We were watching this one because it was listed as an original pressing even though it wasn’t: Kenny Drew Trio, Riverside 224. This was a blue-label pressing when the original was really a white label. The seller was very clear in stating that this was a “first mono pressing.” Ah well. The record was only in VG- condition and the cover was VG. Not an original and not in great condition and it sold for $87. That seems to be the going rate these days perhaps and, perhaps, maybe someone needed a new cover. Not for me in that condition at that price.

We were watching this to get a sense of what the solid blue label Blue Notes are selling for these days: Dexter Gordon, Dexter Calling, Blue Note 84083. This  in M- condition for both the record and the cover and it sold for $29. This probably means that a Liberty pressing of this record would be in the $50 or $60 range, don’t you think?

As regular Jazz Collector readers know we often bid on record lots and take a gamble that there will be hidden gems. This one didn’t quite fit into that category because all of the items were carefully listed with condition and provenance. It was a lot of 22 records, including a bunch of Blue Notes, from a seller in France with a feedback rating of 97.9 percent. Not for us. It’s worth looking at however: Beautiful Lot of 22 Jazz Blue Note Etc. The package sold for $463. Possibly a bargain, definitely a risk. If the winning bidder is a Jazz Collector reader, please let us know how you make out.

Anyway, we had this gig and it was two nights a week and I couldn’t remember the changes to all of the tunes and Dan would write them for me on little index cards that I would have on a music stand in front of me. He’d call off a tune, I’d search for the index card and we’d count it off and I’d play the changes and he’d do the soloing. The challenge was this: If it wasn’t a blues, I didn’t feel capable of taking a solo, so two nights a week for four to five hours a night, Dan had to take all of the solos on just about every tune. I never realized what a challenge it was – and I don’t think he realized it either – but it turns out to have been the equivalent of months in the woodshed for Dan, trying to be creative and inventive for hours and hours on a wide range of songs from ballads to bossa novas to bebop and beyond. People who heard Dan play before and after that summer in 1972, the height of our “fame,” couldn’t believe the difference in his playing. He had made the leap from prodigy to accomplished jazz musician and was now ready to meet Tal on fairly equal terms. It was a turning point for him and a lot of fun for me, although my playing never really got any better. At least it didn’t get worse.

Fast forward to the next century and Dan and I are still friends and I have this little lake house in Monterey, Ma., and there is a little general store here where I go every morning for my coffee and newspapers and one day there is a sign at the general store and it is advertising music every Saturday night. For some reason I tell the owner, Kenn, that, oh yes, I am a musician and in fact I am part of a wonderful jazz guitar duo. Of course, Dan and I have not played as a jazz guitar duo since the Rainy Nighthouse in 1972, but, in talking to Kenn, I manage to leave out this small detail. And Kenn says, great, let’s pick a date. And we do and I look through all of my things and there are the index cards and that’s all I need. This is six years ago and Dan comes up to the Berkshires and we get on the stage and I pull out an index card and it is the song “You Say You Care,” which Coltrane does so incredibly well on Soultrane.  And Dan starts wailing and I look over at Kenn and he has a huge smile on his face and the next thing I know he is on the telephone and calling people and holding the phone up in the air proudly because he realizes that, in Dan, there is brilliance in his midst. And we do the gig and it is a resounding success and I even take a couple of solos and all is well.

So the next summer I book us again, only Dan has had enough: Once every 30 years or so is fine with him. Undaunted, I hook up with another excellent guitar player, not necessarily in Dan’s league, but, then again, nobody is, and we do the gig that year and for a couple of other years. It’s fun, but not as fun as playing with Dan. So last year I convince Dan to do a return engagement and we have a blast and now, perhaps, it will be an annual event, as long as Kenn will have us. So this year, the gig is Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Monterey General Store in Monterey, Ma., and if any of you happens to be in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hello. I was looking for some music to accompany this article and found this clip of Dan and me playing Donna Lee in my living room back in 1977, with me on index card and rhythm guitar. Check it out.

