Another Adventure, Part 2

Toronto. That’s where the records were located. In Canada.
So a few thoughts went through my head. First, how long does it take to drive to Toronto from New York City? From my recollection, it was about 10 hours. I checked on Google. Only eight hours. Not bad, but not great. Then, what’s it like crossing the border hauling hundreds of records. Granted, this was only 200 records, but what would happen? Would I be stopped? Would I have to pay some kind of tax? Would the border guard be a closet jazz collector anxious to confiscate my one and only treasured copy of Cool Struttin’?
The idea of Toronto didn’t thrill me, but I wasn’t at the stage yet where I had to worry about that. I still hardly knew anything about the records. That issue was cleared up just a week later in the next e-mail. The owner had taken my advice and purchased Fred Cohen’s Blue Note book. He had taken the time to go over each of the records and provide me with a full list. He had gone through the Jazz Collector Price Guide to come to an approximate value for each record.

For example, this was the description of Cool Struttin’:
Clark, Sonny, Cool Struttin
Blue Note 1588
Condition Cover: VG++
Condition Album VG++
eBay Price Low: $1,000
eBay Price High: $3,600
There was no mention of whether the records were original pressings, nor were there listings of any of the telltale signs, such as address on the label, color of the label, etc. Plus, there was the earlier proviso that the records were bought in England and South Africa. Perhaps they weren’t original U.S. pressings at all. There were about 175 total records and a lot of them were of no interest: George Shearings and Oscar Petersons and Ahmad Jamals and Lionel Hamptons.
But then there were the Blue Notes. Cool Struttin’, of course. Also, Introducing Johnny Griffin and A Blowing Session; Dexter Gordon, Doing Allright, Dexter Calling and Go; Grant Green, Green Street and Grant’s First Stand; Dizzy Reece, Soundin’ Off; six by Lou Donaldson; Sonny Rollins Volume One and Newk’s Time; Clifford Brown Memorial album. I’d say about 25 Blue Notes in all. In looking over the Blue Notes, there were some encouraging signs. There were no BSTs or stereo pressings, all monos, all with the original numbers, none with an “8” in front of them. I had a good gut feeling about these records, at least the Blue Notes on the list, which were the only ones that really interested me anyway.
The list was accompanied by this note:

Hi Al
I have catalogued (sort of) the record collection that I have. I have purchased the book by Fred Cohen. I will send you a list of albums that I have. What do you think of them? Do you know of a Jazz Collector that may be interested in buying the whole lot? Everyone is in excellent condition with most jackets in perfect shape. They have all original plastic sleeves that cover them and most have original inner sleeves, with many having the ad’s and albums shown on them. I think that they make a nice collection. I have played a few on a very good quality turntable and the sound is excellent. I appreciate jazz but not to the extent that a collector would. My Dad would have loved that these go to a real collector that appreciates this collection.

What happened next? Stay tuned for Part 3.

Note: Full disclosure here. In writing this post I looked on Jazz Collector for a picture of Cool Struttin’ and, to my great surprise and chagrin, I had earlier written and posted an abbreviated version of this story. I had completely forgotten. You can find it if you do a search, but I think this will be a better and more complete telling, so perhaps just stick with the serialization. I can’t believe I forgot that I wrote something about this already. I’m not that old, but stuff like this does make me wonder if I fried too many brain cells during my youth. — al