Archive for June, 2009

More Peak Prices, Plus Miles, Sonny, Trane For Sale

Jun 30, 2009 Blue Note, For Sale, Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige

In mentioning records reaching new price peaks, I inadvertently left out a couple of records among the ones I’ve sold recently. These aren’t records we’ve tracked often, but we haven’t seen higher prices for either of them:

Granchan Moncur III, Some Other Stuff, Blue Note 4177. This was a New York USA pressing. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. It sold for $223. 70.

Anthony Williams, Spring, Blue Note 4216. This was also a New York USA pressing in beautiful condition, M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. This one sold for $202.50.

We have a bunch of records up on eBay now, although none will fetch those kinds of prices. Here are a few of the records that are available:

John Coltrane (et al), Wheelin’ and Dealin’, Prestige 7131. This is an original pressing, with the New York

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Is The Market Slowing? Not Based on These Prices

Jun 30, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige, Price Guide

Sometimes, as summer approaches, eBay slows down. Not so far this summer. We’ve seen a lot of rare jazz records setting new highs for prices over the past few weeks, as we’ve been upgrading the Jazz Collector Price Guide. If you look at the prices of some of these records, you’ll get an idea:

Kenny Drew, The Kenny Drew Trio, Riverside 224. This was an original white label pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was listed as VG++. The price was $898.88.

Kenny Dorham, Whistle Stop, Blue Note 4063. This was an original West 63rd Street mono pressing that was listed in M- condition, both record and cover, and it was posted by a reputable seller. It sold for $898.89.

Jackie McLean, 4, 5 & 6, Prestige 7048. This was an original Yellow label pressing with

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This Weekend on eBay: Thad, Jackie, Kenny Dorham

Jun 27, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige

Here are a few items we’re watching on eBay this weekend. As always, it’s a good idea to check the seller’s other items because many sense, such as yours truly, tend to offer decent records in bunches:

Thad Jones, The Magnificent Thad Jones Volume 3, Blue Note 1546. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. I’m not sure why, but the seller mentions Lexington Avenue pressings selling for more than $2,000, but I’ve never seen or heard of a Lexington Avenue pressing of this LP. Has any of you? Anyway, this one looks like it’s in about VG condition and has a starting bid of around $150 and, as of now, has no bids.

Jackie McLean, 4, 5 and 6, Prestige 7048. This is an original pressing with the New York address and the yellow label. It looks to be in VG+/VG+ condition, although the seller uses different terminology that we do, and is currently priced

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For the Price Guide: Dolphy, Jackie, Criss, Kamuca

Jun 26, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige

Time to catch up on some recent collectible items on eBay and update the Jazz Collector Price Guide, which has now surpassed more than 4,000 entries, each one, I’m proud to say, hand-entered and hand-selected by yours truly. Here are a few more I’ll be hand-entering this weekend:

Eric Dolphy, Last Date, Fontana 681008ZL. This is the original Dutch pressing. The record was listed as M- and the cover as VG++. It sold for $661. Also from Eric Dolphy, Outward Bound, New Jazz 8236. This was an original deep groove purple label. The record was M- and teh cover was VG++. The price was $283.

Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record was listed as VG++ and the cover as VG+. The price was $547.11.

Sonny Criss, Jazz USA, Imperial 9006. This was an original pressing. The record was listed as

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New To the $1,000 Bin: Giant Steps

Jun 25, 2009 $1000 Records, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay

We’ve been watching a bunch of records to add to the Jazz Collector Price Guide and one of them is a newcomer to the $1,000 bin: John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This was a black label original mono pressing. The record was listed in M- condition — hardly played — and the cover was listed as VG++. It sold for $1,125 and had about 230 page views, which is quite a bit. This record may have sold for more than $1,000 previously on eBay, but, if it did, we weren’t watching. Our previous high for this item in the Price Guide was $690. By they way, as I was doing a search in the Price Guide for this record, I noticed that not everything is being listed in alphabetical order. I guess the database is structured so that when new items are entered, they automatically go in at the end. So if you’re searching for a record like Giant Steps, or anything else by Coltrane — who has three pages in the Price Guide — you should make sure to look at all of the Coltrane pages because after the first couple of dozen items, everything else is entered kind of randomly. I hope this is clear. I will talk to my Web and database associate to see if this is fixable. In the meantime, just do a lot of searching.

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Who Are Those Verve Cover Models?

Jun 24, 2009 Album Covers, Verve

Here’s an oddball question from my good friend dan Axelrod. Dan was perusing some Verve covers and was curious about some of them that used female models. Here are a couple of examples:

Question: Does anyone, anywhere, have any clue who these models were and how they may have been chosen?

