Back on eBay, Backing Buying Jazz Vinyl
A quick note before moving on to some eBay items. I am in the throes, once again, of buying a collection, and this time I’m even questioning my own sanity. As for the lovely Mrs. JC, well, she just looked at me and shrugged. Most of the records are swing and traditional, and they are of more recent vintage, and, I fear, they are inflicted with some mold and mildew. However . . . there are some beautiful 10-inch LPs in the batch, and some quite interesting 78 boxes in gorgeous condition, and I feel that I am rescuing these records from neglect. I will keep you posted as I take possession of the records, perhaps this weekend.
This one has already been called out and commented upon at Jazz Collector, but let’s keep an eye on it just the same: Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House Volume 1, Blue Note 1515. This is an original pressing with the Lexington Avenue address, flat edge, etc. It is in VG++ condition for both the vinyl and the cover and it has been bid to $1,800 already.
This one looks like an original pressing from the pictures and the description, yet it has no bids yet at a start price of $177: Jackie McLean, Capuchin Swing, Blue Note 4038. This is a great album and it is listed in near-mint condition, although the picture shows that the cover is less than near mint. Perhaps that’s why there are no bids. It’s hard to gain trust when the picture doesn’t match the description.
BUY AL!!! BUY!!!…. who else is gonna save the world..?
…At this rate Al, we may soon be able to get you an episode on that A&E show ‘Hoarders’*… Heh heh.
*For those of you who don’t know this TV Series, here is the series description from their website:
“Each 60-minute episode of Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two different people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis.”
…Why does this sound familiar ?
(As a Jazz Collector, perhaps it is a question of quality not quantity. Or perhaps we all use records to fill a void somewhere who knows !)
Mono UA copies of the Jutta Hipp-both volumes-were all over nyc for a while in the mid-70’s. I wished I’d picked up a few..unfortunately I wasn’t ‘hipp’ enough at the time!
p.s. – Nice Jutta Hipp LP !
Oh well… At the moment they’re still not past the 1800 bucks for Jutta’s Hickory House, so apparently there are no other bidders besides the three mentioned in the eBay link.
On another note (no pun intended) this Horace Parlan, Blue Note 4074 has a start price of $ 150 and it does seem to have all the usual details BUT it is still in its shrink wrap?
I thought that I’ve read here that none of the true original first Blue Note pressings were ever released in shrink wrap, which would make this Horace Parlan a non-original pressing then. Right?
Mattyman, The Netherlands
mattyman: what you read is correct, they were not issued in shrink. It may be possible though that a shrewd dealer has put shrink on it, hoping to improve the price.
ceedee: “Hipp UA all over New York in the seventies”. That is correct. I was hippier than you. I bought them. And in the same bin I found, for the same price, a Lexington flat edge of Hipp. So I went home with one UA CC and a Lex. flat edge for less than 2 dollars.
Both have now a safe home somewhere in Japan.
At Rudolf: so now the question with the Horace Parlan, as mentioned in the comment above, is whether a shrewd dealer indeed has put shrink on it, or that it might not be an original 1st pressing after all. Despite the description of the seller, I personally can’t see details on the photo for the labels or the dead wax, so that would make me hesitate to join in for this auction, simply because of that shrink wrap. $150 is something I’m willing to pay, I did so for Miles Davis 1501 and that one is truly an original 1st pressing.
Let’s see what happens with this Horace Parlan!
Mattyman, The Netherlands.
Mattyman: why don’t you ask the seller to specify whether the 47W63rd adress is on both sides of the label and on the rear of the cover? Also whether the labels are both DG and if the cover is laminated.
Fyg my copy has 2 DG labels, one with the 47W63rd adress, the other NY, on the rear there is the 43W61 adress. The cover is laminated.
I am vey happy with mine. Bought it early sixties in France. Think mine is also original.
But, I concede, some originals are more original than others.
Don-Lucky — yes, I’m afraid I am coming perilously close . . . however . . . I was just talking to the lovely Mrs. JC and I realized that there are hundreds of records, not necessarily jazz, that I have to just get rid of, either sell, donate or dump. These are the records in which I bought a collection, pulled out the stuff I wanted and left the rest behind. These are the remnants of those collections and, as I have said before, if anyone wants to go through them and take them before I dump them, just let me know.
To Rudolf: I like your statement: “some originals are more original than others”. To me it seems that there are so many in-between-period BN-LPs aroundd that it is hard to judge what is the “real deal”. E.G. I have a very nice copy of J.J. Johnson’s The Eminent Vol 2.The vinyl has all the details: Lex. on both sides; Ear, no “R”, RVG etched – but no DG. The Cover has the 43W61 adress. Condition: allover at least EX. I paid 80 USD for it, which means some hundreds less than a copy with DG and the Lex. adress on cover…..Strange!
