Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Benny Golson On Riverside

This is one of our favorite records: Benny Golson, The Modern Touch, Riverside 256. It is a very nice sextet recording from 1957 with an all-star lineup: Kenny Dorham on trumpet; Golson on tenor; JJ Johnson on trombone; Wynton Kelly on piano; Paul Chambers on bass, Max Roach on drums. Love Dorham’s playing on this LP, JJ as well, and the arrangements are solid. It’s also one of those records on which both sides are equally good and listenable. We highly recommend it and we know we are going to keep it in our collection. The issue, however, is this: We have both an original pressing of this record on Riverside as well as a reissue on Jazzland: Reunion, Jazzland 85. The reissue is in a little bit better condition and, to be honest, they both sound about the same to us on our equipment. So which to keep, the one in better condition or the original?

Read more

A Weekend on eBay: Miles, Bud, PC & More

I’m heading up to the country for the weekend, but before I go I’ve found a few nice items to watch on eBay. There were the couple I mentioned yesterday on Jazz Collector — The Jutta Hipp on Blue Note as well as the Serge Chaloff — and here are a few more:

Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This is an original pressing with the New York labels. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG++. Great record featuring John Coltrane and the classic Miles quintet from the ’50s. This one has a start price of about $135 and there are no bidders yet. It’ll be interesting to see if it sells. Our previous high price for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide has been about $300.

Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534. This is an original pressing, but it’s in VG condition for both the record and the cover. A nice copy of this one recently sold for more than $1,000 on eBay. This one

Read more

The Incredible Rise of the $1,000 Jazz Record

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:

Read more

For the Price Guide: A Blue Note Batch & A Prestige

Here are a few more big-ticket items we’ve been watching. All of these will be entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide as soon as we get a chance.

Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New Jersey address. The record and cover both seemed to be in VG+ condition. The price was $599.95.

Walter Davis, Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in M- condition. It sold for $790.

Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This too was an original pressing and it was in M- condition, both the record and the cover. The price was $636.  This was actually surprisingly low — we’ve seen this record sell for more than $1,000 several times, and reach as high as $1,590 for a record that  was not in M- condition.

Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The

Read more

One For the $3,000 Bin

Here’s one that sold for more than $3,000 the other day: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This was an original pressing in M- condition, both record and cover. It had the advantage of being sold by Euclid Records, which is one of the larger sellers on eBay and has an excellent reputation. This copy sold for $3,416, which puts it among the Top Five we’ve recorded on the Jazz Collector Price Guide.  If you click the previous Price Guide link, it should take you to a page where all of the records are sorted by highest prices first, which is always a fun way to view the Price Guide. 

Speaking of prices, we’ve got some nice items closing tomorrow at pretty reasonable prices, and we just put up some interesting new items that are closing next week. Among the more interesting items we have up now are a Lexington Avenue pressing of Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534. This is closing tomorrow and is currently about about $180. For next week

Read more

Another For the $1,000 Bin

We haven’t been watching eBay as closely since we bought the collection in Trenton recently. We’ve been spending a lot of time washing and cleaning records. Fortunately, the results of our efforts are starting to bear fruit and a couple of the items from the collection finally made their way to eBay yesterday, including Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534,  and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers a the Cafe Bohemia, Volume 1, Blue Note 1507.  We did, however, take note of another item that recently surpassed the $1,000 price barrier, and that is: Bent Axen, Poll Winner 59. This was an original Danish pressing, Fona Klubben 416. The seller said that this label was kind of notorious for bad pressings and bubbles in the pressings, but this was listed as a perfect copy of the record as well as the cover. The price was $1,540.

Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Part 4

So I finally got home on Monday after my trip to Trenton and massive traffic on the Belt Parkway through Brooklyn and Queens. I started unloading the records, My nosy neighbor was watching. I smiled. “Records,” I said. I’m not sure she knew what I was talking about. The records filled the front foyer of my house. There were seven crates altogether. I had decided to just take everything that Rob had. This included Christmas records, and Aretha Franklin, and some pretty well damaged jazz records. The first two crates I looked through had nothing. Was it all an illusion? In my rush of adrenaline and musk and mold and dust, did I imagine that there were collectible jazz records in this batch? I went searching for the Tina Brooks record. This I knew was a collectible. I grabbed it. The moldy flakes from the cover fell off in my hands. I grabbed the vinyl, went upstairs and put it on my VPI record cleaner. The dust and dirt and grime and mold came off, but the record was in only VG condition. And the cover? It was pretty bad, and it reeked of mold and musk. I threw it in the garbage. Not a good start.

Read more

Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Part 3

OK, so I let the nice collection in Hartford slip through my fingers. But I knew there was another option: Trenton, New Jersey. For the past couple of weeks I’d been dealing on line and on the phone with a guy named Rob in Trenton. Rob said his father had a friend who passed away and left his records to Rob’s dad, who had also passed away. Rob had been holding on to the records for years and was now ready to get rid of them. He’d come across Jazz Collector on line and saw some of the prices in the Price Guide and figured maybe they were worth something. We chatted and he sent me a bunch of pictures of records. There were definitely some nice ones in there, but there was no way for me to tell if they were originals or if they were in good condition. So I didn’t get too excited. Besides, I wasn’t sure what Rob wanted to do. At first I thought he might be interested in selling the records himself on eBay, and I told him that, in my opinion, that would be the way to get the best value for the records.

Read more

For the Price Guide: Chambers, Nichols, Criss, Trane

Time again to catch up on adding some new items to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Here are a few of the records we’ll be adding. 

Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1569. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was VG++ and the cover was VG+. The price was $660.

John Coltrane, Lush Life, Prestige 7188. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New Jersey address. It was in M- condition, both record and cover. The price was $274.99

Yusef Lateef, Prayer to the East, Savoy 12117. This was a second pressing with the maroon label. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. It sold for $255. This is the second time we’ve seen a maroon pressing of this sell for well more than $100. Is there something about this record we don’t know?

Read more

Today on Ebay: Trane and Mr. PC

We’re back watching eBay after taking some time off. It’s actually good to take a break every once in a while. Gives you a perspective that there are things more important than collectible jazz records. But not at Jazz Collector, so here are some items to watch:

This one’s from our friends at Euclid Records: John Coltane, Lush Life, Prestige 7188. This is an original yellow label pressing in M- condition. The current price is about $120. One of the things I’ve always liked about this record is the opportunity to hear Trane in a trio setting. This was around the time Sonny Rollins was playing with a trio and it seemed that Trane was emulating his friend and peer. Not the case, however, if you review the liner notes by Joe Goldberg, who asked Trane about why he was playing in a trio setting. Trane’s response?

Read more

1 5 6 7 8 9