Mingus on Mingus (on Mingus)
Nov 10, 2011 Features
We’ve been asked to help call attention to a proposed documentary on Charles Mingus and so we will. The filmmaker is Kevin Ellington Mingus and the documentary is called “Mingus on Mingus”. Kevin is Mingus’ grandson and the film will be about his journey to discover “the truth” about his famous grandfather. There’s a video explaining the project at the Website, Charles Mingus Documentary: Mingus on Mingus. I tried to embed it here at Jazz Collector, but my technical prowess was not up to it, so I recommend you go to the site and check it out. They are trying to raise money to fund the film, so if you are a Mingus fan and wish to see another documentary, please feel free. I have my own couple of Mingus stories to contribute. When I was a young journalist starting out I was assigned to interview Mingus, only he didn’t really want to be interviewed. I wrote the article and subsequently posted it at Jazz Collector. In case you missed it the first time, you can find it here, Memories of Mingus. Another story: I was talking to my cousin yesterday and he heard of the time Mingus was playing somewhere in LA and a woman was talking, and talking, and talking, and talking, and he kept looking at her but she kept talking, and talking, and talking, and talking. Finally, Mingus put down his bass, opened his case and pulled out a gun. The woman ran out of the club screaming with Mingus chasing her down the street, firing shots in the air. The great thing about the story, as surreal as it seems, is that there’s no one who knows anything about Mingus who would doubt that it happened, right?
On eBay: Mingus, Newk & Unplayed Records
Jul 5, 2010 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige
Here’s some jazz vinyl we’re watching on eBay:
Charles Mingus and Thad Jones, Jazz Collaborations Volume 1, Debut 17. This is an original 10-inch LP and it is in M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover. Quite hard to find this LP in this condition. The seller is Euclid Records, which has been posting quite a collection of rare 10-inch LPs the past couple of weeks. Anyway, this one closes in about 15 hours from this post and is still in the $100 range.
This one has a buy-it-now price of $2,800 and is currently at $1,000 in the bidding but has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price:
Tags: Charles Mingus, Cliff Jordan, Debut Records, Jackie McLean, Sonny Rollins, Thad Jones
For the Price Guide: Mingus, Bags, Rare Savoy
Mar 1, 2010 Blue Note, Impulse, Savoy
Here are some new records for the Jazz Collector Price Guide:
When did this one become a collectible that would fetch a price tag of nearly $200: Charles Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Impulse 54. This was an orange label stereo pressing in M- condition. It sold for $178.05. Quite a nice price for this LP, right? I have a stereo copy in my collection also in M- condition, beautiful. If anyone wants it for $175, just send me a note and I will sell it to you.
I almost bid on this one and now kind of regret that I didn’t: Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet, Blue Note 1509. This one was an original Lexington Avenue pressing and it looked to be in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover, although the seller could have been a bit more forthcoming with the grading. It sold for a little more than $100, and
Tags: Bill Hardman, Charles Mingus, Jazz Vinyl, Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk
New Ones For The Jazz Collector Price Guide
Jan 5, 2010 Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige, Savoy
Here is some more jazz vinyl that will go into the Jazz Collector Price Guide:
When did this become a $100 record: Barney Kessel, The Poll Winners, Stereo 7010? This was an original pressing with the black label. The vinyl was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. The final price was $97, so it wasn’t officially a $100 record. Still, I had no idea that Kessel was this collectible. I’m not complaining about it, since I do have all of his records on Contemporary, just a bit surprised by this one. In any case, it will be making its first appearance in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.
Also premiering in the Jazz Collector Price Guide will be: Bill Jennings, Enough Said!, Prestige 7164. This was an original yellow label pressing with
Tags: Barney Kessel, Bill Jennings, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Wilbur Harden
Today on eBay, January 30, 2009
Jan 30, 2009 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige, Price Guide
Here are some of the records we at Jazz Collector are watching today:Lucky Thompson, Lucky Strikes, Transition 21. This is an original pressing, with the booklet. The record is listed as M-, the cover as VG and the booklet as M-. The current price is about $160. Art Blakey, A Night At Birdland Volume 2, Blue Note 5038. This is an original 10-inch LP. The record is M- and the cover is VG. The current price is about $150.
