Tag: Louis Smith

A Few More (Blue Notes) For the $1,000 Bin

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The $1,000 bin keeps getting bigger and bigger. We just did a search on eBay of completed auctions of $1,000 jazz records and it was quite stuffed. Here are some of the items we will be adding to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. 

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was listed in in “excellent” condition for both the vinyl and the cover. According to the seller’s notes, “excellent” is what we wold normally use for VG+. So, in VG+ condition, this record sold for $1,525.

John Jenkins With Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was in M- condition, both vinyl and cover. The price was $1,905.

Lee Morgan Volume Three, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd Street

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Updating the $1,000 Bin

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We’ve been updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide this morning and we just added a fairly  large group of records that surpassed the $1,000 price barrier. We’ve mentioned some of these before on Jazz Collector, but it’s interesting to see the group all at once. There are no links attached to these, by the way, so don’t try clicking them. Here goes:

Bent Axen, Let’s Keep the Message, Debut 133. There are actually two copies of this that fit into the category. They were both in M- condition, both cover and record. One sold for $1,790.90 and the other sold for $1,326.

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. There are two copies of this as well. One was sold by the Jazz Record Center and was in M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $1,492. the other was in VG++/VG+ condition. It sold for $1,575. Go figure.

Here’s the only one on the list that was a bit of a surprise:

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Two More For the $1,000 Bin

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Things may be slow on eBay this days, but there always seems to be a large appetite for some of the rarest records, and two of the ones we’ve been watching sold for more than $1,000 recently. We haven’t had quite such luck with our own sales although, admittedly, we haven’t been putting up gems. Still, we had more than 50 records up for auction this week and probably sold only about 50 percent. This is highly, highly unusual, since we tend to underprice the records and grade them conservatively. The other thing, and a few readers noted this, is that traffic on eBay seems to be down: Not only are fewer people bidding on the records, fewer people are looking at the records. I think it’s all a temporary lull — a reaction to the economy — and I’m planning to continue posting records on eBay. Whatever doesn’t sell I put into the store inventory, which you can view by clicking the Items For Sale link above, so you may find bargains if you take a look. In the meantime, we continue to track eBay pricing and here are the two records that recently sold for more than $1,000:

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Quickie Quiz

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I posed a question in a post yesterday, but nobody has responded yet. I know you all know the answer, so perhaps you just missed it. But here’s the question I posed yesterday: On the album Here Comes Louis Smith, Blue Note 1584, the alto player is listed as “Buckshot La Funke.” Who is it really? By the way, there’s still time to post a comment on the site and be eligible to win the Leo Parker LP. We’re going to have Mrs. Jazz Collector draw the winning name tonight, and we’ll post the results tomorrow.

Today on eBay: Some Bennie Green on Blue Note

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Fairly quiet day on eBay today, but there’s always something. Here are a couple of nice LPs from the trombonist Bennie Green: Bennie Green, Soul Stirrin’, Blue Note 1599. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record is M- and the cover is VG++. The current price is already $264 and it hasn’t yet reached the seller’s reserve price. We’ll see if it sells. One of the things I like about this album, aside from the music, which is quite good, is that Blue Note lists one of the tenor players simply as “Jug.” Obviously, this was Gene Ammons and he was under contract with Prestige at the time, but by using his real nickname they didn’t really try to hide anything. Another one of these I like on Blue Note is on Here Comes Louis Smith, Blue Note 1584, where the alto player is listed as “Buckshot La Funke.” It’s not hard to figure out who this is, but I will leave it to our readers to supply the answer. Also up on eBay today is

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Some $1,000 Records

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As we were writing the latest post, we noticed that Jazz Collector has been keeping an eye on some records from the past few weeks that sold for more than $1,000. This is always an interesting barrier, so here are some of the records that crossed it:

Sonny Clark, Dial S For Sonny, Blue Note 1570. This was an original pressing, of course. The record was VG++ and the cover was VG+. Price: $1,401

Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The vinyl was in VG++ condition and the cover was VG+. Price: $1,275

Donald Byrd, Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill, Transition 17. This was an original pressing with the booklet. The record was M-, the cover was VG+ and the booklet was M-. The price was $1,913. 

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Catching Up With Some Interesting Collectibles

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Here are some interesting results from some records we’ve been watching on eBay:

Red Garland, All Kinds of Weather, Prestige 7148. This is an original yellow label pressing with the New Jersey address in M- condition. Price: $385. I’ve never quite figured out which Red Garland records sell for the highest prices, and why. So, if anyone out there has the answer, please post a comment.

Here’s an interesting one: Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534. What’s interesting is that this was not an original pressing: The original pressing on this has the Lexington Avenue address, and this copy had the West 63rd street address. So it was not original and it was only in VG condition, yet it still sold for $124.50.

Ben Webster, Soulville, Verve 8274. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter logo in M- condition and sold for $190.09. That’s a pretty nice price for a Ben Webster on Verve. This was sold by

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Interesting Stuff on eBay

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Just as an update: I’m not posting regularly for the site yet. I’m a couple of weeks away from resuming selling on eBay and then doing regular posts. For those of you who have found — or re-found — the site, please continue to be patient. Once I’m fully up and running, I’ll be posting every day about interesting jazz collectibles, and I’ll also be selling records here off the site. I’m also hoping to resume my price guides, and get the old ones posted from 2004 and 2005.In the meantime, here are a few interesting items I’ve been watching: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This one has a $5,500 Buy-It-Now price, which is the highest we’ve ever seen.  Read more

In Search of the Highest Prices

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I was just tooling around eBay this morning and decided to do a quick search in the Jazz LP category sorted by “Highest Prices First.” I’d never thought to do a search this way and didn’t even realize it was an option. Here are some of the interesting items I found:

Here Comes Louis Smith, Blue Note 1584

Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538

Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. This is one of my favorite all-time LPs. I only have a Japanese pressing and have never owned the original. Will I bid on this? Perhaps. The price is $150 and the auction closes in nearly four days.

And here’s one you wouldn’t expect to see on a search of highest priced LPs: Louis Armstrong, Hello Dolly. This is from a seller with zero feedback. His asking price is $100. Think he’ll get it? If he does, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’ll be auctioning on eBay next week.

Art Farmer, Louis Smith, Albert Ayler and More

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I’m entering in the Jazz Collector Price Guide database again and have come across some interesting items. The update will be posted when we send out the next newsletter at the beginning of August. In the meantime, here are some of the items that will be included:

Art Farmer, Art, Argo 678. A few weeks ago a copy in near mint condition sold for more than $120. This copy, in nice condition but not near mint, sold for $24. Is this indicative of a summer slump in prices, or lack of trust in the dealer’s grading?

Louis Smith, Here Comes, Blue Note 1584. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street label in VG+/VG+ condition. Price: $417

Here’s a real rare one that we’ve never seen before: Albert Ayler, Ghosts, Debut 144. This was the original Danish pressing in nice condition, not mint. Price: $317

Here’s a New Jersey pressing of John Coltrane, Soultrane, Prestige 7142. This was originally issued with the New York label, so this one is not original. Price: $138.50

Here’s one that sold for less than expected: I should have bid. Cliff Jordan and Sonny Red, A Story Tale, Jazzland 40. This was in M-/VG+ condition and sold for $46.51

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