Comments on: Jazz Vinyl, Highs, Lows and In-Betweens

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 00:33:39 +0000

Michel, I so agree.
And while we’re on the subject of great piano trio records on Dot (the label), let’s not forget that great Don Bagley album.
So many great jazz albums lost and forgotten in the stampede for Blue Note and Prestige.

By: Gregory the Fish

Gregory the Fish — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:34:35 +0000

i like most records on blue note and i buy them when i find them for good prices in good shape. but that is fairly uncommon.

By: Michel

Michel — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 22:17:33 +0000

I want still want much more that Lorraine Geller album (and some others too) than many Blue Notes / Prestige i already have, or will ever have. I have seen too much Blue Note for sale every week. Basically my interest for this label is dead, i have enough of it on my shelves. I really don’t care about what is hype and what is worth. I still buy records i really like in NM condition.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 18:10:33 +0000

I bought for high prices on ebay for the past 20 years or so, and now I’ve basically moved into the ‘hold’ phase, which (I am guessing here, based on my age) will last 10 years or so. My hope when I finally have to sell, is that I get what I paid, more or less.
As soon as the profit motive takes over, the hobby suffers.
Dumbing down of tastes, though is also big problem. Remember that Lorraine Geller album?
The speculators will do their thing, and then move on to greener pastures, the sooner the better. Long live the hardcore of jazz collectors and music lovers.

By: Gregory the Fish

Gregory the Fish — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 18:06:27 +0000

AL:

I never realized that, but I bet you are right. Ha!

By: David S

David S — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 17:17:13 +0000

I agree that there is a bit of a monopoly held by some of the major sellers in the US and in the world right now (e.g. Disk Union in Japan) BUT at the same time I still feel optimistic about the future of the individual seller, whether on eBay or Discogs, and the future of the individual collector. Super rarities still come to the fore, and from places/people you’d least expected them to appear, and not just from someone who found a collection in a barn or from an estate sale.

Sometimes a seller KNOWS what they have and would rather do a quick sale than go the (often torturous) auction route. They’re not “cheap” but they’re also waaaaay under the usual $1000+ price they’d command among collectors. And because many of them still operate with human values and not merely commercial interest, there is room to barter and/or even pay via installment.

Case in point: I bought a VG++ copy of “Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group” a few years ago from a guy who knew what he had. I told him I couldn’t pay it up front (it was in fact more than $1000+) but I asked if I could pay over a few months. He said sure, and we made our arrangements. He has his money, I’ve got my Shihab, and I did not have to take out a second mortgage for it. That’s the human side of this game that sometimes goes underappreciated.

By: DJ Pari

DJ Pari — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 17:10:06 +0000

@japhy That’s pretty much it. Of course you do have to build an audience first so people trust you. The IG jazz collector community is fairly small but very engaged, so most people know each other. If you have records for sale you post them and, yes, with a fixed price, although some people accept offers. It’s fairly easy and if I post popular titles, they often go within a matter of minutes. At this point I’ve build a base of regular customers there so I rarely post records for sale anymore but make my pitches directly to the buyers.

By: bill

bill — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 06:01:19 +0000

I love this discussion because I think everyone has a very valid point. I think there is no more “middle class” in Jazz records on eBay. No matter who you are, if you put up a 1568 in decent shape you’ll get a tremendous price, but a lesser title doesn’t have the same cache and won’t get as many eyeballs to the listing. I know this is painful, especially if it is from your personal collection and one that you paid good money for back in the seventies, eighties or nineties. I know I feel personally offended when one of these gems doesn’t sell, or even get many eyeballs to the listing. I’ve had a Japanese Kenny Barron / Tommy Flanagan NM up for months At $8!!! I feel like the curmudgeon hollering – What’s wrong with people these days?
As far as the big time sellers, they have thousands of followers who receive notices when they list new items and therefore get hundreds of hits on things that may be listed by other sellers, but won’t be viewed by these same buyers.
When I owned a store we had some titles that were our “bread and butter” go to pieces that would always sell. In Jazz they were mostly OJC re-issues and anything by Miles or Trane. Try selling used OJC reissues on eBay, there’s so much of it and it sits, even the Coltrane stuff. The market is like a fiddler’s elbow. Such is life.

By: David J

David J — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 04:34:16 +0000

Moldy figs were the generation of mostly critics that didn’t like developments in jazz after the hot Chicago and New York scenes. They didn’t like swing; they like trad stuff. I referred to myself that way because I’m complaining about contemporary events and lauding the good old days. I have no idea if it means motherfucker or not.

I’m pissed because I can’t get any interest in the good jazz (and some lesser condition ones) I have been trying to sell on ebay. I’ve been on ebay since just about the beginning (1998) and have sold thousands of records. I can’t sell anything these days. I attribute it to the fact that I only sell a few times per year to rid myself of duplicates and records to which I no longer listen. I don’t want to take the records to shows (other dealers just pick through things and offer 25% of whatever I have a disk priced) and I don’t want the stuff sitting in the garage waiting for Discogs buyers. After 21 years you’d think I could get some traffic, but my page counts are pathetically low. When I do get sales I get a tiny fraction of the prices of the sellers Clifford (and others) have mentioned. I put myself partially through grad school flipping records on ebay and now I can’t get a single bid on Larry Young Blue Note mono first press titles in vg++ for 1/4th of what people would kill to pay from the big boys.

Having written all that I cede the soapbox.

By: japhy

japhy — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 21:53:42 +0000

@DJ Pari (or others). Forgive me, but I’m an old fart. How do the Instagram sales work? You just list records on your profile for a fixed price? These are still records you mail out to buyers? I presume you have to build up an audience/customer base for that to work. If you’re selling fixed price, is the tradeoff over eBay that you need to be more realistic about the price you’ll ask, whereas on eBay you might get lucky and sell for way over average?