Month: March 2012

Watching Original Jazz Vinyl on eBay

8 comments

At some point soon I will be updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide. My inclination is to not include some of the recent sales we’ve been watching here, such as Getz/Gilberto and Miles Davis Four and More since they are clearly aberrations and not indicative of the overall market. I think they would tend to give people false expectations as to real market value. What do you think?

In the meanwhile, here are some other jazz vinyl auctions we are watching on eBay.

Hank Mobley, Mobley’s Message, Prestige 7061. This is an original yellow-label pressing with the New York address. The record and cover are both listed in M- condition. The price is $165.50 and there are more than two days left in the auction. Tempting, although I have a feeling the bidding will definitely surpass the $600-$700 range and perhaps slide into the $1,000 bin. All of which would put it out of reach for me.

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This is also an original pressing. The cover

Read more

Setting Some New Highs For Jazz Vinyl Prices

17 comments

Many of the jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay have ended, so here’s a bit of a summary, starting with some of the final prices on the recent auction from the seller bobdjukic:

Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago, Mercury 60134. This was an original stereo pressing in M- condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $410. I’m not going to comment on the prices of the records I’m listing here. They tend to speak for themselves, no?

John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This was not an original pressing. It was a fairly common mono pressing with the red and purple labels and the white fan logo. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. It sold for $142.50.

Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto, Verve 8545. This was an original stereo pressing. The record and cover were probably in M- condition. The price was $361.

John Coltrane, Ballads, Impulse 32. This was an original orange label pressing. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. The price was $410. Our previous high price for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was $205.

Joe Henderson, Mode For Joe, Blue Note 4227. This was a Liberty pressing. Liberty Pressing. It was in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $154.02.

Read more

Grand Stans

Leave a comment

To keep the discussion on this a little longer. I was perusing eBay last night and there was another copy of Getz/Gilberto, Verve 8545, also a stereo pressing, also in M- condition. It sold for $37, which is higher than normal. The other one from bobdjukic is at $219 and closing later today. While perusing, I also came upon this nice record: Stan Levey, Grand Stan, Bethelehem 71. It was sitting there at $25 and there were no bidders and I was contemplating placing a bid even though I already own a copy in M- condition. I think the seller missed an opportunity here: This is one of those records where if you know it, and you know the identities of the musicians, it becomes much more interesting. Among the musicians on this record are Sonny Clark and Richie Kamuca and it is, as you’d expect, a terrific record. It’s also not so easy to find, certainly tougher to find than Getz/Gilbert0. This one was in VG+ condition and sold for $27. The highest price we’ve ever seen for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide is $90.

Fairly Common LPs, Uncommon Prices

17 comments

Many of you in the Jazz Collector audience complain about the seller bobjdukic, but you have to give the guy credit – whatever he does, he is able to get prices that no one else can dream of. I’m watching several of his auctions now and am pretty amazed at where the bidding is going. He must have regular customers who trust him and are well satisfied with what he delivers. Here are a few cases in point: Stan Getz, Getz. Gilberto, Verve 8545. Was there a more popular, more widely produced jazz album in the 1960s? Could you waltz into any record store now (if you can find one) and find a copy of this record in reasonable condition? This one has 11 bids and is currently priced at $219 with more than a day to go.  Miles Davis, “Four and More,” Columbia 2453. Again, this is a great record, but not all that uncommon. This one has been bid up to more than $100. Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago, Mercury 60134. This is a stereo pressing. Again a great record, but not that hard to find, even in nice condition. This one has been bid up to $178.50.

Tracking Autographs: Duke, Miles, Sonny, Trane . . .

2 comments

It was interesting watching the recent auctions of autographed vinyl and ephemera from the Jazz Record Center. With autographed items there’s always going to be a question of authenticity but there’s no reason to believe these items weren’t genuine. There are autographs and then there are autographs — I remember a couple of years ago there was an auction of a letter from Bill Evans to John Coltrane that sold for $38,000. There was nothing in this grouping that came close to matching that in either uniqueness or value, but there was some nice prices nonetheless, including:

John Coltrane and Milt Jackson, Bags and Trane, Atlantic 1368. This one, which me mentioned the other day, was signed by Coltrane, Jackson and Hank Jones. It sold for $758. Others: Miles Davis, Early Miles, Prestige 7168. This record is an early reissue, with a yellow label. This also has autographs By Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. It sold for $377. 89. This is not a record we track often in the Jazz Collector Price Guide because it is not an original but, suffice to say, it would not normally  sell for that amount sans autographs. One more: Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder, Columbia 1033. This was an original pressing signed by Ellington. It sold for $191.38. Under normal circumstances, no autograph, this is really like a $10 or $20 record.

