A Rare Jazz Vinyl Quartet
Here zre are some of the rare jazz records that have been sitting in our eBay watch list, starting with Eric Dolphy, Outward Bound, New Jazz 8236. This was an original pressing with the purple label and the deep grooves. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was Ex, equivalent to VG++, according to the seller’s description. The final price was $837. High, but certainly not surprising for an original classic such as this. From the same seller, there was Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was also an original pressing with the purple label and the deep grooves. The record was listed in VG+ condition, as was the cover. The final price was $1,083. And one more from the same seller, this one a tease for me, but not in a comfortable price range, although certainly a fair price range based on the final bid:
Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing, listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. Would love to have it, of course, but the final price was $860. Someday, but not today.
While we’re looking at the high end of the market, here’s an auction that will be closing in a couple of days: Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is listed in VG++ condition, and the cover looks to be about VG, based on the description and the pictures. Maybe VG+ for someone less discerning. The bidding has already surpassed $1,000. We’ll see how high it goes, despite the issues with the cover.
those eric dolphy new jazz records are glorious. i actively seek them out, but i fear it will be some time before i find them affordably at these prices.
I will ask for forgiveness in advance . I will be going to N.Y. C. Very soon and am seeking advice from all you knowledgeable jazz cats: where should I shop for used records? Condition and price are acceptable on the low end.Thanks a bunch! The Texas crate digger.
Jazz Record Center, Academy on 18th (less jazz), Academy on E 12th Street in Manhattan (good for jazz), Good Records on E 5th… you could stop by A-1 on your way downtown although I don’t think it’s as deep as it once was. In Brooklyn I’d hit the Academy Annex in Greenpoint (although it’s more rock-centric, I’ve found nice Jazz LPs there too) and say hi to the folks at Record Grouch nearby, which is small but friendly and I’ve found a few want-listers there. Captured Tracks (lower Greenpoint, near McCarren Park) isn’t that heavy beyond the wall but the wall has been kind to me. Those are the main haunts although surely I’m forgetting one or two.
I miss the days of Shrine and Gimme Gimme in the E.V. and The Sound Library, while more of a beat-heads spot, definitely had cool stuff. Gone now as well as many others I’m sure. The Jazz Gnome? I think he was done by the time I really started visiting NYC heavily in the late 90s/early 00s.
Art, I’d start with A-1 records. And if you own a hazmat suit and oxygen, you can spend a heck of a lot of time at The Thing in Brooklyn. Crate digging at it’s finest…..or worst. Depending on one’s view.
I sold this weekend a E copy of Dexter’s “Daddy plays the horn” on Bethlehem for 1230 dollars.
Just copped an original of Shades of Redd in VG++ for only 220 euro’s. Happy as I can be.
Rudolf,
I placed a very high bid on that Dexter. I have a nice cover already and would have upgraded my current disc for yours. This is a great session with wonderful interplay between Drew and Gordon, Whoever, the final buyer was, he really wanted that lp a little more than I did.
By the way, I know that you enjoy Bill Hardman and Lee Konitz. I’ve been listening to two original pressings of Hardman’s “Saying Something” and Konitz “In Harvard Square”. Both have become favorites of mine.
Art, i second clifford’s recommendations, to the letter.
I found Lee Konitz/Lennie Tristano New Jazz 101 10″ and a 3 78 Mercury set of Tristano with the binder all in very nice shape today at local Goodwill for $.69 cents each.
Plus a Teddy Wilson and Herman Chittison 10″ Columbia lps. That was it, nestled amidst Country Cavalcade of Classics box sets, Time Life Memories box sets, Jane Fonda Exercise lps, 700 copies of the same self made rap/disco/12″ , Mantovani and assorted hillbilly preachers.
Always makes me wonder where’s the rest? I mean if somebody had a Tristano 10″ they had to have other such items.
I thought Goodwill just got boxes of records shipped to them from used item distributors (a la Half Price Books), so the rest of that collection could be kicking around at other Goodwill locations in the region.
TerryfromFlorida, I made a lot of money on this one, but you were fully right not to ride the waves of frenzy.
Thank you to remind me of Bill Hardman, considered to be a minor talent. After being in the business for 5, 6 years, he made his first album as a leader, for Savoy, teaming up with another minor talent, Sonny ‘Red Kyner, to whom I have always ‘preferred’another unknown, John Jenkins, with his fantastic mellow tone.
I hope you own the three Konitz albums on Storyville.
what a nice find, lennib! i must admit to being a bit green. i comb the goodwill bins regularly as the other half is a kitsch addict and i find myself at goodwill a lot. nothing ever pops up. found the cover to a very rare sesame street record once, but no record. i don’t collect them, but the funds would have bought me some nice jazz. sigh.
