Catching Up: Byrd, Tenorman, Golson, Cool Struttin’

Sorry I’ve been out of touch for so long. Now that I’m back, let’s start by updating some of the items we were watching on eBay:

This one had that very high start price: Lawrence Marable, Tenorman, Jazz West 8. It was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. Not only did it sell, it made it all the way to the $2,000 bin. The price was $2,175.

This one didn’t quite make the $2,000 bin, but it did all right for the buyer and seller: Donald Byrd, Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill, Transition 17. This was an original pressing sold by Euclid Records and it included the original booklet. The record was VG++ and the cover was VG+. The labels, as they do with all Transitions, had fallen off. The price was $1,691.88. Euclid also did well on this one: Benny Golson, Gone with Golson, New Jazz 8235. This was an original purple label pressing with the deep grooves. It was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $355, quite a nice price for an LP with Golson as the leader.  Our previous high in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was $335.

This next one was described as an “original” pressing, but upon further detailed reading of the listing, it clearly was not — unless, that is, you consider an “original” Blue Note anything that was issued prior to the purchase by Liberty:

Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. If you read the listing carefully, you would see that one label was West 47th and the other was New York USA. It had the deep grooves and RVG in the dead wax so it was an early pressing, before Liberty acquired Blue Note, but it was definitely not a first pressing. It sold for $460.50, definitely far lower than a first pressing would fetch in VG+ condition, so perhaps we have helped to make sure people read these listings carefully. I give the seller the benefit of the doubt on this one: He does mention that it is “W. 47 w/NY”  in the headline.