Bashing Jazz Record Collectors

Leave a comment

Just received a note announcing the Annual Jazz Record Collector’s Bash in New Jersey. It will be June 29 and 30 in Iselin, NJ, wherever that is. I’m hoping to attend this year, but it’s my normal time to be in The Berkshires so that may not be possible. This is the 38th annual event and I haven’t been in probably at least a dozen years, although I do have good memories of attending in the past, particularly the one year I was able to score some original Prestige and Swingville records for $5 each. Plus a nice Sonny Criss 10-inch on Clef. Its’ funny how we remember where we scored our records, down to the details of which record, where, when and how much. It’s part of what makes collecting fun, right? Here’s the link for the Jazz Record Collector’s Bash in case you’d like to attend.

John Coltrane Autograph (And More) On Ebay

18 comments

Oh, it’s a nice time on eBay when we get to watch auctions from both the Jazz Record Center and bobdjukic.

How much would you like a John Coltrane autograph? I know I would. This is from the Jazz Record Center: John Coltrane, Bags and Trane, Atlantic 1368. This is listed as an original mono pressing with the red and purple labels — although, for the live of me, I still can’t get the original Atlantics straight once they are past the black labels — but the key to this record is that it is signed by Coltrane, Milt Jackson and Hank Jones. The record and cover appear to be in about VG++ condition. The price is around $750 with more than two days to go. From the same auction is a Jazz at the Philharmonic program from 1956 with a bunch of cool autographs, including Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Connie Kay, Milt Jackson, Roy Eldridge and Flip Phillips. There’s one bidder for this one, so far, and the price is $100.

Read more

European Vs. U.S. Pressings

8 comments

I recently picked up a batch of European — and South African — pressings of original jazz records from the ’50s and ’60s. Being American and a New Yorker at that, I’ve always had access to the U.S. pressings and, frankly, never had interest in the European pressings. I’m now listening to a Brubeck Columbia, CBS actually, with the heavy vinyl, red label, deep grooves. It has the soft cover and, now that I look at the cover, is actually from South Africa. There’s a note at the bottom: “Everyday is somebody’s biirthday. Give a national record gift token exchangeable anywhere in Southern Africa.” I just took off the Brubeck and am now listening to Ella Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook. All of this is leading to a point and some questions. For those who follow these things closely, is there a noticeable difference in sound quality between the American and European pressings?In listening to the Ella record now, the pressing, quite frankly, sucks. Really bad. The Brubeck was much better. How do you feel about the soft covers? And for those of you who were actually buying records in the era — Rudolf? Michel? — were you content to have the European pressings, or did you focus on the U.S. pressings? Just curious. Not sure what I’m going to do with these European pressings I now own. There’s something nice about having them, knowing they were issued at the same time as the U.S. versions, but I do have U.S. pressings of most of these. Oh,the challenges of being an obsessive collector. I hate to get rid of anything, even if I have it.

Catching Up On Some Rare Jazz Vinyl

2 comments

Let us finally catch up on some of the rare jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay:

The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Volume 2, Blue Note 1532. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing with the Lexington Avenue cover. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG+. The price was $390. From the same seller, in the same vein: The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Volume 1, Blue Note 1531. This too was an original pressing with the original cover. It was in M- condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover. It also sold for $390. I was watching these records because I recently acquired copies of each of these that are duplicates for me. They are both in VG++ condition for the vinyl and the cover, and they both have the Lexington Avenue addresses on the label, deep grooves, etc. They have the West 61st Street addresses on the cover, so they are a drop less than original originals. I will probably wind up selling these on eBay, unless someone here wants to make me an offer I can’t refuse.

This one received a bid of nearly $2,000, but failed to meet the seller’s reserve price:

Read more

Picturing Some Blue Notes

3 comments

Here’s some more jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay:

When you’re selling on eBay a picture is worth not just a thousand word but potentially a thousand bucks or so. The seller of this record was able to get a great picture of the cover: Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031. It has to help generate interest, right? I mean, you look at the picture and you can picture the record in your collection. This was in M- condition for both the record and the cover and it sold for $1,802.01. That’s the highest we’ve ever recorded for this LP in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, although the record has gone over the $1,000 mark several times.

This seller had the three 10-inch Gil Melle records on Blue Note, including: Gil Melle, 5 Impressions of Color, Blue Note 5063. This one was in VG++ condition for the vinyl and M- for the cover. It sold for $179.05. As for the other two: New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5020 was in VG++ condition for the record and the cover and did not attract a single bidder at a start price of about $150; Volume 2, Blue Note 5033, had a single bidder and sold for $149.99.

1 2