In the Mailbox: Yikes, Yowzas & George Benson’s Collection

Got a few emails from our friend CeeDee, starting with The Booker Ervin Quintette, Cookin’, Savoy 12154. This looks like a red label, but it’s not clear. Some of the photos look red, some look maroon. Not sure this record had deep grooves, but there are none in the picture. This copy was in Ex condition for the record and the cover and sold for about $558. The previous high for this record was $175, according to Popsike.

This one came with a “yikes!”: Lee Morgan, Search for the New Land, Blue Note 4169. This looked to be an original New York USA pressing. The record was listed in VG+ condition and the cover was VG. The final price was about $627.Finally, there was Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder, Blue Note 4157. This was also an original New York USA pressing. The record and cover were both in VG+ condition. The final price was $484.

This may sound hard to believe now, but when I first started collecting, back in 1970, you could pretty easily find The Sidewinder and Search for the New Land in the bargain bins at most of the Sam Goody locations in New York. I don’t recall if they were original pressings or Liberty pressings, but they were plentiful. My guess is that The Sidewinder was such a hit that they kept printing more copies and they figured Search for the New Land would be a hit too, so they printed extra copies of that as well. Not sure if CeeDee had the same experience/observation, but it is clear that these records are no longer in the bargain bins.

This one came in from our friend Japhy with the subject line “Pass the Roach!” and the following note and link: “I guess when you’re the Jazz Record Center you can get $1,300-plus for a Freddie Roach record! Yowza! That’s the highest book Roach record ever, as far as I can tell. In fact, JRC topped its own previous high of $710 for this same title a few years ago. The highest selling Roach drops to about $300 after that. Freddie Roach, Brown Sugar, Blue Note 4168. This was an original New York pressing with a “Review Copy” stamp. It looked to be in M- condition. The final price was $1,346. At the same time that the Lee Morgan records were pretty easy to get, so were the Freddie Roach records. Who knew that someday a Freddie Roach record would be more coveted than a Max Roach record? Do a Max Roach search on Popsike and the highest price that comes up is $300.

Looks like that copy of Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington did not sell and is back on eBay at the same start price. If at first . . . The Phil Woods Warm Woods record also did not sell, with a start price of $200.

Finally, here’s an interesting video/story that came in over the transom. It’s pretty long, but I started watching it and got hooked and stayed until the end: I Bought GEORGE BENSON’S LP RECORD COLLECTION!!

 

 

 

 

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14 comments

  • No, the Phil Woods on Epic did not sell. Starting price was too high, # number on Instagram was too low 🙂

  • Warm Woods is great but that copy was probably VG at best, so it’s not too surprising that nobody bit. I’m pretty impressed by those JRC auction prices!

  • oh yeah, and the Ervin is a second press. Wonderful album, though.

  • Looks more like a third pressing, judging from the maroon label without deep groove and paste-on front slick. As we all know, the original is on Bethlehem.

  • Paul – Although the titles are similar, the Bethlehem album “The Book Cooks” is a different recording than “Cookin'” on Savoy. This Cookin’ that got the all time high price is indeed a later (second?) maroon label pressing.

  • I had a NM spare maroon copy of that Booker Ervin savoy that I could barely get $125 for maybe 3 or so years ago. I’ve never seen a blood red DG version of this one. Does anyone here on this forum have one or has seen one? Curious….

  • I’ll pull my copy out to check. In theory a first pressing would be bordeaux. The blood red finished somewhere around 12140.

  • There’s definitely a blood red pressing of Booker Ervin Cookin’, see the Discogs link below. Looks DG as well, though it’s a bit hard to tell for certain from the pictures.

    https://www.discogs.com/Booker-Ervin-Quintet-Cookin/release/18087898

  • Surprise, surprise! My copy has deep groove blood red labels.

  • I paid my Booker Ervin copy 60 euros from a very reputable seller. VHUK often gets very high prices for second or third press from various labels. Impressive but confusing.

  • Thanks Rudolf for the confirmation it exists!

  • I have seen it offered but never held one in my grubby mitts.

  • I stand corrected, thanks Aaron.

  • Clifford, nunca he visto este disco de vinilo. Me atrae el color de la etiqueta de vinilo como un vampiro se siente atraído por la sangre virgen.

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