Month: May 2013

The Girls on the Vinyl

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Saw this interesting movie yesterday called “The Girls in the Band.” It’s a documentary about female jazz musicians, not vocalists, from early jazz through today. So naturally, my reaction on walking out of the theater is that I wanted to write something about it for Jazz Collector and, of course, my focus would be on collectible records by female jazz artists.  I was taxing my brain to come up with the most valuable jazz record by female artists and all I could come up with were the Toshiko Akiyoshi records on Storyville and Norgran. So I got up this morning, did a search by price on the Jazz Collector Price Guide and the obvious records came up right away: The Jutta Hipp records on Blue Note, particularly Blue Note 1530 with Zoot Sims. Duh. I didn’t think of these immediately because, surprisingly, Jutta Hipp was not one of the artists mentioned in the film. After the Jutta Hipp records, what’s the next highest priced record by a female artist in the Jazz Collector Price Guide? Take a guess. Hint: It’s not one that I thought of.

Taking a Chance on Phil

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Ever since I bought that big collection last summer I’ve been very circumspect about buying more records. Something about absorbing a couple of thousand records into the collection has made it less compelling to buy more. Anyway, being circumspect doesn’t mean I’m not interested, I did, after all, purchase that 10-inch Phil Woods record on eBay a few months ago and I did have The Lovely Mrs. JC purchase that beautiful Thad Jones Blue Note for my birthday. So I was perusing eBay and I came upon an interesting listing and it was this: Phil Woods, Woodlore, Prestige 7018. This is a record I’ve always wanted, just a great record from the era. The copy I have had for the past 25 years is a Japanese pressing with Japanese liner notes. Anyway, the listing was very interesting. The seller used the word “GOOD” to describe the record and the cover. In our normal parlance “good” means horrible. It’s the low rating you give to a record that may not even be playable. In this seller’s parlance, however, I got the feeling that “good” may have meant really good, like VG+ or better. The seller doesn’t seem to be a record dealer and he/she seems to be covering his bases and trying not to oversell the records. Anyway, the bidding was sitting at about $150 with a less than an hour to go on the auction, and the gambler in me took over and Read more

Someone Is, Indeed, Out To Lunch

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One of our perplexed readers sent me this: Eric Dolphy, Out To Lunch, Blue Note 84163. This was in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $93, okay for a stereo copy. Except this was not a New York USA pressing or even a Liberty. It was a United Artists pressing, circa the mid-1970s, early 1980s. This happens once in a while, doesn’t it, where these United Artists pressings fetch collectible prices. The buyers are either 1. ignorant; 2. careless; 3. desperate; or 4. all of the above.

This one also came in from a reader, perplexed I think as well, from the high price considering the condition: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This was a not-quite-original original because the picture clearly shows the absence of the New York 23 on the label. Beyond that the record is graded VG+, with an audible ticking noise, and the cover was graded VG to VG+. It sold for $2,500.

Some 10-Inch LPs and Some Bird Envy

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Here are some of the results from the Jazz Record Center auctions we were watching, including the one with the cover that has some of our readers weirded out. Let’s start with Kenny Dorham Quintet, Debut 9. This is an original 10-inch pressing, quite rare, that looked to be in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $960.

Charlie Mariano, Mariano, Bethlehem 1022. This was another 10-inch record from the collection of Tom Stewart and like the others the record was in M- condition and the cover probably VG++, with the owner’s name written in ink. This one sold for $355.

Now for the one with the weird cover, Red Mitchell, Happy Minors, Bethlehem 1033. This was from the same collection, M- for the record, VG++ for the cover. It sold for $333.88. So far I haven’t found a copy in my own collection. If I didn’t buy it originally for $50, I can say for pretty sure that it was because of the cover. Not one of my favorites, to be sure.

Speaking of covers, check out the next listing, and we will show a picture of the cover below:

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A Few Jazz Vinyl Delegations

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Lots of nice jazz vinyl sitting on eBay now. This is one you really don’t see very often: Paul Chambers, A Jazz Delegation From the East, Jazz-West JWLP-7. This is an original pressing listed in Ex condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It’s closing in about four hours and is now in the $900 price range. Here’s another rare one on the same label from the same seller: Kenny Drew, Talkin’ and Walkin’, Jazz-West JWLP-4. The record is in VG+ condition and the cover is VG. It closes in about seven hours and is in the $340 range. I do have a question looking at these two listings from Atomic Records. Which one of the records is in better condition? I’m assuming Ex is better than VG+?

Gene Ammons, Hi Fi Jam Session, Prestige 7060. This is an original pressing with the New York address and yellow label. The record and cover are in M- condition. There are four days to go and the start price is around $200. Think it will sell? I do.

And now for some Blue Notes:

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The One I Left Behind?

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Some interesting 10-inch LPs, 78s and other items on the new eBay auction from the Jazz Record Center. Here’s a few to watch, starting with Red Mitchell, Happy Minors, Bethlehem 1033. This is an original 10-inch pressing In M- condition for the record and probably VG++ for the cover. There’s writing on the back, but the writing is from the previous owner, Thomas Stewart, who also wrote the liner notes for this record. So it has some interesting provenance. It also has the presence of  Zoot Sims and Bob Brookmeyer, which can’t hurt. The start price is $200. My own story with this record: I used to travel to Palo Alto all the time for business. There was a book store that also sold records and occasionally they would get some nice jazz. The prices were a bit high for the time, but not unreasonable. I remember a mint copy of this record sitting on the shelf for $50. I had it in my hand, put it down, had it in my hand, put it down, looked at a few other records, picked it up again. This went on for a while. In my memory I wound up buying the record for $50. Except, I guess I didn’t. I just looked on my shelves and, alas, no Happy Minors. My hope is that I have the record, but I just misfiled it or something. So later, or this weekend, I will go through all of my 10-inch records in search of the one I may have left behind. It’s probably a great record, right?

A few others from the Jazz Record Center: Read more

Feeling Groovy?

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Now that we’re back home catching up, here’s an update on some jazz vinyl we were watching on eBay, starting with: Red Garland, Groovy, Prestige 7113. This was an original New York yellow label pressing. The record and the cover were in M- condition. It sold for $516, quite a large number for a Red Garland Trio record. Does anyone out there have knowledge and/or a theory why this one would be so highly prized by collectors. The seller was Atomic Records, so I could have visited the store and waved goodbye to this one last week.

The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 2, Blue Note 5041. This was an original 10-inch pressing. The vinyl as probably VG, based on the seller’s description, and the cover was VG+. Great cover. It sold for $317.

Cliff Jordan, Blue Note 1565. This was an original pressing in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $799.99. I mentioned that I was perhaps interested in bidding for this, and I do believe $800 is a fair price. But paying top dollar is not how I’ve ever chosen to build my collection, and no sense starting now.

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