Jazz In Korea: A Story Goes With It

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For those of you who won’t be in New York at the WFMU Record Fair this weekend, we are watching some  jazz vinyl on eBay. Here’s an interesting one with a story behind it: Howard McGhee and his Korean All Stars, Jazz At the Battlefront Volume 1, Hi-Lo 6001. This is an original 10-inch LP. It is listed in M- condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover. The current price is a little more than $100 and the seller is Euclid Records, who we hope to see at the record fair on Sunday. Anyway, this is the story behind the record. From what I recall, the great jazz bass player Oscar Pettiford was hired by the U.S. government to lead a group of jazz players to go over to Korea to play for the troops who were stationed there in 1951 or 1952. So he put together a group including Howard McGhee on trumpet, JJ Johnson on trombone, Rudy Williams on tenor sax, Skeeter Best on guitar and Charles Rice on drums. Pettiford, of course, was to be on bass — except something happened. I had heard it was a fight, perhaps in a bar, but my

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WFMU Record Fair Starts Today

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Just a reminder, the WFMU Record Fair starts today in New York and extends through Sunday. If you are in the area, it’s definitely worth checking out. If you are attending and would like to share your experiences with your fellow Jazz Collectors, please feel free to comment on this post, or send me an email at al@jazzcollector.com and I can give you your own post. As for me, I’m heading out of town today but will be back in time to attend the Record Fair on Sunday. I won’t have a table, but I’ll be roaming around looking at records, and maybe even buying a few as well. I’ll write a report on my findings sometime after the weekend.

Prestige Day: Jackie, Farmer, Fuller, Webster Young

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The past few days we’ve been catching up on some Blue Notes and some 10-inchers. Now it’s time for our old friend Prestige:

Jackie McLean, Jackie’s Pal, Prestige 7068. This one was in M- condition for both the record and the cover and it was another one out of the batch from Nautiluso. The price was $896. While we were there, we checked out whether there’s any new feedback on this seller from the amazing collection of a few weeks ago. So far, there’s nothing new to report. We’ll keep looking.

Art Farmer Quintet Featuring Gigi Gryce, Prestige 7017. This was an original New York yellow-label pressing and was offered by Euclid Records. The record was VG++ and the cover was M-. The price was $203.50, which is a bit more than we’ve seen in the past for this record, but certainly well deserved as an early Prestige with some great artists.

Curtis Fuller, New Trombone, Prestige 7107. This was an original New York pressing, also

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Some More Blue Notes, Less than $1,000

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Here’s  some jazz vinyl on Blue Note that did not sell for more than $1,000.

Paul Chambers Quintet, Blue Note 1564. This was an original pressing and it was listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The price was just $114.50. That’s pretty low for this record. The last time we followed it in the Jazz Collector Price Guide it sold for more than $1,100, and previously it has sold for more than $600. This was not in M- condition, but you would still expect it to go for at least $300 or so. I think the seller may have overgraded the record, based on the description — VG+ but with “marks that will make some noise.” To me that’s a sign that the record may be VG or worse, so that would probably be the reason for the lower price.

Lee Morgan, The Cooker, Blue Note 1578. This one was listed in VG condition for the vinyl

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Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Ella Sings Cole

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I realized the other day I may have a problem with this Great Jazz Vinyl Countdown. And that problem has to do with Ella Fitzgerald. I realized this when I had a bit of free time with the lovely Mrs. JC and she asked me to put on some music. “How about something nice?” she said. Something nice, in her eyes, is usually a nice jazz vocal, or perhaps a Stan Getz on Verve, or Bill Evans Waltz For Debby. Anyway, I put on this LP, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book, Verve 4001-02, and Mrs. JC was quite pleased, as was I. This is Ella’s first songbook effort and you will not find too many records better than this and there is no doubt about it garnering a place in the top 1,000. What I realized when I put the vinyl on the turntable, however, is this:

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10-Inch Mania: Miles, Getz, Savoy, Serge, Prez

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Let’s catch up on some 10-inch LPs we’ve been watching. It’s always interesting to keep an eye on the 10-inchers just to see if the market is holding up. So far, it is, based on these records.

Miles Davis, Young Man With a Horn, Blue Note 5013. The vinyl on this one was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was M-. The price was $510.01. This one was sold by the seller herschel78, who has been putting some nice items up over the past few weeks, including some other 10-inch LPs we’ve been  watching.

Miles Davis Volume 3, Blue Note 5040. The vinyl on this one was listed as VG+ and the cover was VG++. The price was $385.

Stan Getz Plays, Clef 137. This was an original pressing with a nice cover by David Stone Martin. The price was $68. This is a great record, one of Getz’s best.

Leo Parker, New Trends of Jazz Volume 5, Savoy 9018. This one was

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For The $1,000 Bin: A Few More Blue Notes

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Here are a few more of the records from the seller Natuiluso that are going into the $1,000 bin and are joining the Jazz Collector Price Guide as of today. They are all Blue Notes.

We had mentioned a couple of other Hank Mobley records previously, and here’s another: Hank Mobley with Farmer, Silver, Watkins, Blakey, Blue Note 1550. This was an original pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover. It sold for $1,137, which is the first time we’ve recorded this particular LP at more than $1,000, which is also quite interesting to us because we do happen to own a copy in M- condition and $1,000 is language that kind of appeals to us.

Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. We had mentioned that a copy of this record had set the previous high on Jazz Collector at $3,750. This one was in beautiful M- condition, but it feel just short of the previous high price: This one sold for $3,501.

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Mobley LP Sets High For Jazz Collector Price Guide

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We’ve been tracking jazz records on eBay for about five years and have built a database of more than 4,000 records. We don’t claim to have captured the sale of every high-priced record on eBay, but we’ve gotten more than our fair share. And, today, we will be entering into the Jazz Collector Price Guide, the highest-priced jazz vinyl we’ve recorded to date, and that is this: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This was an original U.S. pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $3,805. The previous highest price that we had recorded was for a copy of Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin, Blue Note 1588, which sold for $3,750. It is noteworthy that the Mobley record was sold by the seller Nautiluso, who had that massive collection of about 75 vintage jazz records that were all listed in pristine condition and which generated a little bit of skepticism within the Jazz Collector universe. We’ll continue to keep an eye out for comments on these auctions and we’ll continue to encourage winning bidders to let us know about the condition of their LPs. In addition

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Catching Up: Miles, Cannon — What’s Going On?

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Back on eBay after a couple of days’ break. Those auctions we were watching from the seller bobdjukic closed and, while we’re not looking to give this seller any undue publicity, we are quite fascinated with the prices he is somehow able to obtain — even higher than top dealers such as The Jazz Record Center and Euclid Records. We will give a few examples: This one we noted before: Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool, Capitol 762. This is an original British pressing, not even an original U.S. issue. It was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover and sold for an astounding $812.15. I recently sold a beautiful mint U.S. pressing of this record and was happy to get close to $100 for it. Is there something about the British pressing we’re not aware of? Doubt it, but somebody out there in the Jazz Collector world will know if there is. The other thing is, look at this quote from the seller’s description of Birth of the Cool:

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Jackie: Swing, Swang and Not Swingin’

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I found my bid on the Jackie McLean record from the big Nautiluso auction last week: Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This looked to be a beautiful original pressing in near mint condition, quite lovely. Anyway, I bid $345, figuring maybe people would get scared off by the magnitude of the auction. It sold for $828. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to stick with my Liberty pressing, electronically re-recorded to simulate stereo. Yuck.

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