Hang in there Al… This forum is a great support group for the Jazz junkie ! (If you don’t already have it, check out this book… ‘Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting’ by Brett Milano)
GW: i have seen that version too, but that is ofcourse a second, probably third pressing. BN did only have stamps WITH deepgroove in that time. As I feel that . A third pressing is a ORIGINAL blue note, but not a FIRST PRESSING.I myself don’t understand the Term “original”. A blue note is always original, unles it is a pressing on, let’s say Vogue. What would be NOT an ORIGINAL???
Al:
Donate that stuff to the Goodwill or Salvation Army. That’s what I do with the remains. The gov’t allows like $3-7 a record, so the tax benefit is not too shabby. Now if you can get the IRS to give you Jazz Collector eBay prices for that stuff, that would be great.
Hi, Dave. I’ve done that before, so I think I will do it again. Thanks for the heads-up. — al
Al,I hate to state the obvious,but if there exists somewhere a record that YOU can’t keep OR sell-well,something tells me none of US would be caught dead with it either!(lol)
To Rudolf, I have contacted the seller of the above mentioned Horace Parlan, but so far no reply. Nice to know for me is that the seller lives in Belgium, which is only an hour away from where I live. If only I could call him…
Anyway, the last thing I’m asking myself is why nobody has bid yet, since it still says “0 bids”. Apparently this particular Horace Parlan 4074 is not interesting enough, even though all signs say that it is an original 1st pressing. I for one am still thinking about laying hands on it, but we’ll see what happens.
Mattyman, The Netherlands.
Maarten: for me a Blue Note is original until the moment they sold out to Liberty/UA. A Prestige is original until they sold out to Fantasy.
I agree with Rudolf with regards to what is an “original” Blue Note.
R: i understand what you mean.
But you are one of the few who makes that clear in his ebay-posting. wel zo aardig 😉 Most people don’t specify, so you really have to know your BN’s…
ps like the way you wrote “..sold out to….the poor alfred Lion, he did.t even get a million dollars for the whole catalog, at least, as stated in richard cook’s book(blue note records).. or does someone know the real story?
what i mean is, a lot of people say original when they mean first, that makes it so confussing
Mattyman: what happened to the Parlan??
To Rudolf: I eventually got an answer from the seller. He told me that the 47W63rd address is on both sides of the label and on the rear of the cover. Both labels had the deep groove and the cover indeed was laminated. So I bid $ 150 and until the very last 2 seconds I was the highest bidder, but then suddenly, the frigging amount went up to $ 152.50 in the very frigging last second (pardon all my French here). And so I lost! It all just happened like ten minutes ago and I’m so disappointed. There was probably already someone else who had his “finger on the trigger” bidding only $ 2.50 more than I did and that guy/girl clicked in the very last 2 seconds. And of course then I was too late to bid above that amount. So I lost. And I’m bummed. But then again, in all fairness, I’ve learned something incredibly valuable here, ’cause the next time that I see the very last few minutes tick away, I’m going to make sure to at least “keep my finger on the trigger” as well with a higher amount and increase the bid immediately when the last seconds tick away. So the Horace Parlan Blue Note 4074 title “On The Spur Of The Moment” in fact says it all, ’cause I stepped into this auction on the spur of the moment and lost, only to learn something new as a rookie!
Mattyman, The Netherlands
Mattyman — do you know about sniping software? It will automatically place your bid at a specified time — say five seconds before the close of the auction — and you don’t have to sit there and have your fingers on the keyboard.
Yeah,Matty-just google ‘snipe ebay’ or such and you’ll come up with lots of info. I once used it more often myself,but decided that if I’m not on a computer when an item closes,I’m unlikely to bid. This has saved me much money(for sure),while I’ve become addicted to the ‘kick’ I get in planning to grab a goodie in the last seconds! (oops..sorry,lol)
Well, Al, Ceedee, that “sniping” thing sure sounds interesting. And it probably was exactly what I was dealing with here. Who are the culprits? You guys? Gimme my Horace Parlan back! 😉
But seriously folks, it’s been a valuable experience and it’s especially these little comments from the ‘regulars’ here at Jazzcollector that are true eye openers. I mean, how is a rookie like me supposed to know anything about “sniping”? Well, now I know, so believe me that I’ll dig into it. Losing a record at the very last few seconds by a difference of a mere 3 bucks truly is crappy experience!
Mattyman, The Netherlands
Mattyman: that is very distressing. I have had this experience rather often: sitting with wet hands waiting for the very last moment and then, oops, it is still snapped away.
Good to learn from Al and ceedee that there is a remedy. I will try it out. My inexperience though saved me a lot of money.
