Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet, Verve 8220. This is an original pressing with the trumpeter logo. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. There were four bidders, 15 bids and the ultimate price was $290. My sense is most of the readers here at Jazz Collector tend to prefer post-bop era jazz — I generally do as well — but this is one of those must-have records, in my opinion, that always sounds beautiful and fresh when you put it on the turntable.

Haven’t seen this one sell for such a high price before: Sheila Jordan, Portrait of Sheila, Blue Note 9002. This was described as an original U.S. pressing in “superb” condition. It sold for $405. Our previous high for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was just $123, so that’s quite a leap. Great record, though.

Here’s a perennial for the ever-more-crowded $1,000 bin:

Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. The record was VG+ and the cover was VG+ as well. The price was $1,343.

And, for the record (pun intended), let’s close the book on this one: Joe Henderson, Page One, Blue Note 4140. This was an original pressing in M- condition for the record and the cover. As several readers have noted, this one seems to have set a new price standard for Blue Notes of this era. It sold for $2,000. Whew.

Paul Gonsalves, Cookin’, Argo 626. This was an original pressing with the black labels and the deep grooves. It looked to be in M- or VG++ condition for the record and similar condition for the cover. The seller didn’t actually apply grades, which I think would affect — negatively — the sale price. This one fetched $264, which is the highest price we’ve recorded for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, so perhaps  it’s better to not list a condition.

Thad Jones, Detroit-New York Junction, Blue Note 1513. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. Love to see those original Lexes, especially when they are in my collection (which this one, unfortunately, is not).  The record was in VG++ condition and the cover was VG+. The price was $767.

This one was a leftover from the recent bobjdukic sale:

Is there a reason why the Ben Webster Verve LPs, particularly this one, seem to have a premium over other artists, such as Stan Getz or even Lester Young? Ben Webster, Soulville, Verve 8274. This one was in near mint condition and sold for $330.09.

Now for this one I can understand a high price: Lou Donaldson Sextet Volume 2, Blue Note 5055. This is an original 10-inch pressing that seems to be in about VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover. There are nearly four days to go and the price is in the $225 range. By the way, I think I’ve convinced the lovely Mrs. JC to allocate four solid shelves of space in our new New York apartment for 10-inch LPs, which will probably cover 250-plus records. Not my full 10-inch collection, but more than enough to sustain me. And perhaps I will get back to eBay and sell some of the others. Still looking for a permanent home for my 78s, which is a bit more complicated because there are more of them and because they include both individual records and albums as well. I’ll keep you posted.

Stan Getz In Stockholm, Verve 8213. This is an original pressing with the trumpeter label. Excellent LP with Getz in fine form. This one is listed in M- condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It is currently at $100.

Euclid Records has some nice records today, including these: J. R. Monterose, The Message, Jaro 5004. The record is in M- condition and the cover is just VG. It is already priced at more than $650. Jackie McLean, The New Tradition, Ad Lib 6601. How much do you want to own a copy? Would you accept one in G condition for the record, with noise, and VG for the cover? Someone will. This one is about $125 and I expect it will sell for a bit more than that. Bud Powell, Time Waits, Blue Note 1598. This looks to be an original pressing. The record is in VG++ condition and the cover is VG+. The current price is $175.

Haven’t seen this one in awhile, but now it’s up for the second time in a week:

Donald Byrd, Parisian Thoroughfare, Brunswick 87904. This is the original French pressing and it is listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. It has a start price of $299 and so far there are no takers. Last week this record, along with its other volume, were sold as a set for $2,400. I would expect a buyer at $300 or more for this record, wouldn’t you?

This one is back again as well: Hank Mobley Quartet, Blue Note 5066. This is the original 10-inch pressing. The record is listed as VG or VG- and there is mention of surface noise, or, more accurately, “crackle.” The cover is VG. The current price is $152 with a couple of days left.

We also have some records we’re selling this week, including: Freddie Hubbard, Hub Tones, Blue Note 84115. This is a stereo pressing with the New York USA logo and it is in very nice condition. It is currently at $45.

Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This was a New Jersey pressing, not an original but a second press. It was in M- condition for the record and somewhere less than M- for the cover, say VG++. We’ve been watching the market for second-press Blue Notes going way up, and here’s a Prestige following the same pattern. This one sold for $202.50. Perhaps condition is playing a factor as well, but this is a nice price for a New Jersey copy of Relazin’. This one came from the same seller: John Coltrane, Soultrane, Prestige 7142. This was a yellow-label New Jersey pressing, which is a first press. I have a copy of Prestige 7141 with the New York address, but I’ve never seen a Soultrane with the New York address. Great record, my favorite of the Coltrane Prestiges. This one was in M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $295.