This seller, Sweedeedee, has a bunch of nice items closing in the next 24 hours. Here are a few: Gene Ammons, Jammin’ With Gene, Prestige 7060. This is an original New York pressing. Both the record and cover are listed in M- condition. It is currently priced at a bit over $100. Here’s a black-label copy of John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. The record is listed as VG++ and the cover as M-. The current price is about $210. And here’s one, frankly, we’ve never seen before: Eric Dolphy in Europe, Debut 136. This is the original Danish pressing. The record and cover look to be in M- condition. The current price is $360, but we’d expect this to go for quite a bit more.
We posted a little late today, so we missed a few items, which we’ll be plugging into the Jazz Collector Price Guide later this weekend. Among them are:
Tags: Art Blakey, Atlantic Records, Charles Mingus, Debut Records, Eric Dolphy, Gene Ammons, Giant Steps, Jazz Collector Price Guide, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Lucky Thompson, Transition Records
Norvo, Farlow and Mingus: Volume 2?
Dec 1, 2008 Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
A Jazz Collector reader poses a question. On eBay, there was a copy of this record: The Red Norvo Trio, Volume 1, Discovery 4005. This is a 12-inch LP featuring Tal Farlow and Charles Mingus. It includes the following tracks: Little White Lies, Move, I Get A kick Out of You, I’ll Remember April, I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Zing Went the Strings of My Heart and September Song. These are the exact same songs that are on the 10-inch version of the LP, Discovery 3012, which has similar packaging, with the exception of an added picture (a great one of the group in action). The question is this: Is there a 12-inch Volume 2 of this series as well? There is a 10-inch Volume 2, which is Discovery 3018, so we assume there’s a 12-inch also (probably with the same pictures), but we don’t have a copy and, rather than search through eBay, we figured we’d throw it out there to see if someone knows the answer. Thanks.
Tags: Charles Mingus, Discovery, Jazz Collector Questions, Red Norvo, Tal Farlow
New Items For the Price Guide
Oct 17, 2008 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Riverside
Hank
Just to follow up on some of the records we were watching earlier this week, and some that will be going into the Jazz Collector Price Guide this weekend. Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in what looked like VG++/VG++ condition. Price: $935. Thelonious Monk, French Swing, 33342. This is a 10-inch LP in near mint condition. Price: $570
Nobody bid more than $15 for this record, and it didn’t sell because it didn’t meet the dealer’s reserve price: Gil Melle, New Faces . . . New Sounds, Blue Note 5020.
Moondog, Prestige 7042. This was an original pressing in VG++/VG++ condition. Price $89.98
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Tags: Atlantic, Charles Mingus, Gil Melle, Hank Mobley, John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman, Miles Davis, Moondog, Pepper Adams, Swing, Thelma Gracen, Thelonious Monk, Wing, Workshop
Today on EBAY, October 16, 2008
Oct 16, 2008 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
I continue to look ahead on eBay and I continue to not find much. Here’s what I could scrape up today — just a few, but a couple of prime cuts.
Look at this one: Thelonious Monk on French Swing 33342. This is a 10-inch LP that looks to be in fantastic condition. This is another rarity where we could use someone from the audience to give us a little background. The current price is $375. I haven’t seen one of these, so it’s not in the Price Guide, but it will be once this one closes.
Another beauty: Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This is an original pressing in very nice condition and the current price is $620.
Pepper Adams Plays The Compositions of Charles Mingus, Workshop 219. This is an original mono pressing in M-/M- condition. A stereo copy sold recently for $95. This one is already at $127.50.
The same seller offering the Monk LP also has this one: Gil Melle, New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5020. This has a start price of $15 and has no bids. But there’s also a reserve price.
Tags: Charles Mingus, French Swing, Gil Melle, Hank Mobley, Pepper Adams, Thelonious Monk, Workshop
Prices: Sonny’s Crib, House of Blue Lights and More
Oct 11, 2008 $1000 Records, 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Norgran, Prestige, Riverside, Verve
Working today to update the Price Guide, and here are a bunch of the items I’m putting it. I’m not attaching links to any of these because they’ve all already appeared on the site. If you want to look at the record, just do a search and find the original post.
