Tag: Sonny Red

Live From eBay, One More Time

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I really enjoyed doing that “live” eBay search last week, so let’s try it again. I’m heading over the eBay now. Searching on Jazz Vinyl Records sorted by highest prices first and auctions only. Here we go. Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing from a reputable seller. The record is graded as a “solid VG” and the cover is probably VG++. Looks like a nice copy, although there are some tics in the playback, as described by the seller. The start price is $2,000 and there are no bidders with more than four days left on the auction. Read more

Jazz Vinyl: Where’s the Action?

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Things have been hectic around here, to say the least. My wife, known to many of you as The Lovely Mrs. JC, had a retinal detachment in August and has since been through three surgeries and two laser procedures. We’ve been driving back and forth between New York and The Berkshires almost every week. Fingers crossed that the third surgery was the charm. In the meantime, I’m thankful I’ve been able to continue doing my radio show on WTBR-FM Pittsfield, which are also the podcasts that appear on the Jazz Collector web site. I have never done anything like this before and it’s giving me a lot of enjoyment. Plus it’s getting me back into the music, even more than the records, which, IMHO, is always a good thing. But there are still records out there and, I assume eBay is still in business, so I will swing over there now and do my first search in well over a month. And what do I find? Read more

Blue Notes Galore

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Lots of Blue Notes caught my eye as I was perusing eBay this afternoon, so let’s dig right in, starting with Sonny Red, Out of the Blue, Blue Note 4032. This looks to be an original deep-groove, West 63rd Street pressing. The record and cover are both listed in VG+ condition. The start price is about $500 and so far there are no takers. This would be a major gap sealer in my collection, since once owned a mint copy that I bought for five dollars and subsequently traded away before I even had a chance to even listen to it. Just the thought makes me shudder. I’m sure I’m not the only one here who has, at times, reached that level of stupidity. Read more

A Recurring Case of Blue Note Envy

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Back to eBay with four Blue Notes that come to you straight from my want list, leading off with Sonny Red, Out of the Blue, Blue Note 4032. This looks to be an original deep-groove West 63rd Street pressing that appears to be in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The bidding is now in the $300 range with four days left on the auction. This is a record that has sold for more than $1,000 several times in the past, with a top price of $1,802, according to Popsike. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see this copy end up in the $1,000 bin. This is a record I once owned and stupidly traded away back many years ago – I would say nearly 40 years? – when  I was transitioning from fan to collector and I had set out to fill in all of the first 200 or so yellow-label Prestiges. Read more

Tracking Rare Vinyl From the Jazz Record Center

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Whilst we were away our friends at the Jazz Record Center had an interesting auction loaded with Blue Notes, including this one straight from my wish list: Sonny Red, Out of the Blue, Blue Note 4032. This was not only an original West 63rdStreet pressing, but it had a stamp on the label that read: PROPERTY OF DONALD BYRD, which you would assume would make it straight from Donald Byrd’s personal collection, unless you are a conspiracy theorist and believe someone nefarious would go to the trouble of creating a PROPERTY OF DONALD BYRD stamp and press it on an original Blue Note record to try to hike the value. As for me, I would trust the provenance of this record and would probably pay more for an LP with this stamp, because it’s kind of cool knowing that Donald Byrd owned the record. In any case, however, I would not pay the $1,600 price that this one sold for, albeit in M- condition for both the record and the cover. I did own an M- copy of this record once, which I purchased for $5 at the old Titus Oaks record store in a former Wetson’s fast-food hamburger joint in Hicksville. But, alas, I traded it for a few records of far less value more than 30 years ago, and have never been able to replace Out of the Blue  at a price I was comfortable paying. Read more

