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. 

John Lewis and Bill Perkins, Grand Encounter, Pacific Jazz 1217. This is a nice record and it’s in VG++ condition, both vinyl and cover. The current price is about $80. 

The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon, Jazzland 29. This is an original mono pressing in M- condition and the current price is $61. Amazingly, two weeks  ago we put a nice stereo copy of this LP on Jazz Collector for sale at $25 — the first time we’ve ever tried to sell anything directly off the site — and no one has purchased it yet. We thought the $25 was a really great price for an original stereo pressing, and we expected someone to jump all over it. But no sale yet. Perhaps when this mono version sells for close to $100, that will inspire someone to come back here. We’ll see. 

Stay tuned. We have a few more items for you to watch and we’ll be posting again fairly soon.

....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.

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. In addition to his notable work on jazz covers, we highly recommend a book of Claxton’s photography, called Claxography, which was published in 1995. We took a look on Amazon and there were several used copies available, ranging in price from $45 to $100. In Claxton’s own words, here is an excerpt from Claxography that describes his approach to photographing jazz musicians:

“Why photograph jazz musicians? I’ve been asked that a few times. First, and most important, I love their music. But I am also fascinated by the diverse qualities they possess. They have an ingenuousness, a sort of open, innocent attitude. Yet at the same time they display a strong discipline in their dedication to their craft. And I also admire their individualism: Their differences in character and their musical expression.

“I am just as intrigued by the movements and body language of musicians while they play. I study them carefully before photographing them, much like I would watch a dancer, an actor, or even an ordinary person performing an ordinary task. I note how their faces and bodies reflect or catch the light; when and at what angles they look their best. I do all of this, of course, while listening to their playing. In a sense, I listen with my eyes.”

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

Then there were the two Tal Farlow LPs on Norgran: The Interpretations of Tal Farlow, Norgran 1027. This was an original yellow-label pressing with a nice cover by David Stone Martin. Price: $150 The Artistry of Tal Farlow, Norgran 1014. This was an original yellow-label pressing in M-/VG+ condition. Price: $151.40. If you haven’t read it yet, we recommend the post on Tal from our friend, and Tal’s, Dan Axelrod. You can view it here. 

Lee Morgan, Indeed!, Blue Note 1538. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing that seemed to be in VG++/VG+ condition. Price $898

Barbara Lea, Lea In Love, Prestige 7100. This was an original New York pressing in M-/VG++ condition. Price: $229

I guess our mention didn’t help to generate any interest in Sal Salvador records, even this one with Phil Woods and Eddie Costa, Shades of Sal, Bethlehem 39. It had a start price of $49.99 and didn’t sell. 

Dave Bailey, Reaching Out, Jazztime 003. This was an original pressing in VG+/VG+ condition. Price: $348

Sonny Rollins, Tour De Force, Prestige 7126. This was an original New York pressing in VG++/VG++ condition. Price: $162.66. Did you happen to catch our birthday tribute to Sonny a couple of weeks ago. If you missed it, click here. 

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?

The seller 59Whitefalcon, who often sells nice jazz guitar LPs on eBay, is on today with a bunch of Sal Salvador records, including my personal favorite, which is: Shades of Sal Salvador, Bethlehem 39.  This one features Phil Woods and Eddie Costa and is being offered at a start price of around $50. After you click it, you can view seller’s other items to check out the other Sal Salvador records. Back to Dan, I know there’s a very funny story involving Tal and Jimmy Raney and Sal Salvador. So, Dan, anytime you’re ready.

A day without a collectible Blue Note on eBay would be like a day without sunshine, so no sense depriving us of the pleasure. How about: Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing in very nice condition. This is already near $750. 

And here, in no particular order, are a bunch of others:

Barbara Lea, Lea in Love, Prestige 7100. This is a New York pressing in nice shape.

Horace Silver Quintet, Blue Note 5058. This is a 10-inch LP in VG condition. Seller has a start price of $299. Somehow I think it’s not going to sell. 

Lockjaw Davis and Johnny Griffin, Lookin’ At Monk, Jazzland 39. What’s this doing here? It’s not a real collectible. Perhaps not, but not every collectible is a good record, and not every good record is a collectible and this is a darn good record, fantastic music and well recorded. It has no bids and it’s $8, so, at this point, it’s not much risk.

Here’s another one that fits the same mold, nice record, reasonable price: Kenny Dorham and Jackie McLean, Inta Somethin’, Pacific Jazz 41. This one is also under $10 at this point.

Finally, here’s one you don’t see too often: Charles Mingus at the Bohemia, Debut 123. This looks to be in nice shape. We’ll see if it meets the dealer’s reserve price.

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.

Next are a couple of nice rare Blue Note LPs:

Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580. This was an original pressing in what looked like M-/M- condition. It sold for $449.

Fred Jackson, Hootin’ and Tootin’, Blue Note 4094. This was an original pressing in M- condition. It sold for $260.55. A couple of months ago a copy in worse condition sold for $346.

Here’s a nice item that failed to meet its reserve price:

JR Monterose, The Message, Jaro 8004. This was an original stereo pressing in nice condition. Its high bid was $394.

