A New Case of Vinyl Envy

OMG, it’s so freaking easy to get hooked again. I went on eBay on Thursday for the first time in months and now I’m checking every few hours, including 5 AM on a Sunday. It’s re-awakening the old, familiar adrenaline rush of just looking at the records, seeing the prices, and feeling that old collector’s feeling of “boy this is fun.” Then there’s the vinyl envy of the records in great condition that I don’t have, The Unique Thelonious Monk as a case in point. I’m pretty sure I’m going to bid on that record. I’ll keep you posted. In the meanwhile, here are a few more records that have tickled that familiar feeling, starting with another Monk record from the Jazz Record  Center auction: Thelonious Monk, Monk’s Music, Riverside 242. This is an original white label pressing that looks to be in M- condition for the record and at least VG++ for the cover. I have never owned an original white label pressing of this record, and it is John Coltrane (among others) playing with Monk. Bidding is a little bit more than $100, with the auction closing Monday evening.

You don’t see too many Gerry Mulligan records in triple figures, but here’s an interesting one: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Fantasy 3-6. This is an original 10-inch record with red vinyl. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover is EX.  Bidding is in the $130 range and there are already 42 bids. The auction is closing within a few hours of this posting.

Finally, I am preparing to record my Christmas radio show/podcast this week and this record caught my eye: Vince Guaraldi, A Charle Brown Christmas, Fantasy 85019. This seems to be an original stereo pressing, although I don’t know enough about it to confirm that this is an original. The seller has it listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover.  The start price is $450. I had never owned a copy of this record until the past few months. It didn’t seem like a real jazz record to me.

However, doing my radio show last year, I discovered I had a dearth of good Christmas music to play. So, when I saw a reissue of this record sitting on the shelves for $20 at Spike’s Record Rack in Catskill, NY a couple of months ago I figured, what the hell, here’s some more music to play on my Christmas show. What I didn’t know at the time was that this record is the second highest selling jazz record of all time, with more than 5 million copies sold, behind only Miles Davis Kind of Blue. Having listened, it’s also a pretty good record. I guess because Vince Guaraldi was so popular with the Peanuts soundtracks and the Cast Your Fate to the Wind record, he was probably underrated as a jazz player. It’s a bit of a takeoff on he old Yogi Berra line about a restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.” Am I tempted to get an original copy of A Charle Brown Christmas? Not at all. The reissue I own is just fine.