Today on Ebay: Hank, Dex and John Lewis

That last post I wrote, Ebay versus the storefront, was inspired by my experience looking ahead on eBay today and not seeing any of the rare Blue Notes or other heavy-duty collectibles for awhile. And I thought: Will there ever come a time when you go onto eBay, and those records are no longer there, just as they are generally no longer in our local record stores? Could it happen, that we would no longer be able to count on eBay to fulfill our vinyl fantasies? Just a thought. Anyway, back to reality, I did find some records worth watching today, and here are a few:

Hank Mobley, Jazz Message #2, Savoy 12092. This is an original red label pressing that looks to be in nice VG++ condition, both record and cover. The current price is about $160. 

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Back in Business

 

.......Dizzy on Blue Note

....Dizzy on Blue Note

Jazz Collector is finally back on eBay and, apparently, so are the collectible records. Without further ado, here are some of the items worth watching: The seller XLG has a bunch of nice 10-inch LPs for sale, closing in the next few hours. Here are a few examples: Bob Gordon, Meet Mr. Gordon, Pacific Jazz 12. This one is in nice condition and is currently at $86. This one is interesting: Dizzy Gillespie, Horn of Plenty, Blue Note 5017. To my knowledge, this is the only Blue Note LP on which Dizzy was the leader, and I always expect it to sell for a lot of money. Here’s a copy in great shape and, when I looked at it about a half hour ago, there were no bidders at $20. Now, when I looked at it again, there were six bids and the item is now at $71. Finally, here’s a 10-incher that has a hefty price tag already: Lee Konitz in Harvard Square, Storyville 323. This is in VG++/VG++ condition, and is priced at $152.50. When you check out these records, click View Seller’s Other Items for a bunch more nice 10-inch LPS. I’ll be posting more items later today. Sorry for being away for so long.

A Tribute to William Claxton

Claxography


I opened up my New York Times this morning to the news that the great jazz photographer William Claxton had died at age 80. Claxton was one of the great jazz photographers, mainly on the West Coast, and he was most noted for his great, almost obsessive, work in shooting the young Chet Baker. His first jazz photography was in album covers, and he was something of a house photographer for Pacific Jazz Records. In some cases, the value of some of the top collectible records are, in part, a tribute to his innovative and interesting covers. One that comes to mind, in addition to the Baker LPs on Pacific Jazz, is Sonny Rollins’ Way Out West on Contemporary, with Sonny notably dressed in a 10-gallon hat and holster with his tenor slung at his side like a weapon, which it was in Sonny’s hands. Read more

Catching Up on eBay, One More Time

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 Read more

Another Day on EBAY

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? Read more

eBay on A Summer’s Day

I can’t believe it’s July 1 already. I’m definitely in summer mode. I took two days off and haven’t posted since Monday. I think that will happen fairly routinely this summer so keep checking the site to see if we’re up that day and what gems we might find for you on eBay. We’re following the market just as closely and we’ll make sure to keep the Price Guide and Latest Prices up to date regardless of whether we post new entries on the site each day. I hope this makes sense on at least some level.

 

In any case, we’re up on the web today and here are some of the items we’ve been watching on eBay.  We start off with a nice collectible from the rare Imperial label:

 

Sonny Criss, Go Man!,  Imperial 920. This was an original pressing in M- condition. It sold for $650. Read more

Hot Records, High Prices

Back home after a weekend away. Let’s see what happened on eBay the past few days.

 The seller JBLD44000 out of Seattle, who has been selling some nice records the past few weeks, had a bunch of items up this weekend, with mixed results. A few of the records sold for high prices, including:

Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031, for $1,337.28

Kenny Drew, Walkin’ and Talkin’, Jazz West 4, for $532

This dealer also had several high-ticket items that didn’t get bids at all. Based on our previous experience watching his auctions, we anticipate that these records will be back on eBay in the near future with somewhat lower start prices and, perhaps, Buy-It-Now prices. Among those records are: Read more

Is That Bill Evans With Tony Scott?

Today we answer a couple of questions from readers and keep our ongoing eye on eBay.

 Q. It always drives me crazy when records don’t list all the musicians. I was recently listening to a copy of The Touch of Tony Scott on the RCA label. The pianist sounded like Bill Evans, but I wasn’t sure. Can you please tell me who is on this album?

A. Good ears. The pianist is Bill Evans, very early in his career. You can hear him very effectively on “Round Midnight.” The album was recorded by three different bands on three dates in 1956. Read more