Blue Notes and Monk at 100

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Thanks to Daryl and to all the thoughtful, and not so thoughtful (just kidding), commenters on the previous post. Given how sporadically I’ve been posting lately, it’s nice to get some other voices involved. I do have a full complement of jazz records in my eBay watch list, so I will share some of the more interesting items, starting with Lee Morgan, Volume 3, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd New York 23 pressing that was listed in M- condition for the record and perhaps just a shade below M- for the cover. There were 21 bidders and 37 bids and a final price of $3,629 that jumped from $2,000 in the final seconds. This is not the highest price we’ve seen for this record, according to Popsike, which recorded a copy selling for $4,177 last year. Still, it’s way up there. Brings to mind a note I received from one of our readers last week, linking to a recent article about million-dollar comic books and wondering why, jokingly, the recent Lee Morgan documentary didn’t have a similar impact. Well, we’re not yet in the millions, but our jazz records are definitely on the rise. Plus, we get to listen to what we collect, not just look at it, although looking at it is cool too, as was well discussed in the prior post.

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A Cross Section of Collectible Jazz Vinyl

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We’re watching a few auctions from the seller bullsite2000, including Billy Taylor, Cross Section, Prestige 7071. This is an original New York yellow label pressing. It looks like the record is in about VG++ condition and the cover is M-. The bidding is in the $90 range and the auction closes later today. Typically, you don’t see any Billy Taylor records selling for high prices. This particular record seems to be somewhat of an exception, selling for more than $200 several times on Popsike. We’ll see what this one goes for. I like the picture on the cover, which is one of the reasons I’m mentioning here at Jazz Collector: It’s not often that I get to use a Billy Taylor Prestige cover with one of my posts, and this one has the old record player, the tube amp and the old records. Wouldn’t you like to own the records on THAT shelf. This is another one with a great cover: Jay Jay Johnson Sextet, Blue Note 5028. This is an original 10-inch Lexington Avenue pressing. The record looks to be in VG+ condition and the cover VG++. It is also closing today. The bidding is in the $250 range.

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Wilen, Sonny Red (and a Story Goes With It)

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Clifford had mentioned this in a comment on one of the posts from earlier this week: Barney Wilen Quintet, Guilde Du Jazz J-1239. This is an original pressing that looks to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The bidding is close to $400 with two days left, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price. We’ve seen some very high prices for this record in the past, including one that approached $3,000, although that seemed to be an aberration. Still, we expect to see a fairly high price tag on this one, given the condition. If you miss out on that one there’s another original copy of the same record closing a couple of days later. This one isn’t quite in the same condition. The record is graded Ex and the cover is VG. The start price is about $700 and so far there are no bidders.

What was I thinking when I traded away a copy of the following record more than 30 years ago?

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Whither the 16-RPM Jazz LP?

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miles-davis-16-rpm-jazz-vinylHere are a few collectible rare jazz records we are following this week on eBay, starting with  Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants, Prestige 3. This is the 16-RPM version of the record and it is, of course, an original pressing. The condition doesn’t look so great and the seller is asking for a starting price of $400 so it is not going to be of interest to me as a potential buyer, but I do have interest in the record as an oddity. Does anyone own this record and, if so, have you ever listened to it — indeed, do you have equipment to listen to it? Is the sound better, worse, the same as a 33-RPM record? And finally, does anyone have any idea why Prestige issued this record and several others in the 16-RPM format? Inquiring minds want to know.

Here are a couple more nice Prestiges from the Jazz Collector era:

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Nuts, Wow and Crazy

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kenny-dorham-jazz-vinylAs prices continue to rise, readers are sending me more and more emails calling particular records to my attention. This one came from Clifford, with the simple note: “nuts!!!”: Kenny Dorham, Afro Cuban, Blue Note 1535. This was an original pressing, or at least the original 12-inch pressing, and it looked to be in VG++ to M- condition for the record and probably VG++ for the cover. The final price was $3,819. There were 22 bids and 13 bidders and it went from about $1,700 to the final price in the last few seconds. So, clearly, there were two bidders that really, really, really wanted this record, but that is quite a dear price to pay, IMHO. A commenter on the previous post also pointed to this one, with the simple words “Wow!” and “Crazy!”: Harold Vick, Steppin’ Out, Blue Note 4138. This was an original pressing from the same seller as the Dorham record. The record and cover were both in M- condition. The final price was $720.

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