This one is of the same general vintage and only sold for $58.70:

Cattin’ With Coltrane and Quinichette, Prestige 7158. This was an original pressing with the yellow label, deep groove and New Jersey address. It was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. Not sure why the price was so low. We’ve seen copies sell for nearly $200 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Are the Verves slipping as collectibles? This one sold for $21.58: Stan Getz, Award Winner, Verve 8296. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter label, great record. The record was M- and the cover was VG. This was an original all the way, not a reissued Clef or Norgran. If I didn’t have a nice copy, I’d love to get a record like this for $21.58.

As prices have been rising for original Blue Notes, we’ve also been watching prices rise, although not as drastically for later pressings. We had an eye on this one: Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil, Blue Note 4194. This was a stereo pressing with the Liberty label. The record as M- and the cover was VG++. It sold for $38. I couple of years ago, these Liberty pressings were selling in the $20 range, so there has been movement, as you would expect. When I first started collecting jazz in 1970 or so, if you went into a local store such as a Sam Goody, these were the pressings you would typically find. If I had been prescient, or if I had the money, I would have bought them all.

This seller was trying to take a shot with a record of similar vintage: Hank Mobley, No Room For Squares, Blue Note 4149. This didn’t have a description of the label, but it did clearly show in the picture that it was a Liberty pressing. He tried with a start price of $100. There were no bidders, and it has now been listed for around $50, with the same pictures. Presumably there will still be no bidders, but you can never tell. This seller’s feedback rating, by the way, is 98.8 percent.

This one is hard to figure:

Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny, Riverside 241. This looks like an original white label pressing, quite rare, with the deep groove. It was sold by a reputable seller and  it was described as VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $89. I would have expected it to sell for more. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide we’ve had copies of this record sell for more than $500, and VG+ copies sell for something in the range of $400. The key on this was the language “surface noise” in the description. VG+ and surface noise connotes potential listening challenges. As a seller, I also use the term “surface noise” when appropriate. While it deflates the value, it results in fewer dissatisfied customers. By the way, I still have some records of various vintage closing today, including this beautiful original by Stan Getz, which still has no bids, to my surprise: Stan Getz At the Shrine, Verve 8122. You can see my stuff for sale by clicking here.

This seller has some nice items up now, including: Thelonious Monk, Brilliant Corners, Riverside 226. This is an original pressing with the white label, quite hard to find, and it is in M- condition for both the record and the cover. This one is a bit more than $300 and there’s another day to go and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one breaks into the $1,000 bin. This one is from the same seller: Dizzy Gillespie, Horn of Plenty, Blue Note 5017. This is an original Blue Note Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is in M- condition and the cover looks to be VG+. It hasn’t even hit the $100 mark yet. Correct me if I’m wrong — and I’m sure someone will — but I think this is the only Dizzy record on Blue Note, right?

This seller also has some beauties, including: Sonny Clark, Leapin’ and Lopin’, Blue Note 84091. This is an original stereo pressing, which means it doesn’t have the same cachet or value as a mono pressing, but it is still about $140, closing later today. It is in M- condition with the shrink wrap still on it.

Okay, I need some help figuring this one out:

Oscar Peterson, We Get Request, Verve 8606. This is a pretty common record and even if it’s an original pressing what’s the big deal, right? Somehow the bidding is $150 for this. And no, it’s not a bobdjukic listing. Something in me thinks this is not quite legit.

I had a couple of boxed sets I was watching. I have mixed feelings about boxed sets: I like the idea of the packaging and the extended liner notes and all of that, but when I actually look through my records to decide what to play, I rarely look through them and rarely play them. I have a bunch of the Mosaics — probably 50 in all — plus some nice Norgrans and Verves. I suppose if I had more time to listen, and more time to concentrate . . . Anyway, I have this record in a boxed set and was watching it on eBay: Stan Getz at the Shrine, Norgran NG 2000-2. This one was in M- condition of the records — two of them — and VG++ for the packaging. It sold for $280.55. This one also has the advantage of

a beautiful color illustration by David Stone Martin. Here’s another boxed set that didn’t have the same value, but is nice as well: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book, Verve 4010-4. This is the boxed set with all four records. The records — four of them — were in M- condition and the packaging was VG++. The price was $71. I have this one as well and I love the music. Some great Ben Webster and Stuff Smith and Ella in absolutely terrific form. If you haven’t listened to this one lately, it’s worth putting on the turntable or CD player or something if you have the music

Wayne Shorter, JuJu, Blue Note 4182. This was an original New York USA mono pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $537. This is the highest price we’ve ever recorded for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide and is, in fact, the highest price we’ve ever recorded for any Wayne Shorter album.