Philly Record Fair, July 11

Jun 24, 2009 Record Shows

Jazz Collector must be getting popular: I now find myself on a list getting various and sundry press releases on jazz and vinyl topics. I will pass on to you those that I think will be of interest, such as this: On Saturday, July 11, there will be a Record Fair in Philadelphia at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I can’t vouch for the quality of collectibles, and I won’t be able to attend myself, but it is always fun to go to a record show and hunt for bargains. This one opens at 9 a.m. and offers free admission after 11 a.m. For details, you can click here.

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Horace Silver on Blue Note: Comments Anyone?

Jun 23, 2009 Blue Note, Books/Magazines, Free Collectibles

OK, we’re still in the midst of the contest to give away the book: Blue Note The Album Cover Art. To be eligible to win this book — free, we even pay for shipping — all you have to do is post a comment on the Jazz Collector Web site before July 2. The winner will be announced July 3. When we did the original post announcing the contest, we promised to share with you the foreward of the book, written by Horace Silver. Here goes:

“Blue Note Records were very meticulous in every aspect of their production: They used he best vinyl, they paid for rehearsals and when I asked to be in on other parts of my album Alfred Lion (the label’s founder) gave me every opportunity. A lot of musicians in those days worked very hard to make good music and once the music was done, they let Alfred Lion go on with the rest of it. One day I went to Alfred and said,

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This Week on eBay: Prestige, 10-Inch & a Blue Note

Jun 22, 2009 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige

I’ve been putting more records on eBay lately — just a function of time and how much work my real job entails — and I actually structured some organization to the items I posted last week. I had accumulated a bunch of Prestige duplicates, so today is Prestige Day and there are 10 Prestiges closing later. Then I had pulled out a bunch of 10-Inch LPs, so tomorrow is 10-Inch Day, and there are 16 10-inchers. Then, on Thursday, I decided to go back to Prestige with another 10 items. Then I figured we can’t let a week go by without a proper Blue Note, so on Thursday night I put up a heavy-duty Blue Note collectible. Here’s a sampling of items of interest, and you can always see my eBay Items if you click Items For Sale above:

Gil Melle, Gil’s Guests, Prestige 7063. This is a nice copy in VG+ condition, both record and cover, and it plays really well. Not to mention that it features some great Kenny Dorham. This one is only at $49, so it could be a bargain, depending upon how heavily trafficked eBay is today.

John Coltrane and Hank Mobley, Two Tenors, Prestige 7043. This is a yellow label with the New Jersey address and it’s also in nice VG+ condition, plays great. This is one of those second pressings I was talking about in an earlier post: It’s not the first issue of this LP — which was under Elmo Hope’s name — but it’s a great package, great cover and great record and it’s Prestige and it’s yellow label and it’s Coltrane. To me, it’s irresistible (which is why I have two copies, I guess).

And the heavyweight Blue Note is:

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Adventures in Jazz Collecting: 78s

Jun 22, 2009 78-RPM Records, Blue Note, Jazz Memoirs, Prestige

I asked the question the other day: Does anyone out there collect 78s? No one replied, so I figured I would get the ball rolling.

The answer to the question, for me, is that I don’t collect 78s. I do, however, have more than 1,000 78s. The reason I say I don’t collect 78s is because if I did collect them, I’d be obsessed about them and worried about filling in my collection and getting all the Blue Notes and searching for 78s and hunting them down on eBay. That is what I do with my LP collection. I have never done that with 78s. Yet, through the years I have accumulated them.

It started back in the 1980s. There was an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper. A guy had a collection of jazz 78s and wanted to get rid of them. Normally I wouldn’t have cared, but I was curious: What if there were some original Bird 78s on Dial? So I called him and, indeed, there were some original Bird 78s on Dial: Yardbird Suite, Moose The Mooche, A Night in Tunisia. Holding these in my hand, it really felt like I was holding a piece of jazz history. The guy had about 1,000 78s and wanted $100 for them. That night I walked into the house and began unloading crates of 78s. Mrs. JC just looked at me and sighed.

Then, of course, I had to get a 78 player. I still have the first one I ever purchased: A crank-handle

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If You’re Looking For Mosaics . . .

Jun 21, 2009 Boxed Sets

Just got an email from our friends at the Jazz Record Center. They have put up another auction on eBay, this time it’s all boxed sets from the Mosaic Label. Among the items are sets from Tina Brooks, Charles Mingus, Art Pepper and Lee Morgan. There seem to be 31 sets in all. If you’re interested you can view them here. We’ll keep track on the prices of some of these so that we can add them to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. We also have a bunch of Mosaics of our own that we will be selling soon.

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Some Questions on Savoy

Jun 20, 2009 Questions, Savoy

We posted that item about Savoy the other day and got the following email from Rich, one of our loyal readers. He poses some questions about Savoy. I figured I’d post the question here, also in the interest of making the results easily searchable. Hopefully this will generate some insight about the Savoy label:

“Did you notice that the Klook’s Clique Savoy from the same seller as the Mobley’s Message 2 just went for a few bucks. I have a good copy. I did not have a chance to bid. Even with a good copy I would have gone to $100 anyway.

