Back in Action: Updating the $1,000 Bin
Jun 28, 2011 $1000 Records, Blue Note
Been so busy around here, haven’t even been on eBay in days. So what have we been missing? Here’s some interesting jazz vinyl stuff.
Donald Byrd, Byrd, Transition 5. This was an original pressing with the booklet. The record was listed in VG condition and the cover/booklet both looked very nice, probably VG++ the way we rank things around here. The price was $1,336.55. I was willing to sell my Byrd’s Eye View on Transition, no booklet, but no one has really taken me up on my offer to shop through my collection in person. Now, I’m starting to pack things up in preparation for the big moves, coming soon — although the “store” is still open.
This one also made it to the $1,000 bin: Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing, quite lovely, and it was in what looked like VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,300. Just seeing pictures of those Lexington Avenue labels gets the heart kind of racing.
While we’re on Blue Note Lexingtons, how about this one from the same seller: J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This also looked quite lovely, probably VG++ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $1,200.
Tags: Donald Byrd, JR Monterose, Jutta Hipp, Transition
Updating the $1,000 Bin & A Few More
Apr 14, 2011 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Prestige
Here are some $1,000 and near-$1,000 records we missed:
Kenny Dorham, ‘Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Blue Note 1524. This was an original pressing that was listed in M- condition for the record and excellent condition for the cover, which is, what, VG+, VG++? This one sold for $1,315.
People have already commented on this one elsewhere on Jazz Collector, but it seems reasonable to me, given the state of the Blue Note market: Cannonball Adderley, Somethin’ Else, Blue Note 1595. This looked like an original pressing and was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,250.
This one came from the bobjdukic batch and, given the condition, sold for a fairly whopping price tag: Lee Morgan, Indeed!, Blue Note 1538. It was listed as “insanely rare” (of course), but it was also listed in VG to VG-minus condition for the vinyl, which would definitely indicate surface noise. The cover was VG+ and the price was an even $1,000, which, I suppose, is a sign of something to conspiracy theorists.
Here was an original copy of Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079, the barely missed the $1,000 bin. This looked to be in VG+ or VG++ condition for the vinyl and probably around VG+ for the cover. It sold for $948,
Tags: Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, JR Monterose, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins
eBaying This Week: JR,Trane and More
Mar 28, 2011 Blue Note, Prestige
Another week, another 7,000 or so jazz records on eBay. Here are some of the ones we’ll be watching for you at Jazz Collector:
As noted, the lovely bobdjukic is back with a lot of superbly hyped records, including: J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This looks clearly to be an original pressing and it is listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. It closes at the end of the week and is already at $510. This will certainly be in the $1,000 bin soon. From the same seller, among others, is John Coltrane, Lush Life, Prestige 7188. I mention this because I have a friend looking for a nice original pressing of this record. This one looks to be in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It is now at $100. I’m sure you all know the great story behind this record, about the trio side which was only a trio side because Red Garland forgot to show up for the date.
This is from another seller: Lee Morgan, City Lights, Blue Note 1575. This one looks to be VG++ for the record and perhaps VG+ for the cover, although part of the top right corner is off. The current price is $485 and there are about three days left.
Tags: ABC Paramount, Duke Jordan, John Coltrane, JR Monterose, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan
Rare Jazz Vinyl Collectibles From Three Tenors
Jun 2, 2010 $1000 Records, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
We did a whole riff on this record a few months ago and actually came up with some never-heard-before tapes of J.R. Monterose, which, to my knowledge, may still be available. Check it out here and here. Anyway, another copy of this record sold recently: J.R. Monterose In Action, Studio 4 SS 100. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was listed as M- and the cover looked to be VG++, based on the description. The price was $1,911.
Here’s another non Blue Note for the $1,000 bin: Dexter Gordon, Dexter Blows Hot and Cool, Dootone 207. This was an original red vinyl pressing. The record was listed as VG++ and the cover was VG+. The price was $1,137.
This one really got top dollar, more than you would normally expect to see for a Jazzland LP:
Tags: Charlie Rouse, Dexter Gordon, Dootone, Jazzland Records, JR Monterose, Studio 4
Monterose For the $2,000 Bin
Dec 17, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note
Here’s a nice one coming up from Euclid Records: J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is VG++ and the cover is VG+. The current price is about $530. Speaking of J.R., one of his albums recently sold for more than $2,000: J.R. Monterose In Action, Studio 4 SS 100. This was an original pressing that looked to be M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. The price was $2,025, either enhanced or depressed by the signature of a local disk jockey on the back. Signatures can be tricky, especially if it’s not the signature of one of the artists. By the
Tags: JR Monterose, Studio Records
An Avalanche of Thousand-Dollar-Plus Jazz Vinyl
Oct 10, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl Fraud, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Prestige, Riverside
We’ve been off line for a couple of days, just got back, went to My Ebay and noticed that the auctions of the seller Nautiluso are now in the midst of closing. Wow! Wait till you see these prices. Here’s a start:
Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. Like most of the others in this group, this was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $3,342.99.
J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. Condition: M- for record and cover. Price: $2,247.22
Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. Condition: M-. Price: $1,175
Hank Mobley With Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, Blue Note 1540. Condition: M-. Price: $1,705.
Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. Condition: M-. Price: $2,247.
Bill Evans, Waltz For Debby, Riverside 399. Condition: M-
Price: $1,500.
As noted, this is just a small sampling. There will be more to come. It would be great if some of the winners of this vinyl will report back to us on the condition and whether these records are, indeed, as pristine as they seem.
Tags: Bill Evans, Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, JR Monterose, Jutta Hipp, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Rare Jazz Vinyl, Tommy Flanagan, Zoot Sims
The Incredible Rise of the $1,000 Jazz Record
Sep 14, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Prestige, Price Guide, Riverside
The $1,000 bin truly doth runneth over days. It’s quite an interesting phenomenon.
Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534. This was an original pressing in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. A few years ago, I bought a copy of this on eBay in similar condition for about $300. At the time, I thought I was overpaying. A few weeks ago I sold a separate copy on eBay for about $325. It was in nice condition, with a VG+ cover. This was not a record I ever expected to see in the $1,000 bin. This copy sold for $1,313.
Here’s another one I never expected to see sell for more than $1,000: Cannonball Adderley, Somethin’s Else, Blue Note 1595. This is a nice record, but has never been among the higher-priced Blue Notes. The highest price we had previously recorded for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was around $400. This copy was in mice M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,475.
This one almost entered the $2,000 bin:
Tags: Art Pepper, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Chet Baker, Hank Mobley, Johnny Griffin, JR Monterose, Kenny Dorham, Paul Chambers, Sonny Rollins
Catching Up: Dial S For The $1,000 Bin
Aug 31, 2009 $1000 Records, Blue Note, Norgran
Time to catch up on some of the items we’ve been watching on eBay the past couple of days:
There was this copy of Sonny Clark, Dial S for Sonny, Blue Note 1570. We had spotted it at $484 with a few hours left to go, and we expected that the price would probably double. It actually did more than that: It surpassed the $1,000 mark and sold for $1,025. This was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. We looked this record up in the Jazz Collector Price Guide and, interestingly, it had previously sold for as much as $1,750, in worse condition.
Speaking of Sonny Clark, he was on two of those Buddy DeFranco LPs we were watching. He was on Buddy DeFranco, In a Mellow Mood, Norgran 1079. This was an original yellow label pressing in VG+ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $67.78. Sonny Clark is also on The Artistry of Buddy DeFranco, Norgran 1012. This was also an original yellow label and
Tags: Buddy DeFranco, JR Monterose, Jutta Hipp, Sonny Clark
Today on eBay: More Bird, More JR, Sonny Clark
Aug 30, 2009 10-Inch LPs, Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Had some time to kill last night so I went through several days’ worth of upcoming eBay listings. There are quite a few interesting items up today. Let’s get to them quickly:
Lots of Bird this week, which seems fitting, since yesterday would have been his 89th birthday (thank you to Colm O’Sullivan for pointing that out). Here’s a beauty: Charlie Parker, Dial 201. This is an original 10-inch pressing listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The current price is $565, which is higher than we’ve normally seen for these 10-inch LPs in the past. It’s nice to see Bird getting his due again in the collectibles market.
We had all that discussion a couple of weeks ago on J.R. Monterose. Here’s one of his rare records closing today: J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This one is an original Lexington Avenue pressing and is listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. It is currently priced at $300. Here’s an update on those rare J.R. Monterose tapes
Tags: Charlie Parker, Dial Record, JR Monterose, Sonny Clark
Updates: More Monterose and More Blue Note
Aug 13, 2009 Blue Note
Jazz Collector is certainly expanding my horizons. Today I spoke to a bass player in Rochester who was friends with J.R. Monterose and, in fact, produced a CD that is probably J.R.’s last recording. He’s sending me a copy and I’ll let you know about it when it arrives. Quite possibly we could end up as a repository of the first and last known recordings of J.R. Monterose. Pretty cool. Also, I had a long conversation with Ron Rambach, who has a company called Music Matters, which reissuing of a good portion of the Blue Note catalogue as
Tags: JR Monterose, Music Matters
More on J.R.: Original Audio
Aug 11, 2009 78-RPM Records, For Sale
OK, here’s an audio track from the J. R. Monterose acetates. He’s doing “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” and he sounds pretty darn good. If this is really 1944, then he would have been 17 at the time. Enjoy. sample-jr-monterose-1944
Tags: JR Monterose
More J.R. Monterose: Extremely Rare Recordings Available
Aug 11, 2009 For Sale
Okay, I promised you something cool on J.R. Monterose. I got a note the other day from a guy who has one-of-a-kind aluminum core acetate recordings J.R. made as a teenager. He got these from the estate of J.R.’s wife. They are 78s, of course, from the mid-1940s, and there are 12 altogether. Well, I’ll just let you read the note he sent me:
“Hello. A few years ago I attended an estate sale in Utica NY of the late wife of JR Monterose. I purchased a stack of old records and in them were some aluminum core acetate (Wilcox Gay recording) albums of JR playing when he was a teenager. These are the only recordings of their kind for this artist (app.1944) I took the recordings to Syracuse University Belfer audio lab where they
