Author: Al

Sonny Rollins Kennedy Center Tribute: Inspiring/Disappointing

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Did you watch the Kennedy Center Honors last night? It was great to see Sonny Rollins being recognized on national television and in front of the President and the world’s artistic community as one of the most important and influential artists of the past half -century. It was certainly moving and well deserved and, knowing how humble Sonny is, it must have been a tribute that he felt deeply. As I fan, I know I did. I had goose bumps just seeing Sonny up there.

Having said that, I found both the biographical tribute and the musical tribute to be really uninspired and disappointing. This was the one opportunity to explain to the country why, among all of the thousands of jazz musicians in the world, it was Sonny Rollins who was being honored on that stage. Even in just a couple of minutes with the opportunity Bill Cosby had in his introduction and in the video tribute, there was so much that could have been said that wasn’t. Here are some of the things I would have said:

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Cool Struttin’, Giant Steps and Other Jazz Classics

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Let’s catch up on some of the interesting rare jazz vinyl we’ve been watching at Jazz Collector. Big Bear apparently put a magnifying glass to this record and found that it was not necessarily an original pressing: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. In addition to the question about the “original-ness” of the record there was also some concern expressed here about the lack of information about the listing. The record wound up selling for $1,913.88 in M- condition, which is probably significantly less than it would have received if it had been offered by a reputable seller with a strong reputation, such as Jazz Record Center or Euclid. Nonetheless, it is still quite a hefty price, particularly if it is not a first pressing. This one came from the same seller and failed to sell: Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note  1569. I tried the magnifying glass trick myself but to no avail: Either my magnifier was faulty or my eyes were faulty or, more likely, a combination of the two. I couldn’t figure out if this was original or not. Perhaps other potential bidders had the same problem. Nobody was willing to hit the start price of $500.

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No Holiday For Watching Jazz Vinyl

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It may be the holiday season around much of the world, but eBay never takes a vacation. Neither, apparently, does Jazz Collector. Here is some interesting jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay. We’ll start with the $1,000 been. This one is still for sale: Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This is an original pressing that’s listed in near mint condition for both the record and the cover. The price is already more than $1,100 and there are still two days to go.  This is also a regular to the $1,000 bin: Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was an original pressing, deep grooves, purple label, and it was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,415. Merry Christmas for someone. John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing that was either M- or very close to M-, based on the seller’s description. It sold for $1,156.99.

Here are a few interesting items closing in the next day or so:

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Clinton Toasts Rollins For Kennedy Center Honors

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One more reminder for our readers in the U.S.: The Kennedy Center Honors featuring the tribute to Sonny Rollins will be broadcast on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. I’ll probably do one more reminder on the day of the broadcast. At one of the events, Sonny was toasted by Bill Clinton. I always figured that Sonny would have been honored while Clinton was President since he was a sax player would and have obviously known about Sonny’s importance in the history of jazz. But I don’t think the President actually has that much influence in who gets selected. In any case, Clinton clearly does know the music, as can been seen in the toast below:

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A Jazz Vinyl Auction To (Carefully) Watch

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Are there any gamblers out there? Here are some interesting items from a seller in Italy, including : Art Taylor, AT’s Delight, Blue Note 4047. The seller describes this record, as well as a bunch of other jazz collectibles, as being from his grandfather’s collection. There is no mention on any of these listings about some of the characteristics you’d want to see on a Blue Note to determine it’s provenance. No mention of deep grooves, addresses on the label, RVGs, ears, etc. Yet . . . if you look at the picture, you get the sense that perhaps they are originals. Or could they be someone else’s pictures? The seller does not accept returns. Perhaps we’re back to being skeptical again, since this is around the two-year anniversary of the great eBay Nautiluso fraud, from Italy. Clearly, others are skeptical as well, based on the price of this record and other listings from this seller. This one, listed in M- condition for the record and the cover, is now at $260. Here’s another from the same batch: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This is described as being in M- condition and a U.S. pressing, but all of the other important data is not included in the listing. The bidding on this has gone to $585 and the auction is closing in a few hours. Under normal circumstances, what would an M- copy of this sell for — $3,000, $4,000?

