Author: Al

A Pair for the $2,000 Bin & A Pair of Surprises

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As we mentioned the other day, there has been an overflow of $1,000 records. Here are a few more, including a couple for the $2,000 bin:

Lee Morgan, City Lights, Blue Note 1575. This one was pointed out earlier by one of our readers.  It was in M- condition by a credible seller and it was an original pressing. It sold for $2,655.

Barney Wilen, Tilt, Swing Vogue LDM 30.058. This was an original French pressing. The record ws what we would call VG++ and the cover was M-. This one sold for $2,250.  This one is not new to the $2,000 club: It has previously sold for $2,700 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Sonny Criss, Jazz-USA, Imperial 9006. This was a surprise to see in this category, simply because

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A Sonny Clark Not For $1,000; Another Bulls-Eye

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Here are a few interesting records we’ve been watching the past couple of days:

Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579. This one looked to be VG++ for the record and mint minus for the cover. Given the prices of Blue Notes lately — and Sonny Clark Blue Notes in particular — this one looked like a cinch to join the $1,000 bin. It didn’t, but it sure came close: It sold for $909.

Back to John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This is the one with the bulls-eye cover. While we’ve pretty well established that this is not quite a first pressing — that would be a black label — this pressing seems to be catching on with eBay bidders. This one was in what we would probably call VG++/VG++ condition and it sold for $457.50. To give credit to the dealer, he notes that it is not as desireable as the black label.

And another Blue Note:

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Happy Birthday, Cannonball

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Thank you to Don-Lucky for pointing out that this would have been Cannonball Adderley’s 81st birthday. I’ll never forget where I was when Cannonball died back in August 1975. I was driving my car in Auburn, N.Y., where I was just breaking in as a newspaper reporter. I had to pull over to compose myself. Cannonball was always a big figure for me because he was a favorite of my father’s and I saw him a few times as a kid and also because the album Live At The Lighthouse was the first or second record that really set me on the path to becoming a jazz fan and, eventually, a jazz collector. For my money, after Bird there was Cannon on alto and then a big gap to whoever would be next. I’ve been putting records on eBay lately, a lot of duplicates, and I listen to parts of them before I post them. Every time I put on a Cannonball record, particularly the early ones on Mercury, I am surprised and amazed once again at just how much he had under his fingers and how naturally he swung and how everything he did was just great. So, Happy Birthday, indeed. By the way,

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A Tale of a Few Vocalists

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I was perusing a Web site called Jazz.com the other day. They’ve been picking up a few of my posts here and there and sending traffic my way, which I appreciate. Anyway, they pointed to another feature from another post somewhere else in which the great drummer Jimmy Cobb was asked to list his six favorite records. Anyway, there was Miles Birth of the Cool and, of course, Kind of Blue, on which Cobb played. Then there was an Oscar Peterson and, incredibly to me, a Wynton Marsalis. I won’t comment on that one. The two that struck me were the vocalists: Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. This brought up a conversation I had with a friend last weekend. He had made the point that he believed there were three premium vocal stylists (in the jazz idiom, of course) in the 20th Century. They were:

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The Incredible Rise of the $1,000 Jazz Record

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The $1,000 bin truly doth runneth over  days. It’s quite an interesting phenomenon.

Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534. This was an original pressing in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. A few years ago, I bought a copy of this on eBay in similar condition for about $300. At the time, I thought I was overpaying. A few weeks ago I sold a separate copy on eBay for about $325. It was in nice condition, with a VG+ cover. This was not a record I ever expected to see in the $1,000 bin. This copy sold for $1,313.

Here’s another one I never expected to see sell for more than $1,000: Cannonball Adderley, Somethin’s Else, Blue Note 1595. This is a nice record, but has never been among the higher-priced Blue Notes. The highest price we had previously recorded for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was around $400. This copy was in mice M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,475.

This one almost entered the $2,000 bin:

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The $1,000 Bin: Helen Merrill & Sonny Clark (Again)

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A couple of records we’ve been watching fell into the $1,000 bin.

