Jazz On Vinyl and On Film
I didn’t think this one was a collectible, but there it is being auctioned by the Jazz Record Center with a start price of $100, so it must have collectible value to someone somewhere: Boppin’ With the Chet Baker Quintet, Prestige 7512. This is a stereo pressing with the purple label. I can’t recall any purple label Prestige selling for $100 or more, so I am somewhat surprised to see this one here. We’ll see what happens. On a side note, I saw the Chet Baker bio-pic the other day, Born to Be Blue. Very good film, well done, with a nice performance by Ethan Hawke as Chet. I also saw the Nina Simone bio-pic, Nina, with Zoe Saldana in the title role. There was a lot of controversy about this one because they chose a very light-skinned actress with very white features to play Simone. Anyway, I can’t believe I made it through the whole movie. It was so bad. Don’t bother. And, if you’re a Simone fan, REALLY don’t bother. It will just make you angry. I just noticed that the new Miles Davis bio-pic, Miles Ahead, with Don Cheadle as Miles, is playing up here in The Berkshires this weekend, so that may be next on my agenda.
Back to eBay, I have my eye on a couple of Blue Notes that still represent gaps in my collection. The first, mentioned at Jazz Collector all the time, is Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record sounds like it is kind of VG+ and the cover is listed as VG. Not what I would normally consider, but I am a gambler and the price is somewhat reasonable at $300 with about a day and a half left on the auction. I doubt I will do anything, but you never know. Then there is Sabu, Palo Congo, Blue Note 1561. Not sure why I would want this record, other than the fact that it is Blue Note 1561 and I don’t own it. Anyway, this is an original pressing with the New York 23 label. The record is listed as VG+ and the cover is VG. The start price is $300 and there are no bidders.
I saw Miles Ahead last night. Two caveats should come on the poster of that film: How much do you know about Miles and how open minded of a film viewer are you? In my case its “a lot” and “very open minded”. So I enjoyed it. Very dreamy and drug induced sequences, not really a bio and no one should call it that, its a study of the sick man who lived like a hermit for a few years and it does pretty well at being that and that alone. I feel bad when I read about his 70s life, and the movie reiterates his depression and sadness quite well.
I saw “Born To Be Blue” and “Miles Ahead” last week in a double feature. I enjoyed both very much, but I absolutely loved the Chet Baker flick. I woke up the next morning, spun a bunch of his records, then went to see the film again! Definitely recommended.
Those Prestige sides where Chet was exploited by Richard Carpenter can fetch a few bucks. I’m surprised by the listing for Boppin’ because (a) there is a blue label copy, and (b) it was the last one of that series released.
anyone ever read about how chet took advantage of phil urso? interesting read, i’d say. also, the JRC auction seems a little out-of-wack to me. $50 for wallington on atlantic? starting the fruscella at $500? the nelson at $300? what gives? am i the only one who thinks some of those prices are completely silly?
I said the same thing about all those Blue Notes , but when Fred sez somthin ya gotta give it your respect. I personally feel that both Atlantic albums are very under rated musically and like I said in the past, if they were Blue Notes the price would not be an issue. Please try to judge the music and not the label.
Perhaps we are seeing a little blowback from the head spinning prices achieved from the Wong auction ? The waters are chummed now, but the sharks are doing the fishing.
Yes silly prices – and hopefully won’t work….High opening prces are probably not the way to go here. At least not for not so premium LPs. I know the Music is great but there is no direct correlation between price and music when it comes to Jazz LPs.
art, of course i judge the music. but when “kind of blue” sells for 5000 i’ll stop juding the label too. this is the market. i didn’t create it.
I’m not a big fan of high opening prices, but I would much prefer a seller who starts an auction with a high price like $500, over another seller who starts his auction at $10 with a reserve of $500. At least with the high starting price you know where you stand. If the price is too high, you ignore that auction and move on. With the reserve, you can have 70 bids and if the top bid falls short of the reserve, everyone has wasted one hell of a lot of time.
That Sabu record seems to be pretty rare. Although it’s not really what most people think of when they think about uncommon Blue Notes, the original pressing doesn’t seem to go up for auction that often, and it has left a lot of gaps in Blue Note collections… It can fetch a pretty hefty price, too, so somebody might be getting a good deal here, all things considered. The music isn’t bad, either. Some of it is a bit repetitive, but the conga and bongo drumming is very well done, and it has some pretty good guitar work on it, too. Not a bad session.
Okay, I didn’t expect the Sabu to go for about $800 when I said somebody would likely be getting a good deal there.
So many good records for sale by carolinasoul on eBay, but such bad shape. Makes me sad.
yeah, I guess they have a brick-and-mortar shop, so it’s a bit baffling why they throw marginal LPs up on eBay… although I guess if you are entirely in it for the money, the quickest way to get that paper is to sell torched Blue Notes at auction. $30 for a G/G copy of Hill’s “Black Fire” (with five days to go) is just absurd.