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Pickup: the record collector's guide

Pickup, “The Record Collector’s Guide” was published in Birmingham (first year) and London (second year) by the editors Sinclair Traill and T. B. Denby, with Bob Fairley as its Scottish representative. Divided between articles and record lists, Pickup functioned as a similar, if somewhat smaller scaled version of The Record Changer. Two volumes, totaling 23 monthly issues (one issue was a double) were produced.

Sinclair Traill (1905-1981) was schooled at Blandford and before the Second World War was a banker in Bristol and Cheltenham. After relocating to London, he co-founded a regular column in Melody Maker titled “Collector’s Corner” (with Bill Elliott). Commissioned into the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war, he was posted to India, where he deepened his love for jazz while directing a radio program. After Pickup, Traill founded the long-running British jazz standard Jazz Journal where he served as editor until his death. T. B. Denby was a record collector based in Birmingham. 

The editors sought to create a forum for jazz writing which elevated the art. Referencing the English literary critic, they state “A new [Thomas] De Quincy is needed, ready to prove to an enlightened audience that, ‘Jazz is really one of the Fine Arts.’”1 With a broad stylistic and color prospectus, Pickup sought to discuss jazz from the sources most readily available: recordings. In the editors column, “At the Sign of the Cat and Gate” (later, simply “Editorial”),  they discuss aspects of specific recordings, trends in jazz, and record collecting. Regular contributors include Jack Stine (in his column “Stine-way”), Brian Rust, Ron Davies, Nestor R. Ortiz Ortega (from Buenos Aires), Frank C. Skerret, and R. A. Israel. Marguerite O’Neill and Anthony Mavrogordato reviewed books. Each issue also contained significant lists of records for sale and wanted, the length of which declined over time as the prose volume increased.

Following the December 1947 issue of Pickup, Traill took a short leave of absence; the first issue of Jazz Journal appeared in May 1948.