Normally we don’t see big prices attached to LPs from the Verve label, at least not as big as the Blue Notes and Prestiges. Here’s one exception: Ben Webster and Art Tatum Verve 8220. This was an original mono pressing with the trumpeter logo. It was in nice condition and sold for $343. A second copy sold the same day for $242.50.

Here’s an update on some items we were watching from the seller JBLD44000:

George Wallington, Jazz for the Carriage Trade, Prestige 7032. This was an original pressing in M- condition. It sold for $305.

Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes, The Jazz Couriers, Tempo 15. This was an original pressing in what looked like M-/VG+ condition. It sold for $595.

Freddie Hubbard, Ready for Freddie, Blue Note 4085. This was an original pressing in M- condition. It sold for $128.50.

Here are two LPs from JBLD44000 that did not sell for a second time. Expect to see both of these items back soon on eBay for lower start prices:

Freddie Hubbard, Groovy, Fontana 136. Start price was $240.

Lee Morgan Sextet, Blue Note 1541. This was an original pressing with the Lexington Avenue address on the label. Condition seems to be M-/VG+. The start price was $675.

Finally, here’s a nice collectible at a reasonable price:

John Lewis, 2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West, Pacific Jazz 1217. This was in VG+ condition and sold for $43.99.

We’ve got a busy day tomorrow, so we don’t expect to post, although we might be able to sneak in some items to look for over the weekend. Keep checking if you have time. Otherwise, we’ll be back on Monday with a summary of the weekend’s eBay activity. Till then . . . — Al

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:

Hank Mobley, Mobley’s Message, Prestige 7061. Zeros bids with a start price of $550.

John Coltrane, Tenor Conclave, Prestige 7074. Zero bids with a start price of $450.

Cecil Payne and Phil Woods, The Music of Charlie Parker, Signal 1204. Zero bids with a start price of $425.

In addition to these, there were several others. If you’re interested in any of these items, you should keep an eye on JBLD44000. We’ll do the same and keep you informed.

 Another seller who often seems to have great records is Jazz5060. Among the items he sold this weekend were:

 Blue Mitchell, Out of the Blue, Riverside 1131, for a price of $218.50.

Cecil Payne, Patterns in Jazz, Savoy 12147, for a price of $262

Teddy Edwards, Sunset Eyes, Pacific Jazz 14, for a price of $198.50

Finally, here are a few other items of interest:

 John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. Price: $487

Charlie Parker, Dial 203, 10-inch LP. Price: $169. The vinyl was in only VG condition, but we still thought this might command a higher price based on the condition of the cover.

Zoot Sims, Zoot at Ronnie Scotts, Fontana 588. This was a stereo pressing that sold for $208.06.

Tal Farlow, The Artistry of Tal Farlow, Norgran $232.50. Price: $232.50. We’ve seen this record before but usually with wear on the cover. This copy looked pristine and the price reflected that.

That’s it for today. Now that we’re caught up on what happened the past few days on eBay, we’ll look ahead and see what’s coming up the next few days. Look for our report on Jazzcollector.com tomorrow. See you then. — al

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. First was the orchestra on July 3. It consisted of Jimmy Maxwell, Jimmy Nottingham, Idrees Sulieman and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Rex Peer and Bart Varsala on trombones; Gigi Gryce, Sam Marowitz, Seldon Powell, Zoot Sims and Danny Bank on reeds; Evans on piano; Mundell Lowe on guitar; Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums. Scott played clarinet. The tentette was recorded on July 5, 1956 (they took a holiday on July 4). It consisted of Scott plus John Carisi and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Cleveland and Green on trombones; Bank on sax; Evans on piano; Barry Galbraith on guitar; Hinton and Johnson. The quartet was recorded July 6, 1956. It consisted of Scott on clarinet; Evans on piano; Les Grinage on bass and Lennie McBrowne on drums.

 Q. I own the LP Georgie Auld in the Land of Hi Fi on the Emarcy label. The liner notes don’t list the musicians. Could you please tell me who plays on this album?

 A. Yes. The trumpet players are Maynard Ferguson, Conrad Gozzo, Mannie Klein and Ray Linn; the sax players are Willie Schwartz, Ted Nash, Babe Russin and Chuck Genry; the trombone players are Tommy Pederson, Frank Rosolino and Si Zentner; the pianist is Arnold Ross; the guitarists are Al Hendrickson and Barney Kessel; the bassists are Joe Mondragon and JoeComfort; the drummer is Alvin Stoller. The source for both of these questions is The Jazz Discography by Tom Lord, Version 3.3. If you’re a serious collector, the CD-ROM version is definitely a worthwhile tool.

 A lot of interesting 10-inch LPs were sold on eBay the past couple of days. One dealer, Jazz Record Revival, had a group of records that were from the collection of the pianist Roger Kellaway. They looked to be in very nice condition and sold for pretty high prices. Here’s a sampling:

 Charlie Mariano, Fantasy 3-10, in M- condition. Price: $99.99

Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Prestige 187, in M- condition. Price: $157.50

Clifford Brown with Art Farmer, Prestige 167, in M- condition. Price: $115.49

Russ Freeman Trio, Pacific Jazz PJ-8, in M- condition. Price: $160.50

 That’s it for today. Tomorrow we’ll do another update on the Website. See you then. — Al