And, while I’m here, here’s a random Blue Note I was watching: Lou Donaldson, Lou Takes Off, Blue Note 1591. This looked to be an original pressing in VG+ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $334.

Not only do I have a copy of the Prestige 78 recording of James Moody’s “I’m in the Mood For Love,” I actually have a copy of the 78 autographed by the late James Moody himself. How I came to own this collectible, I have no idea. I don’t remember when or where I bought it and I know I didn’t personally bring it to Moody and ask him to sign it because that is not something I do. In any case, it is here, as you can see in the picture, and I have no doubt that it is genuine. If you were to have any item autographed by James Moody, this would be the one, right?

Bud Powell’s Modernists with Sonny Rollins, Blue Note 1568. This 78 includes Dance of the Infidels and 52nd Street Theme and it was described as being in better than VG+ condition, but not quite M-. This sold for $89.88.

Max Roach Quintet, Blue Note 1569. This contains Prince Albert Part 1 and 2, with Kenny Dorham and James Moody. Let’s see how well my memory is working: Prince Albert is a head based on All the Things You Are, if I recall properly, and this version, in addition to being issued on 78, was issued

on a 10-inch LP, but not a 12-inch LP? I put that as a question mark because I don’t always trust my memory these days and I’m hopeful someone with either more knowledge or more time will either confirm or correct my recollections. This sold for $67.66

There was also this one: Thelonious Monk, Blue Note 1565. This one had Monk’s Mood and Who Knows. It was in VG+ condition and sold for $50.75.

The one other thing with buying 78s on eBay: They are difficult to package properly and not every seller is able to do so. I’ve heard of several experiences of records arriving cracked and, frankly, I had that happen to me — as a seller, not as a buyer — even though I had used the latest state-of-the-art packaging materials from Bags Unlimited. These things are just fragile, as anyone who has collected them can firmly attest.

As I was laboriously going through the records on my porch in The Berkshires yesterday, much to the consternation of the lovely Mrs. JC, I discovered that there were about a dozen 12-inch Blue Note 78s – Sidney Bechet, Albert Ammons, etc. These are in

near mint condition, probably never played. I imagine they may be worth something, and they are certainly cool to look at, and I will have to decide what to do with them. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in traditional jazz – New Orleans, Dixieland, lots of Duke Ellington – you know where to find me. I’m not sure exactly why I purchased these records, other than the usual case of jazz vinyl addition, but that self-analysis will have to wait until another post. For now I have a bunch more records to look at.

This one has already been called out and commented upon at Jazz Collector, but let’s keep an eye on it just the same: Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House Volume 1, Blue Note 1515. This is an original pressing with the Lexington Avenue address, flat edge, etc. It is in VG++ condition for both the vinyl and the cover and it has been bid to $1,800 already.

This one looks like an original pressing from the pictures and the description, yet it has no bids yet at a start price of $177: Jackie McLean, Capuchin Swing, Blue Note 4038. This is a great album and it is listed in near-mint condition, although the picture shows that the cover is less than near mint. Perhaps that’s why there are no bids. It’s hard to gain trust when the picture doesn’t match the description.

a business trip to Chicago 25-or-so years ago. They were sitting on a bottom shelf at the Chicago Jazz Record Mart and I was blown away and bought as many as I could fit into a carry-on suitcase, which I purchased especially for the transport of these records.

Anyway, I pulled out a few of these Prestiges from Lenny Tristano and Lee Konitz and said he could purchase any of them for $15. They all looked mint, but he wanted to hear what they sounded like and on my little Califone desktop school record player we placed a 78 with the Lee Konitz version of the Jerome Kern classic Yesterdays. I am not an expert in early Konitz so I was not familiar with this recording. My guest, however, was an expert and as soon as I put the record on the Califone he stopped everything he was doing.

“What is this?” he said.

“Yesterdays,” I replied.

“Yes it is Yesterdays. But I have never heard this version.”

I went to my 10-inch Lee Konitz Prestige and put on Yesterdays and, indeed, the version was completely different. The one on the 10-inch LP featured Miles Davis on trumpet. The one on the 78 was just a trio of Konitz, Sal Mosca on piano and Billy Bauer on guitar. My guest, who was, as noted, an expert on the music, had never heard the trio version. So we did what you would expect: We went to the computer, Googled Lee Konitz and made an interesting discovery: The version on the 78 was issued only one time, literally, on the 78 that was playing on my Califone record player. It was Prestige 755 and, really, I had no idea. My guest was quite intrigued at this rare find and I kept to my word and sold him the 78 for $15 and he was quite pleased to acquire this extremely rare copy of some pretty decent music.

Somewhere in here is a moral to this story, but I can’t figure it out now and I have to go because, believe it or not, there is another collector perusing my records right now as I type this. Who knows what we’ll discover this morning.

features an organ instead of a piano. Anyway, we put the record on the turntable and it’s quite good. There’s some nice blues and a couple of nice ballads, including Nature Boy with just tenor and bass. Good record and an original Blue Note, but it won’t make the top 1,000. So to eBay it heads, perhaps as soon as this week.

One other thing: We do have quite a nice, interesting Ike Quebec collectible, which is this: Ike Quebec Tenor Sax, Blue Note  Album 102. This is a three-volume boxed set of 78s, very nice, in nice condition, and look at that great cover. Will this survive the purging of the collection? That remains to be seen.