Author: Al

Some Questions on Savoy

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We posted that item about Savoy the other day and got the following email from Rich, one of our loyal readers. He poses some questions about Savoy. I figured I’d post the question here, also in the interest of making the results easily searchable. Hopefully this will generate some insight about the Savoy label:

“Did you notice that the Klook’s Clique Savoy from the same seller as the Mobley’s Message 2 just went for a few bucks. I have a good copy. I did not have a chance to bid. Even with a good copy I would have gone to $100 anyway. Read more

Collecting Riverside: Some Helpful Hints

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This was posted by Michel as a comment on the earlier post “The Rise of the Second Pressing?” I’m repeating it here so it will be easier to find for anyone doing a search on Riverside. It is quite helpful, I think, for all of us to share this information, on Riverside as well as the other collectible labels.

Riverside label is complex, and tricky. Here are some points of interests:

From beginning to around 240-241-242 : “white label era” : labels are white with

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A Record Bash & (Another) Adventure in Jazz Collecting

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As I write this, there is a gathering of jazz collectors taking place 50 miles from me in the wilds of Iselin, New Jersey. This would be the annual Jazz Record Collector’s Bash, which, according to the promotions, has been taking place annually for 35 years. The event actually began last night with the dealers setting up and continues through today and tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m. each day. For more information, you can go to their Web site by clicking here. I used to attend this event fairly regularly when it was in East Brunswick, NJ, which, of course leads to a story. I have been a jazz collector for nearly 40 years now and have never thought of myself as a seller of jazz records. Perhaps that is why I call the site Jazz Collector as opposed to Jazz Seller. Anyway, like many of you I’m sure, through the years I had accumulated

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Win A Free Collectible: Blue Note Cover Art

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OK, we’ve been putting up some interesting posts, but we’re not getting all that many comments these days, aside from Michel and Rudolf and a few of our other consistent (and always compelling) contributors. That means it must be time to give away another free collectible.

So, here it is, a new free giveaway contest from Jazz Collector, and it’s a Blue Note (no not an original copy of Candy by Lee Morgan, or even a second pressing of Newk’s Time by Sonny Rollins). It is (drum roll, please):

BLUE NOTE: THE ALBUM COVER ART

This is a 128-book of album cover art from the Blue Note catalogue, first published in 1991 by Chronicle Books. It features page after page of classic Blue Note covers from the 1950s and 1960s, featuring so many of the great designs by Reid Miles and photos by Francis Wolff. The book also includes a foreward by Horace Silver, which I will present in a separate post later in the week. 

Best of all, the book will be given away FREE to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector. To be eligible to win all you have to do is

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78s Anyone?

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Does anyone out there collect 78s? I mention this because, over the past several weeks several people have gotten in touch with me with 78s to sell and I’m not sure what kind of market there is for them. I’ll pass along some of the information and we’ll see what happens. The most interesting of the items is the Norman Granz project called The Jazz Scene, which is a packaged set signed and numbered by Norman Granz. The owner of this item described it as being in mint, immaculate, unplayed condition. It is number 2747 of a series of 5,000 copies. We’ve seen this sell for a lot of money on eBay, but it’s not something we’ve tracked in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. The following is a description of the item from the seller:

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Two More For the $1,000 Bin

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Here are a couple more records we’ve been watching that recently crossed the $1,000 barrier. Both of these will be added to the Jazz Collector Price Guide, which is growing quite nicely, thank you. Please check it out.

Hank Mobley With Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, Blue Note 1540. This was a beauty: An original Lexington Avenue pressing with vinyl in M- condition and a VG++ cover. At 1540, Blue Note was nearing the ends of the Lexington Avenue addresses and this one is hard to find a an original. The final price was $1,616.

Here’s one we’re not familiar with, so any insight would be appreciated (Michel?): Georges Arvanitas Quintet, Soul Jazz, Columbia FPX 193. This was an original French pressing from 1960. The record was listed as M- and the cover was VG+. The price was $1,325.

The Rise of the Second Pressing?

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There was a time, and perhaps that time will come again, when jazz collectors seemed only interested in original pressings of original LPs. That seems to be changing somewhat, at least with the Blue Notes and Prestiges. I noticed that with a couple of items I was selling, and with another item that caught my eye as I was watching other records on eBay. Last week, I put up the record Miles Davis Volume 2, Blue Note 1502. This was a nice old copy of the record with heavy vinyl, but it was a West 63rd Street pressing, as opposed to an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was in nice condition: I graded it conservatively at VG++ for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $140.50. The other record I was watching was also a Miles Davis LP: 

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Catching Up With Some Nice Savoys

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I’ve been a big fan of the Savoy label since I started listening to jazz, perhaps because of the great Charlie Parker records, perhaps because the original Savoys always had the heavy vinyl and nice covers and great artists. I remember discovering the Dexter Gordon Savoy LPs and hunting all over to find copies, which, it turned out, weren’t even original pressings. It didn’t matter, not at that time, because it was only about the music. Anyway, we’ve been watching a couple of nice Savoys this week (one because it was our own record) and it was nice to see that they are among the more cherished collectibles, at least if you go by the prices reflected by the winning bids. Here are a couple of items, both of which will be added in due time to the Jazz Collector Price Guide:

Donald Byrd, Jazz Message #2, Savoy 12092. This was an original pressing with the blood red label. It was

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A Few More (Blue Notes) For the $1,000 Bin

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The $1,000 bin keeps getting bigger and bigger. We just did a search on eBay of completed auctions of $1,000 jazz records and it was quite stuffed. Here are some of the items we will be adding to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. 

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was listed in in “excellent” condition for both the vinyl and the cover. According to the seller’s notes, “excellent” is what we wold normally use for VG+. So, in VG+ condition, this record sold for $1,525.

John Jenkins With Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was in M- condition, both vinyl and cover. The price was $1,905.

Lee Morgan Volume Three, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd Street

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Quickie Quiz

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The Quickie Quiz is back. Here goes: On the album, John Coltrane, Ole, Atlantic 1373, there is an appearance by a musician by the name of George Lane. To my knowledge, George Lane never appeared on any other record. Why is that?