High Tide for Jazz Vinyl
Ella and Louis, Verve 4003. This was an original pressing with the orange and yellow label. It was listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The seller was Carolina Soul. The final price was $465, the highest we’ve ever seen for Ella and Louis. Music doesn’t get any better than this, IMHO. Pretty good cover too, wouldn’t you say? I didn’t realize this had become this highly valued as a collectible but, hey, if I didn’t have a copy of this record I’d be fine to pay the going rate. Maybe even sell one Blue Note and get two or three copies of Ella and Louis, just in case.
From the same seller: The Immortal Charlie Parker, Savoy 12001. This was an original deep groove pressing with the blood red label. The record was listed in VG condition and the cover was VG+. The final price was $247.50. I had thought the market for Bird on Savoy had peaked years ago. A resurgence, or is the high tide lifting all boats, including the one with Ella and Louis? And the one where Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges, Verve 8367. This was an original trumpeter label in M- condition for the record and the cover. The final price was $247.50. And one more: The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 2, Blue Note 1504. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing, listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. Based on the pictures, the cover looked to be in great shape. The final price was $1,500.
Another auction closed from one of the regular sellers on eBay, Vinyl-House-UK, including Donald Byrd, Byrd in Flight, Blue Note 4048. This was on original deep groove West 63rd Street pressing. The record was listed in EX+ condition and the cover in EX condition. The final price was $1,127. Also, Jackie McLean, Bluesnik, Blue Note 4067. This was also an original deep groove, West 63rd Street pressing, also in EX+/EX condition. The final price was $1,155.
Fantastic Cover (and music). Look at his socks. Humility and talent – both of them. One of my favorite Album Cover photographs – circa 1956. I have a second pressing of this LP but really wanted to upgrade to a first pressing so I bid $300. Not enough for this great LP.
Apt heading for this column Mr. Al. Recall this Ella/Louis record lingering in racks when I was buying/selling. Nice music, to be sure, however I could never sell it for more than $9.99.
So maybe now in the world of collecting Jazz, not only does the record/label make an item desirable, the seller is also a factor in the price achieved equation.
110% agree Al ! Absolutely love the Verve pressings of Ella & Louis. So much so that I bought more than one copy in fear I would wear them out !!! (I also found a few that were signed by either Ella or Louis, and being the autograph hound that I admittedly am, I could not pass them up. Never found one with both signatures on one cover…Yet !) I only wish they had recorded a duet Christmas album together as well, especially this time of year. Both have great solo offerings, but one can only imagine the two of them singing Let it snow ! Let it snow ! Let it snow !
On that note, Merry Christmas everyone ! Cheers.
Or, Ray Charles and Betty Carter singing “Baby it’s cold outside.”
a few eBay sellers are rising to the top and commanding ever more wild prices. and good for them, honestly. the way carolina soul works, they deserve it.
Could 2022 be the year that the prices of Jazz vinyl are a reflection of great music of historical value ?
Could 2022 be the year that the music trumps the label ?
I am wishing for a change, how bout you ?
Art, you mean the year Verve starts commanding Blue Note prices? I hope not!
Art, beware of the IG bombardment squadron. (But i somehow agree)
Michael, what Art said was reasonable, not mean spirited. So he is fine.
Al, .. Ella an Louis , what a perfect christmas end of this year’s post.
after a year of frenetic collection info and buying, and corona related stress, this is the album to play, to put everything in perspective.
Nothing so rewarding then playing this music after two Coltrane albums and a hard-bob Jackie Mcclean.. like playing
an early Haydn symphonie after listening to Shostakovich symphonies..
where Coltrane and Shostakovich take you to some other place, Ella and Louis take you home again and to yourself
i have a french lp box, (70’s ?) that has all the 30 songs from the july 22,23,31 and august 1957 sessions
Not original, but sounds just fine
Merry Christmas and good health to all.
Discogs is a corrosive influence on jazz record collecting. Go there and search on jazz records by price, highest first. The asking prices are pure garbage. These are not serious/professional sellers. These records will never sell, and the crazy listings wreak havoc on any effort to arrive at a current consensus on the value of any particularly rare jazz record. For valuation we are forced to rely on old ebay auction results, which were previously our gold standard, but are rapidly being obsoleted.
I for one wish discogs a peaceful and quick demise. Short of that, a quick and violent demise.
Discogs is an amazing repository for information. It would be nice if that could be divorced somehow from the buying and selling.
Yes, I totally forgot about the reference part, which is of great value to collectors. Thanks for pointing it out.
Just to add to the Discogs thing. With e-bay we focus on what an item sold for , the same approach can be taken on Discogs using Last Sold section . I also agree it is a great reference tool and have added many details and listings over the years. As for the “gangster” sellers , they are everywhere so just ignore them.
Got my pipe and slippers out now for a Ella and Louis session. Happy New Year everyone.
A big problem with Discogs that seems to have somehow not happened on eBay is that the European market for collectible jazz (and presumably other things) is very different from the American one. Prices in Europe, even in the physical shops and even for European records, are MUCH higher. As such, European sellers will pay an American more for a record, and so are more likely to be able to buy collections. So a lot of big collectibles end up in Europe, at higher asking prices that might seem absurd to us but a bit more reasonable to a European buyer.
This is different from Japan, for example, where it seems there are not nearly as many people SELLING records, so much as COLLECTING them.
Yes, there is a vast repository for rare Jazz records in Japan. Unfortunately it is very much a one-way flow. In the good old days of Ebay, it was possible to see exactly who the runner-up bidders were. I was always overjoyed when I was able to win a nice American jazz record, and prevent the runner-up Japanese bidder(s) from appropriating it.
The Japanese revere jazz, and arguably more so than Americans do, in general. I for one am very glad someone out there is preserving these treasures.
I have also had many great experiences buying from Japanese record shops (the Coltrane live in Japan box sets come to mind) that are far more professional and respectful than any other American seller.
The last comment is exactly what I have been preaching about for years. When a art form becomes the basis for investment then it is reduced to a object of value. Have we gone off the deep end ?
Yes, but I am having fun.
A rising tide floats all ships. When you can’t afford something but still have the desire to purchase, you look for the next best thing. I am glad to see Verve LPs start to appreciate. Norman Granz oversaw some wonderful recordings along with more pop oriented released. It is about time that collectors begin to re-appraise the Verve label. I have several yellow orange copies of 4003 ( and other Verve first pressings). All exhibit a degree of sibilance on Armstrong’s “S” consonants. I’ve heard digital versions of this title and the same sibilance is present, albeit lower in intensity, leading me to believe it is on the original master tapes. OTOH I have not heard later LP pressings. I understand that Verve recut several titles to be easier to playback on average home systems of the period, meaning later pressings will sound different. Back to 4003…..I remember when I purchased my first copy. I paid $25 for it, and my father chastised me for spending so much for an old LP ! The followup, Ella and Louis again, is an excellent LP in its own right, but suffers in comparison. If you want a real treat, look for Ella and Louis- Porgy and Bess ! OUTSTANDING ! And any of the 3 releases is an excellent way to turn one year into another.