Tags: John Coltrane, JR Monterose
JR Monterose In Action, Redux
Aug 10, 2009 Features
Got two notes recently from Jeff Barr, a long-time jazz writer, DJ, collector, producer and seller of rare vinyl. The first note was asking to inform my readers about his site, www.jazzrecordscene.com, which is worth checking out because there’s some very nice vinyl there. I’ve added a link to this site from Jazz Collector, so you can find it easily from the home page whenever you come to visit it, which we hope is quite often. Jeff also posted a comment giving some more history on the J. R. Monterose In Action LP that I wrote about last week. Here’s Jeff’s comment, which will also come up as a comment on the previous item:
“Peter Jacobson and Jeff Barr started VSOP in 1980 in Washington DC, where Barr was a jazz disc jockey and record seller, and Jacobson was on the staff of the Smithsonian as a legal consultant. The deal to acquire the license to reissue J. R. Monterose, on the Studio 4 label, was reached after contacting Jimmy Sota, the original producer of the LP. Jimmy was coming off a run of semi-successful low-budget spaghetti westerns in Italian with subtitles, and was glad to let us have the deal…we paid $1750.00 to get the rights and the tape, and, oh by the way, two boxes of unused originals…which in 1980
Tags: Beacon Records, Elmo Hope, Jeff Barr, JR Monterose, VSOP Records
J.R. Monterose In Action and In the $1,000 Bin
Jul 30, 2009 $1000 Records, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
I hadn’t updated the $1,000 bin in a while, so I went searching for interesting new items and I came upon this: J. R. Monterose In Action + The Joe Abodeely Trio, Studio 4. According to the seller, this original pressing was one of approximately 250 issued and sold from the cloak room of Abodeely’s The Tender Trap night club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was also described as an original Columbia pressing from Rock Island, Ill. The record and the cover were both listed in VG++ condition and the price was $1,703.98. In addition to the price tag, what caught my attention was the memory somewhere deep in the back of my recesses of my brain that I actually own this record. So, I ran downstairs, trailed excitedly by my dog Marty, and searched through the shelves of Part II of my collection and there it was, sitting there. I pulled out the copy, ready to bask in the glow of a $1,700 record. But, alas, to my chagrin the copy I pulled out was
Tags: Joe Abodeely, JR Monterose, Studio 4 Records, VSOP Records
For The Price Guide: Riversides, Blue Notes
Jul 22, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay, Riverside
In addition to the Dinah Washington LP mentioned below, we are adding a few more records to the Jazz Collector Price Guide today. At some point, we surpassed more than 4,000 entries in the price guide. We find it quite valuable to use in buying and selling records, and also to help establish values for insurance and estate-planning purposes. We hope you all find it valuable as well. Here are a few more additions:
Kenny Drew Trio, Riverside 224. This was an original white label pressing. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. The price was $898.88.
Here’s another nice Riverside: Zoot Sims, Zoot!, Riverside 228. This was also a white label pressing, in VG+ condition for both the record and cover. It sold for $158.50.
And what would the Price Guide be without Blue Notes. Here are a few new ones:
Tags: Donald Byrd, JR Monterose, Kenny Dorham, Kenny Drew, Zoot Sims
Jackie McLean, Street Singer, Hits Top Price
Jul 22, 2005 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
You don’t see too many Japanese pressings selling for more than $100, but this one did: Jackie McLean, Street Singer, Blue Note GXK 8161. Price: $117.50. The music is made up of a session that took place on Sept. 1, 1960, under the leadership of McLean and Tina Brooks. McLean led four of the tracks, three of which were issued on Jackie’s Bag while the fourth was issued on this LP for the first time. Brooks was the leader on the other two tracks, including the title cut, which were issued for the first time on this LP. I don’t know exactly when this LP was issued, but I think I recall purchasing my copy in the early 1980s.
You also don’t see too many Commodore LPs selling for more than $100. Here’s one: Billie Holiday, Commodore 30,008. Price: $102.50. This one has a real nice cover, which was used as a blow-up by Billy Crystal in his recent one-man show on Broadway. Crystal’s uncle, Milt Gabler, was the founder of Commodore.
Finally, here’s one from a friend on Long Island: J. R. Monterose, The Message, Jaro 8004. This was an original pressing in very nice condition. Price: $565
Tags: Billy Crystal, Commodore, Jackie McLean, Jaro, JR Monterose, Milt Gabler
Some Stories on Sal Nistico
Jun 3, 2004 Autographs, Blue Note
We received some interesting letters about our item last week on Sal Nistico. Here are a couple:
“I enjoy your newsletter very much. Your encounter with Sal Nistico Jr. struck a chord with me. From the first I heard Papa Sal on the Mangione Brothers albums I was a huge fan. The only time I heard him live was a complete surprise for me. Sometime in the mid-’60s I went to the Prom Ballroom in St. Paul, MN., to catch a one nighter by the Basie band. The fist set had just started and as I entered the room my eyes went immediately to the stage to see who as blowing that torrential tenor.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Art Pepper, JR Monterose, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis, Sal Nistico