Helen Merrill, Emarcy 36006. This is the one with Clifford Brown, and it has become quite a collectible.  A few weeks ago we put one into the Jazz Collector Price Guide at $1,781. This one was in comparable condition: VG++ for the record and M- for the cover. Although it didn’t reach the same height, it did quite well for its seller: It sold for $1,414.

Then there was this: Sonny Clark, Dial S For Sonny, Blue Note 1570. This is a regular in the $1,000 club these days. This one looked to be in VG++ condition, for both the record and the cover, with the dealer stating that some might rate it M-. It sold for $1,670.

Catching Up: Mobley, Mehegan, Morgan, Trane

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Time to follow up on some records we’ve been watching.

Remember that 10-inch Hank Mobley record on Blue Note from yesterday: Hank Mobley Quartet, Blue Note 5066? When we spotted it, the price was around $65 with a couple of hours to go. The record was in VG- condition and the cover was just VG, barely. We figured it may go as high as $100? It sold for $274.

On the other hand, there was this record: John Mehegan, Casual Affair, TJ1. This record features Kenny Dorham and has always been a nice collectible. When we spotted this one it was at $7 with an hour or so to go. We put in a bid of $41.41 and it was topped at $42.41. I assume if the seller had done a better job with the listing, it could have sold for a bit more. We don’t have it listed at this point in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, but we’ve seen this record sell for more than $100 in the past.

Also, that copy of John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577:

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Is There Rhyme or Reason to eBay Pricing Patterns?

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eBay, as I’ve said so often on the site, defines the pricing market for jazz collectibles. I’m sure there are still places running auctions by mail and I’m sure places like the Jazz Record Center still get strong retail traffic, but, by and large, if you want to know what a record is worth, look on eBay  — or, even better, look at our Jazz Collector Price Guide, which is taken from eBay and is more comprehensive. Which is just a long way of getting to the point that, even though I’ve been watching the prices of jazz LPs on eBay for years, I’m still often surprised by what I see. Last week we were talking about a two-tier market — and clearly there is, but I’m not sure it’s so different than it was 15 or 20 years ago — and every time I see further compelling evidence of some record prices dropping through the floor, I see other evidence of some record prices soaring through the roof. Here are a few examples of records I’ve been watching this week:

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Today on eBay: Willing to Gamble?

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Watching some items on eBay this morning. There’s a seller with some good records, but challenging listings. She doesn’t give clear indications of the condition of the records and the prices are quite high, so it’s a bit of a risk: You may be getting something great, you may not. Consequently, some of the prices are not what they would be if the records were listed even in VG+ condition, if indeed that would be accurate. I’ll point out a couple, but you can also check out the links and look at some of the others as well: John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This seems to be an original pressing. The words used to describe the condition are “very nice” and “pretty nice.” It asks for serious bidders only and the start price is $199.99. So far no takers. Here’s another: Lee Morgan, Lee Way, Blue Note 4034. This one is listed in is listed in excellent condition, so it sounds better than the Trane. It also has five bids and a price of $200. It will be interesting to see the final price. You should take a look at the seller’s other listings. They may be worth a gamble.

Also coming up today is this:

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Jazz Collector Honors Sonny With FREE Record

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Okay, if the Kennedy Center won’t honor Sonny Rollins, we will. In honor of Sonny’s recent 79th birthday on Monday, we will be giving away a free copy of one of Sonny’s classic LPs from the 1950s: Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny, Riverside 241. Of course, this is not quite an original pressing: It is an OJC reissue. Still it is a great record, it’s in near mint condition, and it’s available free. As with all of our contests, we have one copy of the record and we will hold a drawing to determine the winner. In order to be eligible all you have to do is comment somewhere on the Jazz Collector site between now and when the contest closes, on September 21. You can comment anywhere — perhaps you want to weigh in on whether you agree with me that Sonny is being short-changed by not receiving a Kennedy Center honor. If you comment on the site between now and September 21 we’ll put you in the running for the contest. It’s as simple as that. By the way, if you want to see a funny out-take from my attempt to photograph the record, read the rest of this article.

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