05 Donna Lee.m4a 2

This seller had a bunch of nice records, but they were not in near-mint condition, so the prices seemed pretty reasonable, if you were willing to gamble. Here’s an example: Jackie McLean, Jackie’s Pal, Prestige 7068. This looked like an original New York pressing with the deep grooves and the flat edge and it was listed in VG++ condition for the cover and VG+ for the record. I could see where bidders, such as myself, might be a bit wary. The description of the cover sounded a lot more like VG+ than VG++ and the description of the vinyl used this language: “Scratches can be seen.” The record sold for $260.15. Somebody took a risk. This one came from the same seller: Jackie McLean, Alto Madness, Prestige 7114. This was also  an original New York pressing and this one was listed in

VG+ condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $449. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide, a copy of Jackie’s Pal in M- condition recently sold for nearly $1,600 and a copy of Alto Madness, also in M- condition, sold for nearly $1,000.

This one came from a different seller: Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was also an original pressing. The record was listed in M- condition — unplayed, apparently, until the seller played it — and the cover was listed in VG- condition. It sold for $554.55. If I were home rather than in the country, I might have considered bidding on this one. I think my copy at home has a nice cover, but a VG record. I could have swapped and mixed-and-matched, but without actually viewing my copy, $555-plus was a bit too much too gamble, don’t you think?

only in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $836. It’s a great record, isn’t it, but I admit I never expected to see this one sell for that price. My copy at home is also original and in comparable condition. A few months ago, cataloguing my records as I mentioned yesterday, I put the value in at $200. That’s what I thought it was worth. Really. Was I just wrong?

Collecting Jazz 45 RPM Records, by Erich Schultz

Although I have a large library of jazz 10” and 12” 33 RPM records, I also have over 1,000 jazz 45 RPM records as well. I starting collecting these 45’s about five years ago, and I have picked up most of them in the Los Angeles area when I visit my two children (I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.) I also get them sometimes through bulk sales on ebay. My reasons for collecting them include:

• They are a great way to introduce jazz to individuals who don’t have the attention or patience to listen to an entire album. Many of the folks who visit us like listening to 50’s and 60’s doo-wop, surf and rock and roll 45’s (I have a lot of those as well.) However, they seem to get interested when I play jazz 45’s at the same time (I get my jazz converts on person at a time!)
• The 45’s are portable, easy to store, and are small time capsules of history. Most of my jazz 45’s are from the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Many have two songs on each side, which are the EP (extended play) issue series that were designed to capture (in two discs) the same music that was contained in the 10” albums;
• They are inexpensive to procure. Most of my jazz 45’s cost less that $5 each, with most being in the $1-2 dollar range. I have purchased 4 disc boxed sets for as little as $3;
• They have great album cover art, which in many cases is identical to the album cover art of the larger 10” and 12” discs;
• The record label designs are fundamentally different than their LP counterparts, and are quite distinctive (my favorite 45 labels are Blue Note, Prestige, Fantasy, Clef, Verve and Riverside);
• They sound great; almost all of the 45’s I have are on mono, and many are in VP++ to NM- condition;
• It’s very easy to do arrangement, instrument or other comparative surveys. For example, if I am interested in 1958 styles of tenor saxophonists, I can put on 7-8 45’s and within an hour have a good comparison;
• The A and B side song choices make for some interesting contrasts. In many cases (the Shorty Rogers 45’s being an example) a significant portion of the musicians are different between the A and B sides.

Here are some of my favorite jazz 45’s, most of which are the two-song-per-side extended play versions. The years listed are the recording dates, not the date the records were issued:

