: He's searches have lead to some really rare stuff, singles from local funk and soul bands mostly recorded in the '60s and '70s.
COOMBE: Often, guys would press up 200, 500 copies of something that they had recorded in someone's studio basement and just, you know, scrap together enough money to put that one 45 out. Then they would drive around with it in their trunk, you know, at shows - give it to people. So it would often never even leave the area.
SCARPELLI: Kevin unearths some of this lost vinyl on eBay, in flea markets and in tiny shops like Som Records in Washington, D.C.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
COOMBE: Yo.
SCARPELLI: The walls are bright orange, plastered with old LPs and 45s. Kevin's a regular to shop owner Neil Becton.
NEIL BECTON: I've got a record for you, actually.
COOMBE: Right, here you go.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BECTON: I think it's - I don't know if it's that rare or expensive, but (unintelligible).
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCARPELLI: These recordings are from the pre-Google age. If he wanted to find out more about them, Kevin had to do some detective work.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
COOMBE: One of the things that I found was really strange was a group called the Sounds of Shea. And I looked at the record, and there were some names on the record. In this case, one of the names, it was actually pretty accessible, the person. And I went out there and I actually met with the guy, made an appointment and met with him.
SCARPELLI: Another artist Kevin has rediscovered is George Smallwood.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOORS CLOSING)
COOMBE: How you doing George?
GEORGE SMALLWOOD: Hey, okay, come on, come on in, man.
SCARPELLI: George is a blind keyboardist. He's a one-man music machine, and a human encyclopedia of songs.
SMALLWOOD: Name a song off, any song.
SCARPELLI: Name a tune, and he'll play it for you his way.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SMALLWOOD: (Singing) Midnight, something creeping, crawling in the dark. Under the moonlight, something just might reach and steal your heart.
SCARPELLI: Since he met Kevin, George has returned to the music scene.
SMALLWOOD: I say if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be as happy, right?
SCARPELLI: Leah Scarpelli, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LEON GIFFORD: Hi, everybody. My name is Leon Gifford from Washington, D.C. I've got a new dance I want to show you. It's called the Leon...
INSKEEP: You can see photos of the funk bands you just heard at npr.org.