This one had the highest price of all the ones we’re entering: Sonny Clark, Sonny’s Crib, Blue Note 1576. This was an original pressing in VG++/VG+ condition. Price: $1,524.99
Eddie Costa, House of Blue Lights, Dot 3206. This was an original pressing in VG++/VG++ condition. Price: $355
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Tags: Art Farmer, Atlantic, Barclay, Barry Harris, Bethlehem, Betty Bennett, Bill Berry, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Charlie Rouse, Dot, Duke Pearson, Eddie Costa, Elmo Hope, Epic, Frank Rosolino, Freddie Hubbard, Gigi Gryce, Jackie McLean, Jerome Richardson, John Coltrane, Lester Young, Lou Donaldson, Mal Waldron, Mercury, Mosaic, New Jazz, Pepper Adams, RealTime, Red Garland, Sal Salvador, Sonny Clark, Sonny Rollins, Sweets Edison, Thelonious Monk, Workshop
Today on EBay, October 9, 2008
Oct 9, 2008 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Quite a slow day on eBay today — tomorrow as well — but we’ve been able to find some interesting items worth watching. Here goes:
The seller Stereojacks has some nice items up today, including: Sonny Rollins, Way Out West, Contemporary 3530.
The seller goodrecordsnyc has several Mosaic boxed sets, including: The Complete 1959 CBS Charles Mingus Sessions, Mosaic MQ4-143. This includes Mingus’ Columbia LPs, with classic tracks such as Goodbye Porkpie Hat, Better Git It in Your Soul and Fables of Faubus.
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Tags: Charles Mingus, Columbia, Contemporary, Jackie McLean, Mosaic, Sal Salvador, Sonny Clark, Sonny Rollins
Ebay Today, October 7, 2008
Oct 7, 2008 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige
Another fairly light day on eBay today, as far as high-end collectibles, but there are several worth watching. We also have a few of our own items closing today, so we’ll start with a couple of those:
Herbie Hancock, Takin’ Off, Blue Note 4109. This is a New York USA pressing in decent, but not great shape, although it’s one of those records that sounds better than it looks. You don’t often find Dexter Gordon as a sideman, but he is on this LP, which also includes the “hit” Watermelon Man.
This is another record we like a lot: Charles Mingus, Mingus Oh Yeah!, Atlantic 1377. When you listen to this record, you get a real sense that they were having a blast making it, and that energy is infectious. I think Roland Kirk never really came off as well in records as he did in person, but he certainly plays well on this LP. Definitely worth owning (the one I’m selling is a duplicate, as are most of the records I sell on eBay). If you want to see some of my other items, you can go to Items For Sale on the Web site, or you can just click this item and click View Seller’s Other Items.
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Tags: Art Blakey, Art Farmer, Atlantic, Charles Mingus, Charlie Paker, Clifford Brown, David Stone Martin, Dexter Gordon, Duke Pearson, Gigi Gryce, Herbie Hancock, Lou Donaldson, Mercury, Roland Kirk
Catching up on Some Nice Collectibles
Oct 6, 2008 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Price Guide, Verve
Here’s a long list of records we’ve been watching:
Hank Mobley, Mobley’s Message, Prestige 7061. This was an original pressing in VG+/VG+ condition. Price: $679.58. That’s a pretty steep price for a VG+ record.
Speaking of steep prices for records in VG+ condition: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original New York pressing in VG+/VG+ condition. Price: $1,475
And yet another in VG+ condition: Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record was VG+ and the cover was VG+. The price was $749.99
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Tags: Andrew Hill, Art Farmer, Ben Webster, Bennie Green, Charles Mingus, Columbia, Gigi Gryce, Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, Jackie McLean, Jutta Hipp, Kenny Dorham, Mosaic, Red Garland, Sonny Rollins
Catching Up on eBay, One More Time
Oct 2, 2008 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Norgran, Prestige
Here’s an update on some of the items we’ve been watching lately on eBay:
Kenny Dorham and Jackie McLean, Inta Somethin’, Pacific Jazz 41. This was an original pressing in M-/VG++ condition. We had targeted this is a potential bargain. It sold for $71. What do you think? Definitely a very nice record.
