Lee Morgan, Right Off the Shelf (Sort Of)
Let’s start this lovely Friday morning with a lovely Blue Note: Lee Morgan Sextet, Blue Note 1541. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing in M- condition for the record and VG for the cover. There are more than two days left in the auction and the price is in the $725 range, on it’s way to . . . somewhere in the $1,000 bin. This was one of the first Blue Note records I ever bought back in the early 1970s when I started collecting. I bought it at Sam Goody’s, right off the shelf. Unfortunately, what was on the shelf in those days was a Liberty pressing with reprocessed stereo. In all the years since, I still haven’t been able to upgrade my copy, which I still own. But one of these days . . . .
We did a post a few weeks ago about collectible records by female musicians (not singers) and, if I recall, this one topped the list: Lorraine Geller at the Piano, Dot 3174. This is an original deep groove pressing in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The price is in the $100 range with just more than a day left. We have seen this sell for as much as $1,580 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.
Just look how clean those labels and the spindle hole are on that Lee Morgan… Phew.
–
If you scroll down on that eBay page, you can see that the seller of the Lee Morgan included an audio file, but from listening to that snippet we quickly find out why he should stick to selling records, ’cause whatever he used to ‘rip’ the audio was set to ‘extremely loud and distorted’… 😉
I have a NM 1541 DG lex, scored it in a record shop in Nice, France from an ignorant seller. Paid 15 €. I thought the guy would change his mind to the last moment, but he actually did not. Paid and run out of the shop as fast as i could…
Lorraine Geller on Dot is a record i dream about…Far from my financial surface, to say the least. Never found it at bargain price, not even from the Nice ignorant seller 🙁 🙂
I have some Lee Morgan original 1st pressings, but not this. It’s a great album. Can’t wait to add it to the collection. That cover of the one for sale on eBay seems pretty allright to me. Seen a lot worse VG covers for sure. Michel: when did you buy the Morgan for 15 Euros?
Bought it in 1998 or 1999 for 100 francs. Browse my site, you should find it. Many pages !
Ref. Lee Morgan BLP now onauction: what strikes me is the apparent absence of the frame (kakubushi) on the front cover. My copy has a very clear and obvious frame.
You are right Rudolf. True first press 1541 was flat edge and kakubuchi
Talk about score Michel. Good job. I tend to buy stuff from contacts at top dollar prices most of the time. It’s truly hard to find premium collectibles in stores, although I have a couple in Stockholm that are really good, in which you can find top stuff, but these sellers now what they are doing, so it’s never cheap. Always nice quality though. I recently became a member of the Record Collectors Guild, and I’m doing a poll there, “How much have you spent on one record”. Most all have not spent more than a few hundred dollars, and a couple have spent thousands. It seems a lot of collectors are not buying expensive high-end stuff. At least not members of the Guild. I guess these eBay prices on display here on this site at least shows that there are many people who spend huge amounts on the most sought after collectibles, just like me. I wonder who these people are. Are there some other 37 year old guy with 2 small children like me or are everyone a middle aged CEO’s of a large company to cough up that kind of cash I wonder. I would be extremely interesting if we can have a poll here at Jazz Collector just like the one I have on the Guild site. I wonder if it would be a different result.
I think 90 % of the huge price bidders or buyers are japanese. When i was a frequent buyer, i remember a famous seller in Paris telling me that most of the high end stuff he had was fot the Japanese.
@Fredrik
first answer – yes, there is another 37 year old (actually 38 now) with two kids – it is me 🙂
I have been selling jazz (and classical) records on ebay for couple of years now and I can confirm that most >500$ gems go to Japan. From the brief conversations I had with those buyers, there is a mix of passionate collectors and investors, diverse age (always very pleasant communication).
By the way, do you know any vinyl store in Gothenburh you would recommend? I go there on business once per month staying mostly in Gothia Towers. I found a store close to the hotel “Pennies in heaven” where I bought some nice european pressings (although not very collectible).
Yep, I’ve heard the same thing about the japanese a few times. That a lot of stuff goes there. Hard to find places in Japan that actually sells abroad. I’ve got some sources that are willing to ship abroad, but a lot of them don’t. gandi: I live in Stockholm and I only know stores here. I have no clue about stores in Gothenburg. Where do you live?
Al, love your “right off the shelf” comment. I remember Rose Records in Chicago on Wabash Avenue, where on the second floor they had all these cutouts and I would buy Jazz lps right out of the bins, Blue Notes, Riverside, all mostly sealed, poly bag and usually less than $2.00. Of course not stone originals, but who knew that then and really as a teenager, who cared. Just diggin’ the music.
Michel: out of curiosity I asked the seller of the Lee Morgan what he meant by “the original inner sleeve” in which the record is housed.
Well, his reply was “the usual inner with the pictures of other albums from the Blue Note catalogue”.
We all know, of course, that the pictures on inners came in the early sixties (25 years of Blue Note). The original inners are difficult to describe, somesort of transparent white.
Conclusion: no kakubushi, no white plain inner, maybe no flat edge.
Rudolf, i’m 90 % sure that this 1541 has no flat edge – i’d say it is a second press from 1957 or so. I’ve checked my (now infamous) 15 € copy, – stored for years – and it has not 🙁 Fine record anyway but not a 100 % original.
Fredrik : i’ve been in Tokyo 10 years ago and i remember plenty of record shop. Hard to find them, because often hidden in little narrow streets or big buildings. And yes, plenty of Blue Notes and other good old friends. And yes, big prices (out of my league, for sure) and very courteous sellers. Nothing to compare with our french bulldogs.
I’ll be in Osaka next autumn, and will see if i can find other shops, just for the fun. I can’t even imagine i’ll be able to pick out a NM Fickle Sonance + Page One… Except if i starve my daughter for some long winter months…:-)
Fredrik, I live in Cologne at present but travel a lot visitng my customers (eg Volvo in Gothenburg). Even though it is difficult to score collectible records in record stores, I like visitng them whenever I am abroad as they always have their specific atmosphere and local records I would probably never look for on ebay…