The Rise and Rise of Blue Note Reissues
I sometimes keep an eye out for the United Artists Blue Notes from the early/mid 1970s. I bought most of these releases when they first came out and my friend Red Carraro stocked them in his basement in Malverne, NY. I recall paying $10 each and I loved having them because they were able to fill in major gaps in my collection that I didn’t have the money to fill in with original pressings. I must have bought 20 or 30 of these pressings. I never thought they would be worth much money, being reissues, but I loved the music and they sounded fine, particularly on the inexpensive equipment I had at the time. It opened up a lot of music to me that I had never heard before, including the Thad Jones, Cliff Jordan, Johnny Griffin and Duke Jordan Blue Notes of the 1950s.
Anyway, things have changed, and now these records are often selling for what I consider to be “collectible” prices. A case in point was this copy of Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1560. This one looked to be in VG++ condition for the record, maybe VG+ for the cover. It sold for $102.50. I still have my United Artists copy of this record, having never found an original pressing in my price range in 40-plus years of searching, and I have a few others as well. I also sold a bunch on eBay back in 2002-2008, mostly in the $15 or $20 range, before the market for these took off.
Here’s an original Lexington Avenue pressing from the era that didn’t sell for much more than the Mobley reissue: Gil Melle, Patterns in Jazz, Blue Note 1517. This one was in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover and sold for $161.50. I also have a reissue of this record, Japanese pressing, but, to be honest, I’ve never listened to it. Anyone out there familiar with the record who wants to weigh in, please let us know about the music. I imagine if it weren’t on Blue Note, it wouldn’t be selling for $160 these days.
And, while we’re on the topic of Blue Note reissues, there was this from the recent Jazz Record Center auction: Complete 10” Blue Note 5000 Series by Toshiba. This looks to be 52 records, all in mint condition, issued beginning in 1998. Looks like a beautiful set for someone who doesn’t own the originals, or even someone who does and wants to preserve the originals and listen to the reissues. The complete set sold for about $1,700, which seems like something of a bargain to me for 52 records. I mean, just the covers alone are so cool.
I’d be surprised if the sale of that Gil Melle Blue Note actually went through. I won a few auctions from that seller, hellorecordsdetroit*com, this week and he cancelled all of them because they didn’t close as high as he wanted. One buyer was able to leave negative feedback regarding this but I was unable to as eBay disables the option once an item is refunded.
Aaron there was a legitimate problem with his auctions; I tried to bid on many of his items in the last hours and kept getting eBay error messages…I watched in horror as records ended up at very low prices and I was unable to bid haha
Interesting, good to know from a first hand source! I did notice quite a few items closed well under market value but when I talked to eBay they said no error was on record or reported so it seemed like he was just unhappy with the results. Glad to know otherwise!
Yeah, I had the same experience. Kept getting error messages, that the seller had to provide more information, or something along those lines.
I love those Toshiba 10 inchers and have been able to acquire most of them. Not original yes but who cares? I get to hear them and the jackets in pristine shape are all so very neat to just hold in my hot little hands. Toshiba did these up right and they are true to the original in design and the sound is terrific. Some of my most often played vinyl. Other great thing with some of these is that they never were put out in cd format (shudder and gasp) so this is the only way to hear them short of having the costly originals. Person who obtained these is undoubtedly very happy right about now.
Just checked out the Gil Melle seller and he had previously sold an original George Wallington Quintet at the Bohemia on Progressive. On the back cover there’s a stamp
“McGrary’s Flower and Record Shop”. Makes me wonder if it was a Mom and Pop store. Love the concept!
My dealings with Red started with his acquisition of a big chunk of the Verve catalogue. Later on our meetings would centre around common culinary experiences.
Same experience with the Detroit auction. Would have been interested in upgrading my Roy Haynes Cracklin’ cover…but could not leave bid. Did the seller cancelled the auction ? Or was there another problem ?
I tried bidding on multiple items from Hello Detroit and got the same error message every time so I called a friend in the area who shops at that store often. He alerted the store to the problem and they said they had been calling eBay all morning to fix the problem with no results. Word has it that they will be relisting the items in January
My understanding is bidding was frozen at least a full day before the auctions were to close, and I received the same message referenced earlier about the seller needing to provide more information in order to enable more bids. It doesn’t seem as though it was intentional by the seller.
I remember seeing an online retailer offer that whole set of Blue Note 10″ reissues for $2500, new. Maybe Acoustic Sounds? I thought about it at the time, but decided that it would not be a good idea to put that on a credit card while in college.
I’ve since grabbed these individual titles when I can, most recently the first Julius Watkins one. Many of these ended up on those one-10-inch-per-side 12″ reissues, but it just isn’t the same. Nor are the 12″ versions of the originals.
$32 per 10 inch for the collection. OK price, but value is in the whole collection. The series is c1998. Does anyone know if they are digitally sourced, or all analogue ? There is a large body of circumstantial evidence to indicate that most Toshiba reissues from the mid 80s forward are digital. Does anyone know the facts ?
RE: Patterns in Jazz, the Gil Melle record, I think it is outstanding from start to finish. It has a very consistent, mellow vibe, and a very sweet sound. If you’re into that sort of thing, I recommend you give it a spin.
PS: An clean original of that album is worth well over $1,000, forget about $160.