Well, Rudolf, indeed it’s clear that I saved myself $ 152.20 because of the “sniper” that outbid me, but fact is that I was willing to fork out the 150 bucks. And then to know that at the very last second you lose over a mere 2.50 more than the actual 150, makes you want to pull all the hairs out of your head. But indeed: we have to try out “sniping”, too. Still I keep thinking how to outbid or “outsnipe” the other ones, especially if they’re sniping as well… To be continued I guess.
Mattyman, The Netherlands.
Matty, don’t feel too bad, the winning bidder might have put in a $200 bid but the reason it went for $152.50 is because $2.50 was the next increment above your $150 bid.
Matty,just another word re:sniping. Some collectors(probably the majority) simply look at their lists of “wants”,budget how much they are willing to pay for each item,set up their “snipe”…and then go about enjoying life! Depending on the current MUST HAVE on ebay that day,they could do well-or not. I,too,hate it when that record you thought nobody else noticed-you know,that minty,mono Blue Note for 9.99?- jumps up $400 or so in the last 3 seconds-“$409.99”. Those types of “pre-set snipes” are just people doing what often makes the most sense- ” Just set it and forget it”. Although another phrase comes to mind that eases the hurt-“sob”- a bit…”You win some,you lose some!”
Well, Aaron, Ceedee, I fully understand all of your comments. It all makes sense to me now. My first auction and thankfully there are plenty of comments from the ‘regulars’ that offer some good advice. Still, if I just think of that one auction that I once attended in real life (they were selling Wurlitzer juke boxes), people were actually all in the same hall with each other, they could see each other and the price just went up and up and up and up until one of the last bidders gave up. The guy who led the auction said “Going once, going twice… and… SOLD to the man over there with the red shirt…” and that was it. No “sniping”, no bull ****ing, no, just an honest auction based on what a few bidders had in mind as their ultimate bid. And of course the highest bidder won. But with the “sniping”, it doesn’t feel that way, no: for some reason you feel kinda ****ed, since there has been no real “fight”, money wise. It’s just based on a “setting” and -indeed- they go about enjoying life. It’s for that reason that I was so frustrated. But I’m calm now 😉 -Just played some good ol’ Dial recordings from Charlie Parker and I’ve lost all my anger and frustration. Tomorrow it’ll be Sunday; plenty of time to sign up for a “sniper” account myself and we’ll see what happens from there! 🙂
Mattyman, The Netherlands
Mattyman, Have you tried any of the audiophile blue note reissues. I’ve found that whether digital(SACDs from Analogue Productions or XRCDs from Elusive Disc) or analog(45rpms from music matters and analogue productions or 33s from Classic Records) they are all good. The digitals are very quiet with nice resolution, and trounce the RVG blue note reissues. While I would much rather have the real thing, the analogs are a much cheaper substitute. I have 4 45 rpm reissues and don’t like the inconvenience of changing sides twice as often they sound beautiful. I’ve compared the Lee Morgan’s Candy(one of my all time favs) 45rpm music matters vs original pressing(In VG+ condition). While the Original sounds better, the 45rpm reissue is a good bit quieter and does not have any pops or ticks. While a M- pressing would not, I paid $50 for the reissue and a M- pressing would be well above $1000. The reissues lacked the collectible nature of the originals but for many Blue Notes go for like a tenth of the price. They are not cheap, but if you are just trying to gain access to the music(I collect originals as much as I can but I ain’t a bijillionare so it’s tough), I’ve found this is the way to go.
Well, Mike, I’m familiar with all the audiophile Blue Note alternatives that are available nowadays. I have been able to do the same comparisons like the ones you described. A friend of mine not only can play SACD discs, but he also has one of those astronomically expensive glass turntables and he, too, has a few of those 45rpm double vinyl Blue Note reissues. He played Kenny Drew’s “Undercurrent” from the now out of print 45rpm reissue from Music Matters Ltd. for me. The quietness of the vinyl -indeed- gives a smooth and brilliant sound. But here’s the deal for me: I collect mostly CDs. They’re cheaper and easier to obtain for me and the music is what matters. I don’t have a super expensive stereo set, but it brings me a lot of joy. Since from all the jazz labels that I have in my CD cabinet, I like Blue Note the most, I try to every now and then lay hands on a truly original 1st pressing, just to add something “real” to the CD collection that I built over the years, call it my Blue Note “shrine”. The originals are like works of art to me. And the few 1st vinyl pressings that I have are the true jewels in the crown for me. So it is for that reason that I just buy the ‘regular’ Blue Note CDs wherever I can get them and sometimes a Jap. re-release, just to immediately come home and play them. The audiophile re-releases, especially the superb ones from Music Matters Ltd. are absolutely stunning and great, but I’ve decided to not invest in them and only focus on expanding my collection through CDs, so that I can every now and then try to use the saved money for an auction here and there! 😉
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.
Mattyman, The Netherlands.
Makes sense to me. Like you Blue Note is my favorite label and I try to listen in any way I can. Happy hunting.