I have a feeling this one also may have been a bargain: Eric Dolphy, Out There, Prestige New Jazz 8252. This was an original purple label pressing in M- condition. Price. $103.51
Charles Mingus at the Bohemia, Debut 123. This was an original pressing in M-/VG+ condition. We expected it to go for a high price and it did, also beating the dealer’s reserve. Price: $460
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Tags: Barbara Lea, Bethlehem, Charles Mingus, Dave Bailey, Debut, Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, Jazztime, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, New Jazz, Pacific Jazz, Sal Salvador, Sonny Rollins, Tal Farlow
Another Day on EBAY
Oct 1, 2008 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Norgran, Prestige
While the past two days have been light on eBay, today is fairly loaded with interesting items. Here are a few to keep an eye on:
We’ll start with some nice jazz guitar records. Atomic Records has a pair of nice Tal Farlow records on Norgran: The Artistry of Tal Farlow, Norgran 1014. This is in nice shape and in the $100 range as of this post. Also, Interpretations, Norgran 1027. This seems to be in a bit better condition and is in the same price range. My good friend Dan Axelrod is loaded with personal anecdotes about Tal, and at some point I’m going to prevail upon him to share them on this site. Dan, are you out there?
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Tags: Barbara Lea, Charles Mingus, Dan Axelrod, Debut, Horace Silver, Jackie McLean, Jazzland, Johnny Griffin, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Lockjaw Davis, Pacific Jazz, Sal Salvador, Tal Farlow
Catching Up on eBay
Sep 30, 2008 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige, RCA, Riverside
Time to catch up on some of the items we’ve been watching on eBay:
We predicted this record would sell for a high price, and it did: Lee Morgan, Sextet, Blue Note 1541. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing in VG++ condition. Price: $1,325
Another high-end Blue Note: Curtis Fuller, Bone & Bari, Blue Note 1572. This was an original pressing in M- condition. Price: $676.77
That Joe Newman LP with the Andy Warhol cover went for a bit less this week than it did a few weeks ago: Joe Newman, I’m Still Swinging, RCA 1198. Price: $57.77
Remember that Zoot record that was priced at just $30 a few hours ago. It wound up selling for $337.90: Zoot Sims, Zoot!, Riverside228.
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Tags: Art Taylor, Charles Mingus, Curtis Fuller, Joe Newman, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims
Looking For Anything on Impulse?
Sep 26, 2008 Impulse, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
If you’re looking for any records on the Impulse label, there’s a seller on eBay now who seems to be selling a very good portion of the catalog. Here are a couple of examples: Charles Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Impulse A-54. This is selling more more than $40 at this point. John Coltrane, Ballads, Impulse A-32. This is now at $61. These are being sold by a dealer in Italy, who says they are the collection of a jazz journalist. If you click on either of these items, then view “seller’s other items” you can see the complete list, which looks to be 75 records total. Each of them seems to have a start price of $35. These auctions start closing in about five hours. Sorry for the late notice on this, but I’ve been away a couple of days, and now it’s the wee small hours here in New York and I can’t sleep so I figured I’d see what was interesting on eBay and I found this.
Tags: Charles Mingus, John Coltrane
Mingus, Big Maybelle and Other Points of Interest
May 20, 2004 Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Verve
We all appreciate knowledgeable dealers who understand what they’re selling and can provide us with insight about the collectibles market. Here’s an example: I was recently looking through eBay and saw a Charles Mingus record I had never seen before. The title is “Music Written For Monterey, 1965. Not Heard … Played In Its Entirety at UCLA,” East Coasting 12.001.
The dealer offering this LP was Stereojacks, which I happen to know through my many travels to Boston. Stereojacks is based in Cambridge and is one of the more reputable and knowledgeable dealers in the country. This is their explanation of the record:
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Tags: Big Maybelle, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, Fantasy, Fred Cohen, Jazz Collector Questions
Memories Of Mingus
Apr 4, 2004 Features, Jazz Memoirs
One of the great things about selling the records on eBay is making contact with a wide group of people with varied experiences. One of the customers got into a riff about the late bassist and composer Charles Mingus, which brought me back 30 years, to the time when I was a young reporter for the Syracuse New Times and was asked to interview Mingus and review his concert a local club called Jabberwocky. I went through my files and dug up the article, from 1973, when I was just 20 years old. There’s something to be said for saving everything. Anyway, here it is, just the way it appeared 30 years ago, with just a couple of paragraphs deleted for brevity.
Tags: Charles Mingus