• Jimmy Smith, All Day Long (Parts 1 and 2), Blue Note #1676, 1957
• Cal Tjader Quintet, Mamblues/Sonny Boy, Fantasy #538, 1958
• Shorty Rogers and His Giants, The Pesky Serpent/Diablo’s Dance/Pirouette/Indian Club, RCA Victor EP-3137, 1953
• Sonny Rollins, The Last Time I Saw Paris/Just In Time, Riverside #604, 1957
• Sonny Rollins, Decision (Parts 1 and 2), Blue Note #1669, 1956
• Sarah Vaughn, Poor Butterfly/April Given Me One More Day, Mercury #71085, 1957
• George Wallington Trio, Hyacinth/Joy Bell/I Didn’t Know What Time It Was/It Was Find and Dandy, Savoy XP-8125, 1951
• Charlie Parker, Kim/Cosmic Rays/I Hear Music/Laird Baird, Clef EP-209, 1953
• Zoot Sims, There I’ve Said It Again/Jaguar/Dream/Baby Won’t You Please Come Home, Prestige EP-1306, 1953
• The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Bernie’s Tune/Lullaby of the Leaves/Frensi/Nights at the Turntable, Pacific Jazz EP4-13, 1956
• Bob Brookmeyer and Phil Orso, Wizzard’s Gizzard/Ozzie’s Ode/Chiketa/Stop Watch, Savoy XP-8118, 1954
• Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars, Bernie’s Tune/All the Things You Are, Contemporary EP-C4004, 1953
• Milt Jackson Orchestra (arranged by Tadd Dameron), ‘Round Midnight/Namesake, Riverside 45479, 1962

I hope you enjoyed reading this brief article. I realize that not many collectors have jazz 45’s, but it is an interesting facet of record and label history. Many independent record labels survived on their 45 sales, and the 45 format did allow increased accessibility for teenagers and ultimately allowed them control over their music tastes instead of what their parents dictated.

Hank Mobley Quintet, Blue Note 1550. This was an original pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $2,142. A few months ago, I catalogued all of my Blue Notes for insurance purposes. For each record, I put down the condition and assigned a value to it, based on current market conditions and historical trends from the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Well, based on price trends, I’m going to have to go back and reassess the values and make them higher in most cases. For example, I don’t have an original pressing of this record, but I have an original of Hank, Blue Note 1560. My copy is M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. When I did the spreadsheet earlier this year, the value I assigned to this record was just

$450. Now I tend to be conservative in general, so this might have been light even then, but now, what would the record be valued at? $1,000 at least, right, and perhaps if I were to offer it on eBay, it might actually sell for double that. Interesting how the market changes and how hot the original Blue Notes are now. I believe eBay helps to fuel this frenzy, which is actually a good thing because it establishes a market for people who want these records and can afford them, and it makes it more exciting for those of us who are hunters to seek out and unearth these treasures at more reasonable prices. Anyway, later today or tomorrow I will go through some of my earlier Blue Note valuations and adjust them and I will share the process with you here. Stay tuned.

Also for the $2,000 bin: Doug Watkins at Large, Transition 20. This was an odd one to sell for such an inflated price — the record is only listed in VG condition. It did have the booklet and the cover was VG++, but VG seems a little of a stretch for the record to fetch a price of $2,302, which is what it did. It looked like there were five bidders going back and forth and a sixth bidder came on at the end and topped everyone. Prior to the close of the auction, the price was in the $1,200 range.

Lou Donaldson Sextet Volume 2, Blue Note 5055. This one looked to be in VG++ condition for the vinyl and M- for the cover. The price was $667. Another one from the same seller:

Miles Davis, Young Man With a Horn, Blue Note 5013. This was listed in M- condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. The price was $510.

Clifford Brown Quartet, Jazz Time Paris, Blue Note 5047. This listing didn’t have much detail, but t was an original pressing and it seemed to be in VG+ condition. The listing hovered at the $99 start price for a while and the record wound up selling for $337.

Lou Donaldson, Sonny Side Up, Blue Note 4036. This one has all of the same attributes, including the deep groove. It also has the original cover, which was different than the cover issued during the Liberty era. If it was pressed during the Liberty era, how would it have a deep groove, even on one side? Is it possible these records were pressed originally, held back for some reason and released later? If so, however, wouldn’t they have the ear? It’s a mystery to me. In any case, the buyers either were unaware of these glitches — as I was, assuming they were inadvertent — or simply didn’t care. The McLean record sold for $1,025 and the Donaldson record sold for $660. I know if I had paid those prices for those records and they came in the mail and there was no ear on the deadwax and there was a Van Gelder stamp instead of an RVG signature I would be quite upset. You too? I’m hoping there will be answers to some of these questions: Perhaps Don-Lucky will reach out once again to the Blue Note expert Larry Cohn.