Potpourri: Rare Jazz Vinyl, Bill Evans Tributes

Time to catch up on a few items from our watch list on eBay, starting with John Coltrane, Soultrane, Prestige 7142. This was an original New Jersey yellow label that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. When first first looked at this on Jazz Collector, it had a start price of $200 with no bidders. In the end, it wound up selling for $618, which is pretty near the top price was Soultrane. I was pleased to see Rudolf’s comment on the last post because I wholeheartedly agree that this is my favorite of the Coltrane’s on Prestige. If we watch this space long enough, I’m pretty sure we’ll see the day when a mint copy of Soultrane ends up in the $1,000 bin.

The Sonny Clark record, Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588, which turns out not to have been an original pressingdidn’t get much action after we wrote our post, perhaps due to the observant eyes of our loyal readers. It wound up selling for $2,325, still higher than the original pressing from the Jazz Record Center that sold earlier, but not totally out of whack for a second pressing of Cool Struttin’. This one was from a few weeks back, but it was also sitting on my watch list: Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan, Peckin’ Time, Blue Note 1574. This looked to be an original pressing, with the record in M- condition and the cover probably VG++. The final price was $4,005.

A few Bill Evans notes before we go. My wife and daughter simultaneously sent me a link to this story called “Broken Time” from Believer Magazine. It uses the Bill Evans tune Nardis as an entry point into talking about Evans’ life and music. I think you’ll like it. Separately, The Lovely Mrs. JC and I were searching on Amazon Prime for movies to watch last night and came upon the documentary Bill Evans Time Remembered. Somehow, I missed this as it was making the film festival circuit, where it seems to have won a number of words, deservedly so. Terrific piece of work, affirming and terribly sad and poignant all at the time, pretty much like Evans’ music I would say. Definitely worth your time.

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10 comments

  • If I recall correctly there are at least two different color combinations for this lp cover. As I understand it the photo credits on the front appear in either black or white. I believe that black is considered the first, but white is much more rare. I believe that there are slight variations in the blue color on the cover, ranging from more greenish blue to a deeper blue. I have no idea how this relates to pressing order, if at all.

  • David, I bought mine upon its release. The black print for photo credits is original, the white is something of an oddity, not original, but rarer.
    The greenish/turquoise is original. The blueish or outright blue versions are later or even last prints. I have seen a blue version, unlaminated, with the blue trident labels inside.

  • So do all copies that have the photo credits in black an original? Is the one in the link original? Do color blind folks collect records?! So many questions!

  • Played “Soultrane” yesterday – motivated by Jazz Collector. My cover has the black print for photo credit and correct blue/green hue…But my Bergenfield Vinyl has “HIGH FDELITY” in upper case. One Contributer mentioned an absolute 1st vinyl pressing has lower case “”High Fidelity” on the label. So…am I to understand my Vinyl is a “2nd First pressing”? Comments welcome. Thanks.

  • Robert, I am afraid you drew the right conclusion. A second print of an original. So not an original first.

  • Rudolf, were you buying any Emarcy lps as they were being released at that time? I’m a big Clifford Brown fan but it’s almost surreal how many original copies have a hazy surface that range from inaudible to almost unbearable. Every time I’ve been able to ask the original owner if the surface was hazy when purchased they don’t remember. Judging by all your insightful observations here I would assume if you had bought one with a hazy surface you would’ve returned it as defective.
    Oddly for Blue Note only Grant Green Green Street shows up on Ebay periodically with a haze one side just like mine.

  • Woody: when I bought the Clifford Browns on EmArcy they were Dutch pressings by C.N. Rood in the Hague, who had the licence for the Dutch market.
    I have however one US pressing bought at that time, Sarah Vaughan with Clifford, probably because not issued by Rood. Deep groove drummer label, silver rim, blue print on the rear, an original . I checked, it is not hazy!

  • Woody, you write from inaudible to almost unbearable. I have many hazy copies, almost always one side only. This is part of the EmArcy folklore. Mine offer all a perfect listening experience, no interference in the sound. One can ask the question why this phenomenon occurs only at EmArcy, not the later Mercury issues, nor any other labels, as far as I know.
    In my opinion it is related to their production procees, pressing fluids, coating of their stampers? It is a guess, we will probably never know.

  • Rudolf, Thank you for your reply.
    In my search someone else has also suggested that it could’ve been a cold plate during production?? It’s interesting that you also noticed that it seems to be restricted to only the first EmArcy pressings 1954 – 1956/7 and not after.
    One of my other theories is the particular batch of glue used to adhere the laminate to the cover leached gases through the cardboard that reacted to the vinyl. The Emarcy Haze is most often present in a jacket where the laminate is lifting off the photo in circular reticulation looking areas unlike any other record label, Riverside, Prestige, etc. produced at that time.
    Like you said, we’ll probably never know.

  • I bought an original Emarcy Introducing Joe Gordon and it had the problem Woody speaks of. It sounded terrible.

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