Author: Al

Moody’s Mood For A Jazz Collector

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One of the advantages of having a large and diverse collection, as I have, is sometimes finding hidden gems buried somewhere in the collection. Of course, the disadvantage is sometimes not knowing what you have at all and buying things in duplicate, triplicate or worse. In any case, I had a pleasant discovery the other day. I was chatting with my sister and she had her iPod on the background. The song that came up was “Moody’s Mood for Love.” I didn’t care for the version – George Benson – but I told her about the history of the song, the James Moody recording of “I’m In the Mood For Love,” the Eddie Jefferson lyrics, the King Pleasure recording, etc. Anyway, when I got home I happened to be looking through some of my 78s. Hmm, I thought, do I have the original King Pleasure 78? Indeed, I did and I put it on and it sounded great. Hmm, I thought again, what about the original James Moody “I’m in the Mood for Love?” And that’s when I was pleasantly surprised . . .

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Andy Warhol Covers For the $2,000 Bin

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Someone mentioned this one in the comments: Jay Jay Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green, Trombone by Three, Prestige 16-4. This is a rare item, a 16-RPM record with a cover design by Andy Warhol. We’ve seen it sell for nearly $300 in VG++ condition in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Which did not prepare us for this one, which was in mere G condition for the record and just VG for the cover. It sold for $2,000.

Here’s another jazz record with a cover by Andy Warhol: Conte Candoli, Cool Gabriels, Groove 1003. I have to admit, this is one I’ve never seen before. The record was in VG++ condition and the cover was VG++ as well. The price for this one was also $2,000.

Since we’re already in the $2,000 bin, here’s one more:

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Catching Up on Some 10-Inch Jazz Vinyl

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Can’t sleep so I’m up early updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Here are some 10-inch records that will be going in:

Miles Davis All Stars Volume 2, Prestige 200. This looks to be an original pressing with the yellow label, probably one of the first Prestiges to have the famous yellow label. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was VG+. The price was $204.50.

I think this was the first LP issued by Blue Note: Mellow The Mood, Blue Note 5001. It features Ike Quebec, Benny Morton, Buck Clayton and others. The record was VG and the cover was VG++. You’d think it would fetch a high price just for the historic value. But, alas, this copy did not: It sold for $28.

I’ve never seen this one and it has quite a cool cover: Bill Jennings/Leo Parker Quintet, Billy in the Lion’s Den, King 527. This was listed in VG condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $81.

Hard to find this one in M- condition, but here was a copy: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, With Chet Baker, Pacific Jazz 5. It sold for $115.52.

And now for some 10-inch Blue Notes:

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Guest Column: All Sales Are Vinyl

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We seem to be inspiring our readers these days. We have Nick’s Tales of the Hunt in some of the comments, and now Dan Forté, who wrote a guest column last week on Ed Beach, is back with a new column on buying records in New York when vinyl was king. This one brings back a lot of nice memories for me. Here’s Dan:

All Sales Are Vinyl – On the Hunt for Jazz LPs During the 1970s in NYC, by Dan Forté

Before the invention of the CD player in 1982 and prior to the major jazz record labels beginning their exhaustive reissue programs in earnest, there was little else one could do but search the dusty bins of the friendly, neighborhood record stores for those coveted out-of-print jazz LPs to add to their collection.  For jazz vinyl lovers in New York City on the prowl for “cut-outs” of out-of-print (hereafter referred to simply as OOP) releases during the early 1970s (way before Fred Cohen’s Jazz Record Center and eBay), there was a wide range of record emporiums sure to strike a responsive chord in the memory banks of those old enough – and fortunate enough – to remember them. Here are a few:

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Jazz Vinyl Update: Richardson, Monk, et al

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Here’s some jazz vinyl we were watching over the weekend:

Jerome Richardson, Roamin’ With Richardson, New Jazz 8226. This was an original pressing that was listed in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $305. Looks like a new seller on eBay who will be posted some more items in the next few weeks.

Thelonious Monk, Prestige 7027. This looked to be an original pressing with the kakubushi cover. It looked to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $250.

This seller from South Korea sold some nice records this weekend, including: Duke Jordan, Flight to Jordan, Blue Note 4046. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The vinyl was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $638. Also, Curtis Fuller, Volume 3, Blue Note 1583. This was also an original pressing and this one was in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $421. Finally, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Idrees Sulieman, Three Trumpets, Prestige  7092. This was an original New York pressing in M- condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $344.

A Jazz Vinyl Potpourri

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

Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This was a New Jersey pressing, not an original but a second press. It was in M- condition for the record and somewhere less than M- for the cover, say VG++. We’ve been watching the market for second-press Blue Notes going way up, and here’s a Prestige following the same pattern. This one sold for $202.50. Perhaps condition is playing a factor as well, but this is a nice price for a New Jersey copy of Relazin’. This one came from the same seller: John Coltrane, Soultrane, Prestige 7142. This was a yellow-label New Jersey pressing, which is a first press. I have a copy of Prestige 7141 with the New York address, but I’ve never seen a Soultrane with the New York address. Great record, my favorite of the Coltrane Prestiges. This one was in M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $295.

