Jazz Vinyl Countdown: For Love or Money

I’m still doing my Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Selling more records, writing about them a bit less. However, I did make a couple of interesting decisions in the past couple of weeks I’d like to share. In the course of doing the Jazz Collector Price Guide I logged a copy of this record: Zoot Sims and Joe Newman, Lockin’ Horns, Rama 1003. It sold for $260 in near mint condition and had sold for more than $400 in the past. I happened to know I had a nice copy of this record, a promo, and I happened to know that I had not listened to it in 25 years, since I bought it. So the question was: Keep it or sell if for the bread. I listened to the record and it’s actually very nice. But, I thought to myself, would I ever listen to it again: Not likely. I have a lot of Zoot records that I prefer, so this one probably wouldn’t make it off the shelves. So I put it up on eBay with a start price of around $50, no reserve, and it sold for about $215. That was fine by me. The second recent incident involved a rare Blue Note and a higher price tag:

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Catching Up: Mobley & the $1,000 Bin, Boyd, Zoot

In my panic over eBay’s glitch yesterday, I tried a bunch of different searches to see how I might be able to alternatively maneuver through the jazz records. I may not have found a smooth alternative, but I did find a lot of pretty nice records for sale, many of which closed last night. Here are some of the interesting ones:

Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address and it was offered by the seller roverd-90, who has been putting up some very nice jazz vinyl lately. This one was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,232, so welcome, again, to the $1,000 bin. According to our calculations, this is the fourth time this record will have surpassed $1,000 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Rocky Boyd, Ease It, Jazztime 001. This was an original pressing, the record features

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Catching Up Again: Andy Warhol Covers

Let’s catch up on some Andy Warhol covers.

Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights Volume 2, Blue Note 1597. This was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $482. Frankly, we would have expected it sell for a higher price in this condition.

Thelonious Monk, Monk, Prestige 7053. This was an original pressing with the New York address. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was VG++ as well. The price was $600.

Moondog, The Story of Moondog, Prestige 7093. This was an original pressing with the New York address. The record was in VG+ condition

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Today on eBay: Tadd, Zoot, Fuller, Miles, et al

We’re back from The Berkshires after our successful gig in the Monterey General Store and it’s time to get back to the ever-lasting grind that is eBay. We took a look at listings over the next couple of days, and it’s actually pretty quiet out there, although our friends at Euclid Records have a few nice items closing today. Here’s some of what we’re watching:

Tadd Dameron, Fontainebleau, Prestige 7037. This is an original New York pressing that is in M- condition for both the record and the cover. This one is not usually among the higher-priced early Prestiges, but the bidding is already at $162, which is nice to see for a nice record.

Zoot Sims and Joe Newman, Locking Horns, Rama 1003. This is a rare record on a rare label. The vinyl is listed as M- and the cover is VG++. The price is nearly $300, with more than an hour left.

Miles Davis, Miles, The New Miles Davis Quintet, Prestige 7014. This is the album that introduced John Coltrane to

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Catching Up on eBay

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. Read more

eBay Today, Sept. 30

It’s another VERY slow day for high-end jazz collectibles on eBay. Is there something going on that we’re not aware of? Anyway, here are some interesting items of note that are closing today:

Joe Newman, I’m Still Swinging, RCA 1198. This is the one with the Andy Warhol cover. As we noted in an earlier post, this sold recently on eBay for $200. This one’s current price is $16.50.

Art Taylor, Taylor’s Tenors, Prestige New Jazz 8219. This is an original pressing with the purple label and it seems to be in nice condition. Offered by Atomic Records, which is one of the larger jazz dealers on eBay.

Zoot Sims, Zoot!, Riverside 228. This is an original pressing with the white label in nice condition. Current price is only around $30. That’s pretty low. It’ll be interesting to see how high it goes up.

Hank Mobley, The Turnaround, Blue Note 4186. This is an original pressing with the New York USA label.

Oh, and we almost forgot our own listings: 

The Complete Lee Morgan Fifties Blue Note Sessions, Mosaic MQ6-162.

Miles Davis, The Complete Plugged Nickel Sessions, Mosaic MQ10-158.