Breezy Brown dreams in vinyl
Breezy Brown, aka Tony Brown, has a modest collection of about 300 records – 300 of about the funkiest jazz and soul albums you’ve never heard.
About 100 of the vinyl diamonds are worth $200. These are the timeless songs Breezy Brown hunts for daily through trading at his shop, Unified Groove Merchants, 2607 N. Monroe St., and stores around the world.
Breezy Brown’s collection was up to 800 wax discs when he started consigning at Unified Groove Merchants when it first opened in 2000, a couple of years before he became an official partner.
In that time Unified Groove Merchants has become Spokane’s Mecca for local vinyl deejays in search of rare grooves, especially underground hip-hop and obscure funk, soul, jazz, Afro-jazz and Latin records.
One of Spokane’s most respected deejays, Breezy Brown is his own shop’s best costumer.
“I wake up and go to sleep thinking about records,” said Breezy Brown, 36.
Since 1987 that kind of passion has driven Breezy Brown to search voraciously for the perfect albums, starting in Kansas and later in Germany during his stint in the military through 1992.
Breezy Brown, formerly known as Brainchild, first fell in love with hip-hop during its golden age, and then moved to more sophisticated genres of music such as jazz in the early 1990s when he was working the coffee shop scene.
These days he’s a regular and has a strong following at Mizuna Restaurant, 214 N. Howard St., and The B-Side, 230 W. Riverside Ave..
Now when Breezy Brown deejays, he leaves behind the scratching and tricks and lets the quality of the album speak for itself.
“A lot of deejays tend to mix 30 seconds of a song and move on to the next mix. That’s too much work,” Breezy Brown said. “I’d rather sit back behind the table and be the sound provider. I play longer records that are funky from start to finish.”
Ever the hip-hop soldier, Breezy Brown opens Unified Groove Merchants to Sunday night jam sessions after closing, and he plans to launch a live music venue in the shop in March.
When the venue is complete, Breezy Brown said, “anyone can come in and play anytime.” He already has turntables, microphones, a keyboard, drum kit and sampler set up.
Catch cuts from Breezy Brown’s $200 record collection Saturday at Mizuna.
Breezy Brown also appears Jan. 28 at The B-Side with Supervillain for the Soul Diva tribute to female artists, Feb. 6 at CenterStage for the Thin Air Radio kickoff party, and Feb. 10 at Blue Spark, 15 S. Howard St.