Record Record Prices for the Record

I should get that $12,600 copy of Blue Train on the record, pardon the pun: John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This was an original pressing with the New York 23 label on Side One and the West 63rd Street label on Side Two. It was sold by our friends at the Jazz Record Center in New York. The record looked to be in M- condition. There were nine bidders, 24 bids and in the final hour or so the bidding went from $4,300 to the final price of $12,600. Wow. I think this is the highest price I’ve ever seen for a jazz record. Does anyone recall anything that sold for a higher price. Whilst perusing the Jazz Record Center complete listings, I came upon several other high-ticket items that will be of interest to our Jazz Collector community, including: Read more

$1,000 Jazz Vinyl (And Not)

Back in action. Let’s do another live tour of random rare jazz vinyl now listed on eBay. Let’s start right at the top: Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. The seller grades it in “Ex” condition. Seller only has a rating of 95.7 on eBay across more than 8,000 listings, but when you read the feedback it seems to be overwhelmingly positive. If I were bidding, I probably would not be concerned, but I will not be bidding. Even though I sold my original pressing of Candy more than 30 years ago and have since been unable to replace it, the starting price of $3,500 for this copy would be way, way, way out of my comfort zone. So far there are no bidsThe same seller also has Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. This is an original pressing with the deep red label. The record and cover are listed in “Ex” condition and the start price is $1,500. So far there are no bids. Read more

Jazz Vinyl for the New Year

Let’s close out the year with another real-time excursion through eBay, with a search of some of the higher priced jazz vinyl on auction now. It’s off to hunt we go. Here’s a new listing: Freddie Hubbard, Hub Cap, Blue Note 4073. This is an original West 63rd street pressing, one of the last of the West 63rd Blue Notes. This one is graded in VG+ condition for the record. The seller has a bunch of pictures of the cover. My grade would be VG based on the pictures. There is nearly a week left in the auction and the start price is $500, with no bidders so far.

Read more

The Artificial Intelligence Version of JazzCollector.com

Have any of you tried ChatGPT for artificial intelligence? I have been using it for a work project, and it’s been a pretty fascinating experience. I can see that the type of work of been doing for the past 16 years, basically writing about the convergence of business and technology, will likely be almost completely taken over by AI within the next few years.  I am using ChatGPT 4, which is the most sophisticated version. I am bringing that up because my system stopped responding for a few minutes this morning, so to get it restarted, I typed in a topic I know quite a bit about: Jazz Collector. I asked two questions: What can you tell me about JazzCollector.com? Who is the main person responsible for JazzCollector.com. The response came back in less than one minute. I thought you might all be interested, below. BTW, the picture accompanying this article has nothing to do with the article. Just thought I’d post a picture of one of my favorite covers, so as not to mess up the format. Anyway, here’s what artificial intelligence has to say about Jazz Collector and me: Read more

Catching Up on Some High-End Blue Note Vinyl

Time to follow up on some of the jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay, starting with Duke Jordan, Flight to Jordan, Blue Note 4046. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing offered by the Jazz Record Center. It looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. When we spotted this there were four days left in the auction and the bidding was at $1,600. The final price was $2,753. Still a market for the high-end stuff from reputable sellers, right? From the same auction there was Sheila Jordan, Portrait of Sheila, Blue Note 9002. This was an original New York USA pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $306. Keeping up with the Jordans, I guess. Read more

Live From eBay, One More Time

I really enjoyed doing that “live” eBay search last week, so let’s try it again. I’m heading over the eBay now. Searching on Jazz Vinyl Records sorted by highest prices first and auctions only. Here we go. Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing from a reputable seller. The record is graded as a “solid VG” and the cover is probably VG++. Looks like a nice copy, although there are some tics in the playback, as described by the seller. The start price is $2,000 and there are no bidders with more than four days left on the auction. Read more

Jazz Vinyl: Where’s the Action?

Things have been hectic around here, to say the least. My wife, known to many of you as The Lovely Mrs. JC, had a retinal detachment in August and has since been through three surgeries and two laser procedures. We’ve been driving back and forth between New York and The Berkshires almost every week. Fingers crossed that the third surgery was the charm. In the meantime, I’m thankful I’ve been able to continue doing my radio show on WTBR-FM Pittsfield, which are also the podcasts that appear on the Jazz Collector web site. I have never done anything like this before and it’s giving me a lot of enjoyment. Plus it’s getting me back into the music, even more than the records, which, IMHO, is always a good thing. But there are still records out there and, I assume eBay is still in business, so I will swing over there now and do my first search in well over a month. And what do I find? Read more

Jazz Record Centering

Last week when I was on eBay I was watching an auction from the Jazz Record Center. The auction has since closed, but it’s always fun and enlightening to keep an eye on their results, so here are a few rare jazz vinyl items that sold last week, starting with Harold Vick, Steppin’ Out!, Blue Note 4138. This looked to be an original mono pressing with the New York USA label. Never had this album, nor have I ever heard it. Not in my sweet spot with the organ instead of piano. This is a preview copy that looked to be in M- condition for the record and the cover. The final price was $521. Read more

Rare Jazz Vinyl On eBay Again

It’s been a long time between visits to eBay for me due to unforeseen circumstances that have been drain on my time and required me to be in New York for a while. Seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, so hopefully I can do my regular posts more frequently, in addition to keeping up with my radio show and podcasts. I’ve been in these circumstances before and expressed similar hopes so let’s see what happens. In the meantime, I’ve been on eBay this morning and put a bunch of jazz vinyl collectibles into my watch list, so here goes, starting with Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan, Peckin’ Time, Blue Note 1574. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover is VG. There are 20 bids and six bidders so far, with the auction closing later today. The current price is $515 and I would say this one is a candidate for the $1,000 bin. Read more

1 2 3 128