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Collecting Riverside: Some Helpful Hints

Jun 20, 2009 Collecting Tips, Riverside

This was posted by Michel as a comment on the earlier post “The Rise of the Second Pressing?” I’m repeating it here so it will be easier to find for anyone doing a search on Riverside. It is quite helpful, I think, for all of us to share this information, on Riverside as well as the other collectible labels.

Riverside label is complex, and tricky. Here are some points of interests:

From beginning to around 240-241-242 : “white label era” : labels are white with

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A Record Bash & (Another) Adventure in Jazz Collecting

Jun 19, 2009 Jazz Memoirs, Prestige

As I write this, there is a gathering of jazz collectors taking place 50 miles from me in the wilds of Iselin, New Jersey. This would be the annual Jazz Record Collector’s Bash, which, according to the promotions, has been taking place annually for 35 years. The event actually began last night with the dealers setting up and continues through today and tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m. each day. For more information, you can go to their Web site by clicking here. I used to attend this event fairly regularly when it was in East Brunswick, NJ, which, of course leads to a story. I have been a jazz collector for nearly 40 years now and have never thought of myself as a seller of jazz records. Perhaps that is why I call the site Jazz Collector as opposed to Jazz Seller. Anyway, like many of you I’m sure, through the years I had accumulated

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Win A Free Collectible: Blue Note Cover Art

Jun 17, 2009 Album Covers, Blue Note, Features, Free Collectibles

OK, we’ve been putting up some interesting posts, but we’re not getting all that many comments these days, aside from Michel and Rudolf and a few of our other consistent (and always compelling) contributors. That means it must be time to give away another free collectible.

So, here it is, a new free giveaway contest from Jazz Collector, and it’s a Blue Note (no not an original copy of Candy by Lee Morgan, or even a second pressing of Newk’s Time by Sonny Rollins). It is (drum roll, please):

BLUE NOTE: THE ALBUM COVER ART

This is a 128-book of album cover art from the Blue Note catalogue, first published in 1991 by Chronicle Books. It features page after page of classic Blue Note covers from the 1950s and 1960s, featuring so many of the great designs by Reid Miles and photos by Francis Wolff. The book also includes a foreward by Horace Silver, which I will present in a separate post later in the week. 

Best of all, the book will be given away FREE to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector. To be eligible to win all you have to do is

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78s Anyone?

Jun 17, 2009 78-RPM Records, For Sale

Does anyone out there collect 78s? I mention this because, over the past several weeks several people have gotten in touch with me with 78s to sell and I’m not sure what kind of market there is for them. I’ll pass along some of the information and we’ll see what happens. The most interesting of the items is the Norman Granz project called The Jazz Scene, which is a packaged set signed and numbered by Norman Granz. The owner of this item described it as being in mint, immaculate, unplayed condition. It is number 2747 of a series of 5,000 copies. We’ve seen this sell for a lot of money on eBay, but it’s not something we’ve tracked in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. The following is a description of the item from the seller:

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Two More For the $1,000 Bin

Jun 17, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay

Here are a couple more records we’ve been watching that recently crossed the $1,000 barrier. Both of these will be added to the Jazz Collector Price Guide, which is growing quite nicely, thank you. Please check it out.

Hank Mobley With Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, Blue Note 1540. This was a beauty: An original Lexington Avenue pressing with vinyl in M- condition and a VG++ cover. At 1540, Blue Note was nearing the ends of the Lexington Avenue addresses and this one is hard to find a an original. The final price was $1,616.

Here’s one we’re not familiar with, so any insight would be appreciated (Michel?): Georges Arvanitas Quintet, Soul Jazz, Columbia FPX 193. This was an original French pressing from 1960. The record was listed as M- and the cover was VG+. The price was $1,325.

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The Rise of the Second Pressing?

Jun 16, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige

There was a time, and perhaps that time will come again, when jazz collectors seemed only interested in original pressings of original LPs. That seems to be changing somewhat, at least with the Blue Notes and Prestiges. I noticed that with a couple of items I was selling, and with another item that caught my eye as I was watching other records on eBay. Last week, I put up the record Miles Davis Volume 2, Blue Note 1502. This was a nice old copy of the record with heavy vinyl, but it was a West 63rd Street pressing, as opposed to an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was in nice condition: I graded it conservatively at VG++ for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $140.50. The other record I was watching was also a Miles Davis LP: 

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Catching Up With Some Nice Savoys

