Blue Notes Galore
Lots of Blue Notes caught my eye as I was perusing eBay this afternoon, so let’s dig right in, starting with Sonny Red, Out of the Blue, Blue Note 4032. This looks to be an original deep-groove, West 63rd Street pressing. The record and cover are both listed in VG+ condition. The start price is about $500 and so far there are no takers. This would be a major gap sealer in my collection, since once owned a mint copy that I bought for five dollars and subsequently traded away before I even had a chance to even listen to it. Just the thought makes me shudder. I’m sure I’m not the only one here who has, at times, reached that level of stupidity.
Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 5065. This is the original 10-inch pressing listed in G condition for both the record. Despite the condition, the bidding is in the $120 range with the auction closing by the time many of you will read this. My experience as a buyer of this record is quite different than the Sonny Red. I was in a shop in Los Angeles. Can’t remember either the name or location. I used to travel there for business, but I never had any luck, until I walked into this store, probably in the mid-1990s, and they had about 20 or 25 10-inch records all in about VG condition. This was one of them. I think the price was about $30, but I bargained the seller down because of the condition and because I wound up taking all 25 records. I still have this copy of Afro-Cuban and I still have the other records in that pile.
Curtis Fuller, The Opener, Blue Note 1567. This looks to be an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address and deep grooves. I don’t remember if this one should have the New York 23 labels because I once left my Blue Note Guide by Fred Cohen on a plane. Anyway, someone in the audience will set me straight. This one is in VG+ or VG++ condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. There are already 24 bids and the price is $500, with the auction closing later today.
This seller, vinyl-house-uk, has a large batch of Blue Notes and other collectibles on eBay right now, including Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland Volume 1, Blue Note 1521. This is a second pressing with the second cover and the West 63rdStreet logo. This was the cover I would see in stores when I started collecting in the early 1970s. The record is listed in EX or EX+ condition and the cover is EX+. Bidding is around $270 with four days left. Even with these second pressings or later, we are seeing that prices continue to rise for Blue Notes. And why not? The music is great, the packaging is great and the records are evocative of a period that can never be recaptured – except, with the records, it can, if however fleetingly.
Al, you can buy that Sonny Red with the money you’ve saved by not eating out… last month!
Or last week!
My policy of late has been to sell those 12″ albums of which I have the original 10″ issues. So my Blp 1521 and 1522 were sold, both the first cover designs as well as the later reissues. The corresponding three 10 inchers do the job perfectly.
With the K.D. album things are less simple. 1535, of course, has the full 5065 album, but as an added bonus one full side of 1955 material issued nowhere else. Not just alternate takes, but a session in its own right, probably programmed for another 10″ release.
Logically, I would have to ditch the 10 incher in this case. But I wouldn’t. Love them too much, those ten inchers.
Al: The 1567 should have W63 labels to be a 1st. No NY23.
to me that Sonny Red sounds a little iffy on condition, but I’m sure it will sell for at least the opening price.
just today i found the sonny red, that is, a PM french EMI version of the eighties… i like the BN PM versions, ( they sound better then most liberty reissues).. they sound great and almost have the original cover and lay out… my budget only allows me to spent a max of 50 or 100 dollars for a record… this one was 15,- ..i also neglected this lp always, because of the alto sax… like jackie mclean, i always find it a bit to much squealing/ nervous… (exept cannonball adderley).. but now i listen to it, it’s great… especially wynton kelly is great on piano…
Maarten. Are the covers on the French EMI issues a little over-sized compared to the originals?
I remember buying some French reissues and that was the case.
yes Al,.. they are like 6 mm larger … but the have the original lay out, folded covers, with original adresses… there are just some small ‘modern’ brand marks… but they sound great… i prefer them , soundwise, over liberty’s or Analogue records…
Okay, riddle me this. DG just sold this for $99.99!!!!!!
‘Hank Mobley — Hank Mobley with Donald Byrd & Lee Morgan (Blue Note 1540) … LP
Blue Note, 1956. Poor … Just Sold Out![+]
(Lexington Ave pressing, flat edge with deep groove, RVG etch and ear. NOTE – Vinyl is in Poor condition, with very deep mark across both sides. Cover has surface wear, heavy edge wear, split bottom seam, a stain along the opening, and doodles in pen.)’
Back in the day, when I was buying/selling records, running a store, this would be a $3.99 record.
It’s certainly a ‘Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ out there.
“So be a happy fellow
Be a clown, boy, Punchinello
Get off the shelf and enjoy yourself
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad
It’s a mad, it’s a mad, it’s a mad, it’s a mad world!”
I hate to keep preachin’ but the answer Mr. Lenib is BECAUSE ITS A BLUE NOTE… for further insight on this please reference Mr. Barnum’s famous quote.
I was always perplexed by the fact that Dusty Groove sold lesser condition records for just a slight percentage less than quality copies. A “Good” record would be like $29.99 whereas a NM one would be $38.99. That was the case even back in the late ’90s when I started shopping there. But $100 for a Poor copy of 1540 is absurd — it would be one thing if the cover was nice, but it’s absolutely trashed!
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I am 80 year old. My dad is Al walker Tina Brooks played in his band ,Tina mention in him him on the back of the truej blue alblum. I have a large record collection in excellent condition and I am ready to sell.I got my copy of True Blue from Tina himself.