Author: Al

More Questions About “Original” Blue Notes

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I went back to look at some of those listings from Paperstax that have generated all of this discussion and controversy. I started with Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. When you look at the listing, it seems to have it all: West 63rd Street address, deep groove, but . . . when you look closely, Van Gelder in the dead wax as opposed to RVG, no mention of the ear. In bidding, I would assume — and did — that this was an original and that the seller inadvertently did not mention the ear and used Van Gelder descriptively as opposed to using the RVG. The reason is because I don’t quite understand how this can be a Liberty pressing and still have the deep grooves. The same thing with:

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Rare Jazz Rediscovered and Donated

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CeeDee beat me to it, but there’s an interesting article in today’s New York Times: Great Jazz, Long Unheard, Is Rediscovered. It is the story of an audio engineer named William Savory, who recorded live radio broadcasts in the late 1930s. What is particularly compelling is that he used 12-inch and 16-inch disks and even used the 33-1/3 RPM format so he could record extended performances and solos that were much longer than the standard three minutes or so that were captured at the time on  a 78. The music has been donated to the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and presumably will make its way to the public, although there are questions raised in the article about copyright and ownership. Among some of the performances mentioned are a live version of Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit” and a six-minute Coleman Hawkins solo on “Body and Soul” It’s worth a read. The article includes audio clips.

Bidding, Losing & Bidding Again

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I’ve actually bid on a few records recently, but these days I don’t even get close, unless I want to really gamble on condition, which I don’t. Anyway, I was watching this record on eBay: Walter Davis Jr., Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. A few hours before the bidding closed it wasn’t getting much action. My theory: Even though the listing described the cover as M-, it didn’t look that good in the photo. I know, however, that when you are taking pictures of black covers you often get a glare that distorts the image and makes it look worse than it actually is. I took a shot and set up my Bid Nip to put in a bid of about $350 with five seconds to go. Hah!. The record

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A Plug For Us, A Few For the Price Guide

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I must say, I got some pleasure out of reading this listing:

The Magnificent Thad Jones, Blue Note 1527. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing and the seller was not an expert and he took it to a professional cleaner to have cleaned. Even better, when he posted the listing he provided a link and referenced Jazz Collector to help people learn more about the record. Nice touch, if I do say so myself. Anyway, the record looked to be in M- or VG++ condition, and the cover was probably around VG. The price was $385.

Here are a few more going into the Jazz Collector Price Guide this morning:

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Jazz Vinyl Price Update: Jackie, Newk Et Al

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I have a couple of hundred items to enter into the Jazz Collector Price Guide and I’m hoping to find some time this weekend. As I’ve been perusing through the entries this morning, I found a few that I never updated on the site, so here they are. No links on these, by the way.

Jackie McLean, Alto Madness, Prestige 7114. This was from about a month ago. It was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $932. A copy of Jackie’s Pal sold for more than $1,500 last week. There’s definitely been something that has stirred some higher prices in the past couple of weeks.

Sonny Clark, Sonny’s Crib, Blue Note 1576. This was an original pressing that was in VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG for the cover. The price was $610.. This was an original pressing that was

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How About This — 10th Avenue Prestige?

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Here’s an interesting question from on of our readers, based on the accompanying pictures. We all know about the addresses on the Prestige LPs: West 50th Street in New York for the 10-inch LPs and 12-inch LPS up to around 7141, then Bergenfield, N.J. But that about this address, 754  10th Avenue, as seen below? Anyone know how many Prestige 78s were put out with this address on the label, or anything else about it.

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New Jazz, New Heights

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We promised some Prestige stuff today.  We’ll start with a couple of recent eBay sales and then later we’ll be posting an interesting question. First, to eBay:

Ken McIntyre, Looking Ahead, New Jazz 8247. This was an original pressing with the purple label and the deep grooves. It was in beautiful M- condition. The record features Eric Dolphy as well and the seller listed Dolphy first. That was probably a wise decision. This one sold for $260.

This one was from the same era, with a very similar framed cover: Benny Golson, Gone With Golson, New Jazz 8235. This was

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Blue Notes Shattering Price Ceiling

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Let’s catch up from the weekend.

The Blue Notes seem to be in a new stratosphere. We’d never seen any Curtis Fuller record sell for more than $1,000 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Until now, that is: Curtis Fuller Volume 3, Blue Note 1583. This was an original pressing, featuring Sonny Clark on piano, and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $1,467.43. Then there was this one, from a different seller: Curtis Fuller, The Opener, Blue Note 1567. This was also an original pressing, not with Sonny Clark but with Hank Mobley on tenor. The vinyl was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $1,180. Honestly, watching these prices, I’m getting quite tempted to dig into the collection. I have both of these records in nice condition.

There there was this, which wasn’t even an original pressing:

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A Prestige Pair & One For The $1,000 Bin

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Here are a few more jazz vinyl odds and ends we’ve been watching on eBay:

Let’s start with a couple more Prestiges. Frank Foster, Hope Meets Foster, Prestige 7021. This looks to be an original pressing with the New York address and the deep groove. It was listed in M- condition for the record and the cover looked to be VG+ or VG++. The price was $548.78, which is a nice price but in this market I would have thought it might have sold for even more. If that Prestige sold for less than expected, this one got top dollar, based on what we’ve previously seen for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide:

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On eBay: Book & Blue Note

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We see that some of the big sellers are back on eBay this weekend. Here is some of the jazz vinyl we are watching here at Jazz Collector:

Booker Ervin, The Song Book, Prestige 7318. Booker was one of the unheralded greats on tenor sax and, to me, this is his best record as a leader. He wails on All The Things You Are and Just Friends and shows off his power and warmth on the ballads as well. With an all-star rhythm section featuring Tommy Flanagan, Richard Davis and Alan Dawson. If I ever get back to doing my Jazz Vinyl Countdown, this stays in the collection no matter what. Anyway, the copy on sale on eBay is an

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