This one was from the same seller: Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights Volume 2, Blue Note 1597. This is one of the ones with the Andy Warhol cover. This was not an original pressing — at least not a first pressing — because it had the New York USA labels as opposed to the West 63rd Street labels. We’ve been watching a lot of second and third presses lately, particularly the Blue Notes, because we’ve seen a pretty strong uptick in prices. This one sold for $179.50 in M- condition for both the record and the cover.

We flagged this one when the bidding topped $60 because we’ve never considered it that much of a collectible:

The Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd Jazz Laboratory and the Cecil Taylor Quartet At Newport, Verve 8238. This was one of  a group of at least 10 albums from Verve that were recorded live at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. I’ve never seen any of them sell for too much and, in the end, this one didn’t either: It was in M- condition and sold for $68.50.

Here’s a nice Prestige: Mal Waldron, Mal-1, Prestige 7090. This was an original New York yellow label pressing and it looked to be in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $405.

I will tell you more about Red in a subsequent post, but first let me tell you the story of the first time I met Red. It was back in the early 1970s and I had just started collecting jazz records. I was 19 years old. My good friend from childhood Dan Axelrod had also begun collecting jazz records at the same time and Dan was far more obsessive about it than I was, so he was always finding scores before me. He’d call from Philadelphia or Miami, out of breath, describing beautiful Blue Notes

and yellow-label Prestiges and yellow Norgrans that he had just bought for a dollar apiece. I was always in awe. Then one day Dan called and said he had just found this guy who lived nearby and claimed to have hundreds of rare Verve records in his basement.  We were both into Charlie Parker and Stan Getz and Sonny Stitt and Lester Young and Billie Holliday and, for Dan especially, Tal Farlow, and the idea of hundreds of out-of-print Verves all in one place was, to say the least, quite intriguing and exciting.

Dan said he was going to drive out to this guy’s house and asked if I would like to come along. Sure, I said. There was only one condition: Dan would get to look at all of the records first and he would choose what he wanted and then I would get to choose whatever was left after that. Fine, I said. I was in no position to negotiate. Not only had Dan discovered this guy, but I had no way of getting to his house since I had a broken leg and a full cast and couldn’t drive.

So Dan picked me up and we drove out to Malverne on Long Island, Aberdeen Street, from our garden apartments in Bayside, and soon there was Red Carraro warmly welcoming us at the door with a big smile and a raspy voice, showing us his own jazz collection in the living room, pointing to a few original David Stone Martin drawings on his walls and eventually escorting us downstairs to his basement. I struggled down the steps with my crutches and cast, but, hey, there were hundreds of Verve records down there, all new, many still sealed. Red put a record on the turntable, probably Zoot Sims, and we settled in to look at the records.

It was quite incredible: Boxes of records, mostly Verves, mostly single copies. Dan started attacking the boxes and basically just kept pulling record after record: Stan Getz, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Tal Farlow, Sonny Stitt, Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges: On and on and on. He must have had a pile of 100 or even 150 records. Then the boxes would come to me and they were nearly empty: Perhaps a couple of Charlie Barnet LPs that didn’t interest Dan, or a Count Basie double, or an Ella that was still available at Sam Goody’s. I remember pulling about 10 or 15 records or so, and I was quite pleased to find those. The price: $5 each. Rare records, many original pressings, most out of print, quite a fair price, even in those days.

I put the pile in front of Red and pulled out my wallet to pay.

“What’s that?” It was Dan, observing my pile.

“These are the records I’m buying.”

“But what’s that?”

Dan was pointing to the record on the top. A Billie Holiday record:  Music For Torching. It had a beautiful yellow and orange cover, with an illustration by David Stone Martin. It was the best record in my pile.

“That’s a Billie Holiday record,” I said.

“You can’t have it,” Dan said.

“What do you mean I can’t have it? You passed on it, and the deal was anything you passed on I could have.”

“But I didn’t mean to pass on it,” Dan said. “I must have missed it.”

“Well,” I said, “sorry, but you’ve got all of those amazing records and I’ve got this little pile and we made a deal and I’m buying this Billie Holiday record.”

“No you’re not,” Dan said.

“Yes I am,” I replied.

It went on like this for a good half hour, best friends arguing futilely over an out-of-print Billie Holiday record with a Stone Martin cover, Red standing there in the middle, smiling but befuddled, not at all knowing what to do as Dan and I eventually began screaming at each other. I was holding the record all this time and I finally pushed the money at Red and paid for the record and put it under my arm, along with the rest of the pile. Dan said something quite obscene to me, grabbed his pile, went up the stairs, got into his car and drove off.  I was still in the basement, with my leg in a cast, 20 miles from home, just me and Red and a bunch of empty boxes that formerly contained most of the Verve jazz catalogue. I looked at Red and smiled. “Oh well,” I said. “I wonder how I’m going to get home.” I then looked at my records, with Music for Torching on the top. I smiled again. I may never make it home, but at least the record was mine.