Another Adventure, Part 6

So we are now in late December 2011 and I am going through the box of records that was delivered to my apartment in New York City and I am recording my discovery in real time for posterity. Here goes:

Let’s keep digging.
Another beauty. Donald Byrd, Byrd in Flight, Blue Note 4048. This is another one I’ve never owned, certainly never an original pressing which .  .  . this is! Sweet again. I just did a post on this record on Jazz Collector, just a week ago. A copy in near mint condition sold for more than $1,700 on eBay. This one is also in near mint condition, at least it is for the record. The cover is at least VG++, perhaps even M-. Perhaps this won’t top the market, but it’s got to be worth at least $1,200 in today’s market. Will I sell it? Will I sell the Griffin? Not a fucking chance. I’ve been waiting more than 40 years to get original copies of these records for my collection. And now .  .  .  finally. They are mine.
There’s more.
Let’s keep digging.
A bunch of Blue Notes all in a row:

Lou Donaldson, Lou Takes Off, Blue Note 1591. Original. Record is M-. Cover is VG++. With Sonny Clark on piano. What’s better? I don’t own an original pressing. Clear a spot on the shelves.

Dexter Gordon, Doin’ Allright, Blue Note 4077. Oh, I love this record, one of my favorite Dexters. I do have a copy. Now I have a spare – perhaps to sell, perhaps to trade, perhaps to keep. This one is beautiful, an original pressing in every way, in M- condition for the record and the cover. I once did a post on this record, talking about how great it was. I’ll have to refer to it later on.

Donald Byrd at the Half Note Café, Blue Note 4060. This is another beauty, with the West 63^rd Street addresses on each side, no deep grooves, which I think is an original first pressing for this. I’ll have to check Fred Cohen’s book. Anyway, do I have this record? Let me take a look .  .  . I do, but . . . my copy is a stereo pressing. That is, my copy was a stereo pressing. Now my copy is a mono pressing an original, and my duplicate copy is a stereo pressing. And my new original is in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover, with some of that same silly writing on the back. Like all of the Blue Notes so far, it also has the original inner sleeve. It doesn’t have quite the same cache as some of the other Blue Notes, but it is an original Blue Note nonetheless.

Oooh, look at this one: Bud Powell, Bud!, Blue Note 1571. I had a Blue label pressing of this, rechanneled for stereo. Yuch . . . not even worth owning. But this . . . an original. Beautiful, in fact. VG++ for the record, VG++ for the cover, all the characteristics to look for in an original. Love the heavy cardboard cover and the heavy vinyl. Can’t believe I never owned an original of this. Do now.

Oh, talk about favorites: Lou Donaldson, Swing and Soul, Blue Note 1566. I know I already have an original pressing of this because it’s one of my favorite Blue Notes. This one is in a little bit worse condition than the others, probably VG+ for the record and VG+ or VG++ for the cover, but it’s still a beauty, still an original, and it will probably sound great on the turntable.

The Blue Notes are all in the same pile, one after the other. I see at least two more, both favorites by one of my favorite artists. First, Sonny Rollins, Newk’s Time, Blue Note 4001. I have this, of course. My copy is, let’s take a look . . . VG+ for the record and VG+ for the cover. Hopefully this will be an improvement. It is. VG++ for the record and VG++ for the cover. Oooh, nice, I get to upgrade one of the important Blue Notes in my collection. If you can’t tell by now, I’m quite pleased. Quite pleased indeed.

And now, last but not least, Sonny Rollins, Blue Note 1542. This one has the same Barry Gordon’s Bop Shop sticker from Johannesburg. It’s not an original however, it has the West 63^rd address on both labels, where an original would have the Lexington Avenue address. Still, it is an early pressing of a rare record. This one is VG+ for the record and VG+ for the cover.

Wow, what a score. And that’s just the beginning.  Just looking at the original pressings in this batch, the Blue Notes – A Blowing Session, Byrd in Flight, Lou Takes Off, Doin’ Allright, Byrd at the Half Note, Bud!, Swing and Soul, Newk’s Time – that’s eight original Blue Notes.

And that’s just the first batch. Cool Struttin’ has not yet arrived.

The rest of the box is crap. More Garners and Brubecks and some European pressings. Nothing significant in there. But who cares? Eight original Blue Notes, some of which I have never owned – A Blowing Session, Bud!, Byrd in Flight, Lou Takes Off. You can’t find these records anywhere, not at the prices I paid for them.

What a score! I am a happy boy.

I’ll send a note to my friend in Canada. Got to make sure I get my hands on the rest of the records.