Blue Note Jazz Vinyl For the $1,700 Bin

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OK, so when did this become a $1,700 record: Donald Byrd, Byrd in Flight, Blue Note 4048? This was an original pressing and it was in M- condition. It was also a review copy. Who would have suspected it would get a top bid of $1,712? I certainly didn’t. Our previous high price for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was more in the range of $300.

From the same seller came a batch of other nice collectibles, also at top prices, including: Rocky Boyd, Ease It, Jazz Time 001. This was an original pressing. The record looked to be M- and the cover was probably VG++. It sold for $668. I owned this record at one time but don’t recall that I ever listened to it. I wound up trading it for something not nearly as collectible. I know this record benefits from the presence of Kenny Dorham, for both musicality and collectibility. How is the record and what can we learn about Rocky Boyd?

Also:

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Watching Some Prestige Jazz Vinyl

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Here’s some jazz vinyl we’re watching on eBay now:

Tommy Flanagan, The Cats, New Jazz 8217. This is an original pressing with the purple labels and deep grooves. It is a relatively early John Coltrane record featuring Trane as a sideman, along with Kenny Burrell. The record and cover are both in M- condition and the price is in the $250 range, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve. My personal story with this goes back nearly 40 years when I was doing some record trading with a sax player named David Krieger and I had a broken leg and couldn’t drive and something came up and he had to leave so I was alone in his basement with his entire record collection, including some gorgeous Blue Notes. I could have taken off with a few gems but of course I did not. I can’t ever look at a copy of The Cats and not think of Dave who sadly passed away earlier this year.

This one is a pretty one right in the time frame when Prestige was doing some of its best work:

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Rare Autographs: What’s in a Name

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Perhaps I’m naive, but when I see an autographed record I always assume that it is legitimate and not a fraud. It seems kind of weird to me that someone would try to copy the autograph of a jazz artist to try to inflate the value of the record when, in many cases, the autograph actually devalues the record, another oddity that I will never understand. I was watching this record on eBay: Thelonious Monk, Work, Prestige 7169. This was a yellow label pressing and an “original” in the sense that it was the first pressing of this record, which is a reissue of an earlier record. Normally it would be worth about $50 or so, but this one happens to have signatures on it from both Monk and Sonny Rollins. To me, this is a gem, assuming the autographs are legitimate, which I do. I tend not to collect autographs, although something like this is tempting, so I passed the listing on to one of our loyal readers who does collect autographs. I see from the geography of the winning bidder that our friend did not bid for this. The start price was $500 and there was one bidder. Don-Lucky — what happened? Seems like a good price for this one.

Down By The Riversides (With A Blue Note)

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Here’s some more jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay.

It’s been a while since we’ve tracked a nice copy of Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This one was an original pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and M- for the cover. It sold for $1,913.

Here’s a nice Riverside: Ernie Henry, Last Chorus, Riverside 266. This looked to be an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $270.

While we’re on Riversides, here’s one two numbers apart: Johnny Griffin Sextet, Riverside 264. This one was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $349.95. My dad used to search high and low for the Riversides in the bargain bins of a couple of record stores along 8th Street in Greenwich Village in the ’60s. I wish he would have bought some of these, but he wound up with a lot of Cannonball, a lot of Wes Montgomery and some Bill Evans. No complaints, really. I still have many of those great records from my dad.

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A Tale of Two Sonnys

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I’m proud of myself. I’m up in the country and I have some time and it’s relaxing and I put a couple of records on. First I put on Sonny Clark’s Cool Struttin’, which is a great record that I hadn’t listed to for years. Then for some reason I put on Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter on Imperial (both reissues, unfortunately). And I was listening and it was right after Cool Struttin’ and I was thinking, hmm, the pianist on the Sonny Criss record sounds like Sonny Clark. So I looked on the liner notes and, zip, nothing. Oh I hate it when liner notes don’t list the musicians. Thank goodness for the Internet. I googled the record and within seconds I found out, indeed, it is Sonny Clark on piano. For those of you keeping score, the other sidemen are Larry Bunker on vibes, Buddy Woodson on bass and Lawrence Marable on drums. Nice record and I can’t tell if it’s my pressing, but the recording is very tinny. Any of you out there with the original?

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