Month: January 2014

A Collection Worth Viewing

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piano triosFor the past few weeks I have been having a blast looking at and listening to the records I acquired in that stellar collection from Baltimore (The Complete Jazz Collector Bruce M. West Collection). Last night I listened to two of the rarest, and greatest, jazz trio records ever recorded: Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579 and Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. I have heard about these records for years, but never owned original copies. It give me great pleasure to put my own copies on the turntable and just listen to them. And they really are great. As I’ve been listening to the records I’ve been putting them onto the shelves in my collection. However, before putting too many of them onto the shelves, I did a video of some of the highlights from the collection for posterity and for insurance purposes. I hadn’t planned to show the video to anyone here at Jazz Collector, but why not? Part of the fun of having a collection is to be able to share it with friends. So Read more

The Lasting Value of Blue Notes. Or Not

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Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailJazz Collector is on WordPress and, as such, I have access to a bunch of statistics on the site. I mention this because I noticed yesterday that there was a spike in viewership and many of the readers were looking at a trio of articles I wrote in 2010 when my friend Red Carraro passed away. Original articles are here, here and here. Anyway, I dug a little deeper and the new viewers came from this site, Steve Hoffman Music Forums. There’s a whole discussion going on there about Blue Notes and prices and why collectors pay so much for them and whether the market will continue to rise or whether it will eventually plummet and die. Worth taking a look, and perhaps worth continuing over here. For my part, I am of two minds. Read more

A New Standard for United Artists Blue Notes?

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monkHere’s another selection of jazz vinyl we are watching on eBay, starting with Johnny Griffin, A Blowing Session, Blue Note 1559. This is clearly marked as a United Artists pressing. The seller lists it as a 1968 pressing, which I think he’s just making up. As far as I know these United Artists Blue Notes were originally issued for the Japanese market in the late 1970s or early 1980s. In any case, this is in VG++ condition for the record and the cover and is currently at a price of $78. Is it possible that these United Artists Blue Notes are increasing in value to the point where they are becoming collectibles? Or is it perhaps an aberration, some bidders not knowing, some not caring, some not reading the listing carefully enough?

Our friends at Euclid Records have some very nice records on eBay now, including The Unique Thelonious Monk, Riverside 209. This is an original white label pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. This one is already in the $250 range with nearly four days left on the auction. Here’s another:  Read more

A Delightful Trio of Jazz Vinyl

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ATHere are some other jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay, starting with Art Taylor, AT’s Delight, Blue Note 4047. This is an original West 63rd pressing with the deep grooves, Van Gelder, ear, etc. It is listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The bidding is in the $530 range and the auction closes later today.

Dexter Gordon, Doin’ Allright, Blue Note 4077. This was an original New York pressing. The seller listed it in VG+/VG++ condition for the record and the cover. In the description, he mentioned tape on the cover. To me this immediately marks the condition down to VG+, not VG++. So I would also question the condition of the vinyl, but that’s just me. This one sold for $222.50, which is what I would expect for a VG+ pressing of this record, so I guess others may have had the same sense on the grading.

Here’s one featuring a Johnny Hodges autograph:

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More Insanity, Even Rarer

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Wow, did you see the final price of that copy of My Favorite Things? It was $645.

And the Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin, was $338.33.

Here are a couple more from the same seller, hard to explain:

Stan Getz, Sweet Rain, Verve 8693. This was a stereo pressing in excellent condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $102.50.

Stan Getz, Jazz Samba, Verve 8432. This was a stereo pressing, sealed. It sold for $138.50.

Kenny Burrell, Tender Gender, Cadet 772. This was also sealed. It sold for $124.49. What would this normally sell for? Ten dollars? That’s a lot of money for some cellophane.

If you want to have some fun, check out some of the other completed auctions. Read more

Lady in $atin and $tereo

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BillieHere are a few more jazz vinyl auctions we are watching on eBay. This one is from the seller bobdjukic and it is always suprising: Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin, Columbia 8048. This is a six-eye stereo pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It is always surprising in that this seller is somehow able to get collectible prices for this record, where no one else can. This one is already at more than $120. And the explanation is . . . ?

This is from the same seller at, at this point, it is actually priced at less than the Billie Holiday record: John Coltrane (et al), Tenor Conclave, Prestige 7074. This looks to be an original New York yellow label pressing. The seller lists the record in VG++ condition and the cover as well, but it seems clear from the pictures of the cover that the real condition is VG+. Perhaps why the bidding is relatively low, at about $115 with a few hours left on the auction.

I now have duplicate copies of this great Blue Note and will be figuring out my next step once I get a chance to grade and listen to both copies:

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Rare Insanity

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HankWe will ring in the new year with a few nice jazz vinyl auctions we are watching on eBay, starting with a big one: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This is a close-to-original pressing (original in my eyes) in that it has the deep grooves and West 63rd Street addresses on the labels. Some are sticklers and demand that one side have a New York 23 label. This one is in M- condition for the record and Ex for the cover, which is probably VG++ in Jazz Collector parlance. the bidding has already topped $2,500, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price.

The seller bobdjukic as back with another batch of insanely rare records and he brings up an interesting question on this one: John Coltrane, My Favorite Things, Atlantic 1361. He claims this is an original stereo pressing with the blue and green labels and the white fan logo. I’ve actually never know the keys to identifying an original My Favorite Things and I’m certainly not about to trust this guy. Perhaps someone out there can shed some light, mono and stereo? This one is listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price is already more than $100. Three are additional interesting items from this seller, which I will be watching for future posts. Stay tuned.

 

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