Working With the Miles Davis Quintet, Prestige 7166. This was an original yellow label pressing with the New Jersey address. It was a review copy in mint condition. The price was $472.35. There was a time when you could get the Miles Prestige records relatively inexpensively, but not anymore.

Here’s another nice one from Prestige: Stan Getz and Zoot Sims, The Brothers, Prestige 7022. This was an original New York yellow label pressing in M- condition for the record and probably VG++ for the cover. This one has the frame cover. The price was $234.72. How often are you going to find a record like this in this kind of condition? Nice.

Here’s a Blue Note that, surprisingly, did not break into the $1,000 bin.

John Jenkins and Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing and it was in near mint condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $884.

I had an eye on this because I have a duplicate copy I may be looking to sell or trade: The Fabulous Fats Navarro Volume 1, Blue Note 1531. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing with an original Lexington Avenue frame cover. The record looked to be in M- condition and the cover was probably VG++. The price was $382. Actually, not only do I have a duplicate copy of Volume 1, I have a duplicate copy of Volume 2 as well.

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Columbia 1355. This was an original promo pressing with the white and red label and six eyes. For the most part, promo copies of jazz records don’t necessarily add to the value. With Kind of Blue, however, that is not the case: We usually see the promo copies selling for a premium. I can understand why: It looks way cool and has the smell of authenticity of an original pressing. This copy was in M- condition for both the record and the cover, with a very nice picture, and it sold for $555. There were 31 bids. quite a high number.

There’s been a lot of chatter on the Jazz Collector site about the auction last week by the seller bobdjukic, who always seems to generate a lot of interest, partly because of his extensive use of hyperbole but moreso, methinks, because of his ability to generate high prices. Here are a couple of his auctions we were watching:

Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, Prestige 7075. This is an original pressing with the New York address and deep groove. Of course, it is described as both “megarare” and “insanely rare.” I’m not sure which is rarer, mega or insane. What do you think? Maybe we can have a vote. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover the same, although I wonder about the cover from the picture. This one sold for $542.12. We did a post on this a couple of weeks ago, when a copy of this same record from The Jazz Record Center — the most credible dealer of all, right? — sold for only $192.50. See what we mean about this seller being able to generate high prices. Not bad, although, to be fair, this record should be a high-priced collectible, in my humble opinion. This next one, “insanely rare,” got a very high bid but did not make the seller’s reserve price: Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. It looked to be an original pressing and it was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The top bid $1,815. Interesting that the seller notes, in response to a question on this, that he does not play grade the records. I find it hard to accurately grade records without at least putting on a track or two, and I tend to be especially careful with high-end records that fetch top dollars. But I don’t do it for a living and I don’t deal in the same volume as a seller such as this.

Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580. This one looked to be an original pressing. The listing doesn’t mention deep grooves, but they are clearly visible in the photo. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG++. The price was $1,091.77. That’s a high price, to be sure, but with what’s happening in the Blue Note market lately and the market for Andy Warhol covers, I’m frankly surprised it didn’t sell for more.

Bill Evans, Waltz For Debby, Riverside 399. This was a white label promo copy, which looks quite cool. The record was in mixed condition: Side 1 was listed as VG++ and side 2 was listed as VG. When I have a record like that, I tend to go with the worst-case scenario and rate it VG. The cover was listed as VG++. The price was $790.

Sonny Rollins, The Bridge, RCA 2527. This was an original stereo pressing listed in M- condition by a very reputable seller who also owns the best record store on Long Island. Still, while this is an interesting record with an interesting history — the return of Rollins after his legendary practice sessions on the Williamsburg Bridge — it has never really been a collectible item, at least in terms of its selling price. Perhaps it’s starting to move up the ranks: This one sold for $90.99. Not quite Blue Note prices, but a collectible price nonetheless.

Here’s another one we normally don’t track:

Roland Kirk, The Inflated Tear, Atlantic 1502. This was an original mono pressing, with a promo stamp on the cover and a white label. The seller notes that there were very few mono pressings of this LP because it was only available in the promo copies. I had never heard this story. I looked at the copy in my collection and it is a stereo. Anyway, this didn’t get an outrageous collectible price, but it sold for $43.67, more than usual for this LP. It also hit my radar because, if the mono pressing is truly unusual, I would expect that additional copies will sell for more money in the future. That’s how we collectors think, isn’t it: If something is rare, it must be of value.

This beauty was sold by Euclid Records: Ernie Henry, 7 Standards and a Blues, Riverside, Riverside 248. This was an original blue label pressing in near mint condition for both the cover and the vinyl. The price was $564.32. I think that sets a record for this LP, but

how do you put a price on such pristine condition? I do have a question: Does anyone know exactly at which point Riverside switched from white labels to blue? It’s sometime in the 240s, but I’m not quite sure which record marks the switching point. This was another gem from Euclid: The Brew Moore Quintet, Fantasy 3-222. This was an original red label pressing in M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $304.

Walter Davis, Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing and was sold by a reputable dealer. The record was listed in M- condition and was described as “uplayed.” The cover was probably VG+, based on the description. The price was $2,000. Our previous high price for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was $1,248.

This one has made many appearances in the $1,000 bin: Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This was an original pressing with a promo stamp. The record and cover looked to be in M- condition. The price was $2,175.

Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538. This looked like an original Lexington Avenue pressing with the deep grooves, although the seller’s description was quite lacking, making it

a bit of a risky proposition. He described the condition of the record as good and the cover as good, but he also stated that the record and cover seemed clean, and the pictures looked quite nice. He said he was not a dealer, which is always a risk, and he had not played the record, which is another risk. Nonetheless, the record sold for $1,048.

Zoot Sims, Stretching Out, United Artists 4023. This was an original deep groove mono pressing. It was a promo copy, with a promo stamp and the white label and it was in M- condition, for both the record and the cover. The price was $124. What do you think: Does the promo stamp enhance the value of a record for you, or detract, or neither. I recall in the world of rock albums, the promo stamp was always considered a good thing, but I’ve never heard that one way or another in the jazz world. Which leads me to this LP: Bill Evans, Waltz For Debby, Riverside 399. This was an original pressing with the white promo label. The record was

listed in VG condition, although the seller said it played well, and the cover was also VG. The price was $560. I have a sense that this is one of the jazz records that would be enhanced by the promo markings.

We were also watching a couple of interesting, hard-to-find LPs by Thad Jones, including: Thad Jones, Mad Thad, Period 1208. This was an original pressing and it was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $525.  There there was this: Thad Jones, The Jones Boys, Period 1210. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was M- and the cover was VG+. The price on this was $130.50. Why the price differential between the two Thad Jones LPs? Who knows? This is eBay, after all.