This one is of the same general vintage and only sold for $58.70:

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Some Nice Jazz Vinyl For the $1,000 Bin

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Time to update the $1,000 jazz vinyl bin:

Here’s quite an interesting one: Donald Byrd in Paris and Parisian Throughfare, Volumes 1 and 2, Brunswick 903 and 904. This was an auction of two rare records, released in France , and listed in M- condition for both records and both covers. The seller described them as like new. I’m familiar with the U.S.  Signature release of these records and, in fact, I own Volume 1. I’m not sure how and when these were released in France and the U.S., but I imagine someone out there will have that information to share. These records, quite attractive and enticing, fetched $2,400 as a pair.

Horace Parlan, Us Three, Blue Note 4037. This was an original pressing listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,675. I actually owned a copy of this record is nearly the same condition, maybe slightly less, and sold it for $1,500 last year to a Jazz Collector reader. We were both pleased, and I’m pleased to see the price is holding steady, if not increasing.

Helen Merrill, Emarcy 36006. This looked to be an original pressing with the drummer logo and the blue writing on the back, although it would have been nice to have seen a picture of the back cover. Nevertheless, this one was in VG++ condition for the record and the cover and it sold for $1,545

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Happy Birthday? Well, Maybe Next Year

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It so happens the records I mentioned in the Jazz Record Center post happened to be on eBay this weekend: Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045.  This was an original pressing and it was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It was sold by Euclid Records and fetched a price of $1,037. Then there was Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This also looked to be an original pressing and it was described as VG++ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $461. The question I asked myself, if the Jazz Record Center had these records in the store, and they were set at these prices, would I have purchased them, even as a special birthday present. The answer? Perhaps the Chambers, but definitely not the Redd, even though, musically, I prefer Shades of Redd and it is one of my favorite Blue Notes. I still have a hard time paying more than $1,000 for a record although, all things considered, it’s probably a good investment, right?

Guest Column: A tribute to Ed Beach

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A relatively new Jazz Collector reader, Dan Forté, has asked if he could write a guest column in tribute to the late Ed Beach, so here’s Dan. The accompanying picture of Ed Beach is courtesy of Marc and Evelyn Bernheim/Rapho Guillumette

A Tribute to Ed Beach, or How I Got Hooked into Jazz and Vinyl Collecting, By Dan Forté

Time: Mid-Late 1960s, Weeknights, live from 6-8 pm
Place: The Big Apple/ WRVR, 106.7 on the FM Dial
Cue-Up Opening Theme Music:  Wes Montgomery’s “So Do It” from his Oct. 12, 1960 Riverside LP Movin’ Along, RLP 342; 9342 Stereo
About 30 seconds into the theme, the imposing voice of our subject lets us know we’re listening to “Just Jazz, Ed Beach with you, for the first part of a two part feature on….”

And, like magic, we knew we were in capable, swinging hands and all was well with the jazz world. Unlike some other long-winded jazz jocks who liked to impress their listeners with their knowledge of jazz minutiae and didn’t know when to shut up and just play the music, Ed always knew it wasn’t about him. Rather, it was ALWAYS about the music.
Ed Beach passed away quietly on Christmas Day 2009 in Eugene, Ore. just three weeks shy of what would have been his 87th birthday.  If you dug jazz and lived in New York City from 1961-1976, you were blessed to hear “Uncle Ed” and his Just Jazz program on radio station WRVR, call letters standing for Riverside Radio, as in the Riverside Church, with studios located in upper Manhattan at 85 Claremont Avenue.
Ed was trained as an actor and he also had an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz. Every time you listened to his meticulously researched show, you knew you were in for a treat.  For every live, two-hour program that Ed produced,

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A Visit to the Jazz Record Center

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Thanks to everyone for the kind birthday wishes. For all of you hoping to experience the pursuit of a rare jazz record vicariously through my adventure yesterday . . . I have to disappoint, unfortunately. After a lovely lunch with with the young JCs — who treated, by the way — the lovely Mrs. JC and I headed to the Jazz Record Center with great hope and enthusiasm. We got there, I said a quick hello to Fred and then started perusing the bins. In the background I could hear Fred and Mrs. JC engaged in lively conversation. I worried briefly that she might be making a deal to sell my entire collection, but it was only a fleeting concern. I started with the new arrivals and was a bit disappointed when there was nothing there of interest to me. There was a nice original Bud Powell on Norgran, but I already own a copy. An Art Farmer on New Jazz, but it was a reissue. There were a couple of other decent records, but nothing that would really add to my collection. I then went around the store, bin after bin, in search of that one record that would commemorate the day. I went through the Mobleys, Morgans, McLeans . . . and Getz . . . Dexter . . . Blakey . . . Bird . . . Fats . . . maybe a nice 10-incher on Savoy, or even a Bird 78 on Dial? Alas, I didn’t find anything. But I had one last hope.

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