A question re Goodwill stores – do you have other charity shops in the USA?
Here in the UK we have lots of national Charity shop chains eg Oxfam, Cancer Research, Age UK, British Heart Foundation, Barnardos etc, and lots more smaller, local operations (hospice shops or animal charities, that type of thing).
I can’t walk past a charity shop without checking for records. I don’t think I have EVER found a proper jazz LP.
Actually, I tell a lie. I once found a very trashed “Cape Verdean Blues” priced at £40 (and that was when £40 would probably cost you $65)
Richard, Goodwill is one of the large charity “chain stores,” if one could use that term. Here in Jupiter Florida, there are lots of thrift stores, for Florida is a place where old folks seem to come to die. I have occasional luck as two months ago got about 50 minimalism lps, Phillip Glass, John Adams and the ilk, many with ephemera inside from concerts. Gregory the Fish, don’t frequent thrifts like I used to, though here in Florida one’s luck can be good for those old folks who came here to die, often have a second home in Florida as well as NYC and elsewhere, and they often have records. Though the records are too often the pop singers of the 50’s and /or Mitch miller lps.
I go to my local thrifts and goodwill a few times a week, I live in a college town so the records are about 80% junk at any given time. One of my best finds recently was an original stereo copy of “The Kerry Dancers” by Johnny Griffin on Riverside for $4(It’s not clean, but it spins). Most of the stuff I buy at thrifts is just to resell, classic rock and the like. My absolute best find was a loaded 78 Album that contained 11 late 20’s/early 30’s discs on Okeh, including 9 Louis Armstrongs in great shape. That was like winning the lottery.
My goodwill has a former record store owner working there. I dont even go anymore.
Thanks for the replies all. I go to charity shops all the time. I very rarely find anything good, except the occasional “golden-age” classical LP. I’m sure the big charity shops have a “man who knows”, who diverts anything good to Ebay.
Richard, Oxfam etc. now have a collectable cherry picked selection that indeed goes on ebay!!
I have been looking for 30 years in British charity shops and whilst the odd, interesting Latin or brazilian lp
pitches up i don’t think I have ever come across a good BN, Prestige or Impulse. Ever!!
Indeed they now have a chap ‘in the Know’ (who really prob knows not a lot!, just puts the title in google, discogs or popsike!)
Keep hunting Richard…all those Liberace, Military marching band & Top of the Pops lps,….
Oh man, It ain’t easy!
I used to frequent second hand / charity shops a lot when I was still active in video game collecting. Still drop by the odd one every now and again but record-wise I never find much aside from the odd rock or pop record priced 2 bucks and worth 10 to 20 – nice but definitely no holy grails. Jazz, not a chance.
Adamski – If I find any jazz, it’s almost always trad or Benny Goodman, with an occasional Oscar Peterson or Woody Herman. I always get the impression that the British public’s jazz tastes were, on the whole, decidedly mainstream.
Dredging through my memories, I do recall bagging a George Shearing with the Montgomery Brothers on Jazzland and a Brownie / Roach at Basin St reissue.
Richard even our extraordinarily ‘awesome, insane’ seller on ebay with his elaborate (effective) selling knack couldn’t get a George Shearing side into the $1000 bin…or could he!
There was a time when my local GW had some AMAZING records. I pulled some first press blue notes, some 10″ bethlehems, Savoys, Prestige, you name it! There were also some amazing private records from every genre. That was about 8 years ago though…Now it’s once every 4 months or so that I’ll pull a cool record. Just the other day I pulled Shakey Jake – Good Times (Prestige/Bluesville) and Lonnie Johnson – Another Night To Cry (bluesville). but that was the first record I bought at GW in 4 or 5 months!
Thanks for all the useful feedback! Just checked in our hotel. Wednesday I start my crate digging here in N.YC.. I really got a kick out of all comments about thrift shopping! Wish me luck, and I will report any major finds. Thanks again, the Texas crate digger.
Abrasive_Beautiful, your comment about finding the book album with 9 Armstrong OKehs reminded me of a story Dial Record’s Ross Russell told me. In the mid-1930s, he came across a man who was selling new copies of such records. What annoyed Ross was he was charging the original retail price–75 cents–for these new Armstrongs! If he had only known what a new OKeh copy (if such could possibly exist) would go for today! A collector friend has around 50 Armstrong OKehs, some autographed by Armstrong. He got them from Robert Altschuler.
ltschular quoted him as saying “I’ no bargain basement!”
Sorry for the hanging part-sentence. I meant to say: When I asked my friend what it was like dealing with Altschuler, he quoted him as saying: “I’m no bargain basement!”