Jun 16, 2009 Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Savoy

I’ve been a big fan of the Savoy label since I started listening to jazz, perhaps because of the great Charlie Parker records, perhaps because the original Savoys always had the heavy vinyl and nice covers and great artists. I remember discovering the Dexter Gordon Savoy LPs and hunting all over to find copies, which, it turned out, weren’t even original pressings. It didn’t matter, not at that time, because it was only about the music. Anyway, we’ve been watching a couple of nice Savoys this week (one because it was our own record) and it was nice to see that they are among the more cherished collectibles, at least if you go by the prices reflected by the winning bids. Here are a couple of items, both of which will be added in due time to the Jazz Collector Price Guide:

Donald Byrd, Jazz Message #2, Savoy 12092. This was an original pressing with the blood red label. It was

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A Few More (Blue Notes) For the $1,000 Bin

Jun 15, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay

The $1,000 bin keeps getting bigger and bigger. We just did a search on eBay of completed auctions of $1,000 jazz records and it was quite stuffed. Here are some of the items we will be adding to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. 

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was listed in in “excellent” condition for both the vinyl and the cover. According to the seller’s notes, “excellent” is what we wold normally use for VG+. So, in VG+ condition, this record sold for $1,525.

John Jenkins With Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was in M- condition, both vinyl and cover. The price was $1,905.

Lee Morgan Volume Three, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd Street

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Quickie Quiz

Jun 12, 2009 Questions

The Quickie Quiz is back. Here goes: On the album, John Coltrane, Ole, Atlantic 1373, there is an appearance by a musician by the name of George Lane. To my knowledge, George Lane never appeared on any other record. Why is that?

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Catching Up on Some Blue Notes

Jun 11, 2009 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Price Guide

We’d mentioned the other day that we were watching some Blue Notes so today we will catch up on some of the items we’ve been watching.

Wayne Shorter, JuJu, Blue Note 4182. This was an original pressing in M- condition, both record and cover. It was sold by Euclid Records, which generally means it will get top dollar. This one did: It sold for $443.88. We’ve only tracked this record one time previously in the Jazz Collector Price Guide and it sold for $115 in VG++ condition. So this will go into the Price Guide as a new high point for this record. 

Kenny Dorham, Afro Cuban, Blue Note 1535. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was VG++ and the cover was pretty beat, listed as G+ or VG-. Despite the poor condition of the cover, the record still sold for $483.

Bennie Green, Back on the Scene, Blue Note 1587. This was an interesting one because the seller

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Problems With eBay?

Jun 10, 2009 Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Savoy

Not sure if anyone else is having problems with eBay, but I am. As a seller, I often use the Featured Plus tool, which normally allows my items to appear on the first page of any search for Jazz records with the subcategory of 33-RPM. I’e been doing this for years and there hasn’t been a problem. Then, this week, eBay changed it’s view and search functions and all of a sudden my items are not appearing on the first pages of searches anymore and, in fact, I can’t find any search where they are being listed. This is one of the items that’s currently listed as Featured Plus: Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. It’s a nice item, already over $100 by the way. Anyway, I’m posting this to see if anyone else is having problems with the new version of eBay, either in searching to purchase items or in listing items. I am a Power Seller, not that being a Power Seller carries that much weight, but I am curious if other people are having problems and if anyone is finding solutions. Also, if anyone can find a search where my Lee Morgan record appears as a featured item, please be kind and let me know. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when eBay tries to fix things that aren’t broken and winds up screwing up a perfectly good system.

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Today on eBay: Watching Some Blue Notes

Jun 8, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay

We’ve been quiet the past few days, but eBay keeps buzzing along at its own pace whether we tune in or not. There are a few interesting items we’re watching today and most of them happen to be on the Blue Note label (I’m sure that comes as a shock(!) to many of you). Anyway, here are some of the items we’re watching with appropriate commentary. Please feel free to comment as well.

The first item is one of our own: Clifford Brown Memorial Album, Blue Note 1526. This one is listed as VG on the record and VG+ on the vinyl. It happens to be a very nice listening copy and it’s only at $49 now, so it could be a bargain for someone looking to own an original Lexington Avenue pressing. 

There are also a couple of interesting Lou Donaldson records for sale today. There’s 

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Get ‘Em While They’re Hot

Jun 3, 2009 Blue Note, Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige

We don’t usually plug our own records on eBay, but we’ve got some nice items closing later today and later this week and the prices are not too high. So, perhaps there are bargains out there. Here are some of the items worth watching. After you look at these, please go to View Seller’s Other Items and click “list.” 

Sonny Rollins, Moving Out, Prestige 7058. This is an original New York pressing with the yellow label and deep groove. The record is in VG++ condition and the cover is VG+. It sounds great. The current price is just a little over $100.  In the Jazz Collector Price Guide we’ve seen M- copies of this record sell for nearly $500. 

Herbie Hancock, Takin’ Off, Blue Note 4109. This is a New York USA pressing that is autographed by Herbie Hancock. The record is in VG+ condition and sounds great. The cover is VG++. The current price is just

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