Prestiges, Esquires and Blue Notes, Oh My
Here’s another one of those cool Esquires with a cool cover: Sonny Rollins Quintet, Esquire 20-080. This is the original U.K. version of the Prestige record Moving Out (Prestige 7058). This one is in M- condition for both the record and the cover. There are two days left on the auction and the bidding is already close to $700. What I said in my previous post about getting a good deal on these Esquires? I only wrote it a week ago. Have times changed that quickly, or does it have to do with immaculate condition of this record? Or, perhaps, a little of both?
Meanwhile, it seems as if the bidding has barely begun on this original original Prestige: Jackie McLean, Jackie’s Pal, Prestige 7068. This looks like a beauty, graded M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. There seems to be shrink wrap, which would not have been the packaging medium when it was first introduced, but that wouldn’t scare me off at all. With more than three days left, the bidding is at just $45. I would expect it to increase markedly as we get close to the end of the auction.
By contrast, this one from the same seller is getting quite a bit more action: Jackie McLean and John Jenkins, Alto Madness, Prestige 7114. This one is listed in M- condition for the record and the cover, and it also seems to have a shrink wrap, although of the looser variety if the pictures are accurate. It also has a promo stamp. The bidding on this one is already over $300, a huge bargain at that price, but, of course, that will not be close to the final price, will it?
With all these Prestiges for the past two posts, where, you may ask, are the Blue Notes? Well, here’s Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and probably a notch below that for the cover. There were 10 bidders, 25 bids and the final price was $1,960. Is it possible to call at record that sells for nearly $2,000 a bargain? Perhaps in this instance. I would imagine the buyer is quite pleased.
This Blue Note is closing later today and there’s a lot of bidding action taking place: The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 2, Blue Note 5041. This is an original 10-inch pressing with the Lexington Avenue address. I believe I am on record, pun intended, as stating that this is one of my favorite Blue Note covers. This copy is in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The price is at about $280 with just a couple of hours left as I type this.
I would love to own a copy of the Bud Powell 10″ and was watching, but I was surprised to see it go as high as it did. The grading seemed a little generous by my estimation, with the ink smeared labels and edge wear/staining to the jacket. Also, the seller only accepted bank transfer as payment which would make for a tricky return if the buyer was unsatisfied. Hope it plays nice for them!!
those Esquires that the vinyl-house dude has are very, very clean. He also has some nice Dolphys and other items.
Vinyl-Hosue UK does some pretty intense restoration to covers, see: http://vinyl-house.tumblr.com/post/124413043995/restoration-out-of
Never seen a copy of that Rollins Esquire of the session with Dorham and Elmo before but I’ll bet it sounds great ! Some nice Statesides from the Bournmouth seller too, by the look of it.
Al: I am afraid we have got to put a few things straight……..
The 10″ Esquire you are referring to is the U.K. version of PrLp 186. Prestige was in a pictural mood in that period and Bob Parent made a wonderful picture of Sonny which came on the cover in silvery tones.
186 was re-issued on 12″ format (Moving Out # 7058), again with a lovely picture of Sonny, this time by Bob Weinstock himself.
7058 was issued in Britain by Esquire on # 32-155 under the “Movin’ Out, in the American vernacular, whereas the Prestige album has the title in the Queen’s English. The sketchy design is a sort of primitive spacecraft moving out into space, which reminds me of “Let’s get away from it all” on Prestige 16 rpm #2. But the helicopter on #2 is real.
Thank you Rudolf for setting the record straight. I must admit that the cover on the Esquire 10″ copy of Sonny Rollins is gorgeous and probably a big part of what makes that record so desirable.
The good news is there is a VG+/NM copy up for grabs on discogs for 250€, which is probably a 1/3 of what this copy will go for. Just leaving this here…
https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/418081560
Aaron, those restorations are amazing! And they don’t really seem to do anything but remove garbage. I would seriously considered looking them up if I was in the UK. Gorgeous.
Just a head’s up. I see Carolinasoul has another auction going on, and has something like 150 Blue Notes in their auction. I haven’t had a chance to look through them yet, but I wanted to give you all a notice. I already see a few non-Blue Notes that I am going to bid on.
Funny, that vinyl-house-uk seller did get a lot of bread for a few big ticket items, but a lot of nice LPs didn’t go for very much at all. The blues records didn’t really sell at $20, and those overseas Dolphys didn’t really do much damage either (except for a middling price Last Date). A free jazz classic, Marion Brown’s “Porto Novo” on UK Polydor, only went for $50. Go figure.
Clifford,
I mistakenly confused “porto novo” with “le temps fou” in my head and almost lost my mind at that low price. haha.
ha, yeah, different records entirely. Porto Novo is incredible though and probably better than Le Temps Fou at a tiny fraction of the price.
Carolinasoul has a copy of Overseas for sale. It looks to me like the cover is narrower on the bottom than it is on the top. If you look at the “C’s” printing, you can clearly see that the ones on the bottom have ink cut off that the ones on the top do not. Almost like the prior owner trimmed it (perhaps to remove edge wear). What do you think??
Terry, in my opinion that cover looks like it may have been constructed with the front slick slid down a little bit or off-centered. In being able to compare quite a few different copies of the same Blue Note, I have seen all kinds of minor differences including slicks aligned with minor shifts
I have to agree with A_B, terry. constructing those covers with the stickers and glue was almost entirely by hand back then, and plenty of nonsense made it to market.
TerryfromFlorida . The Over CCCCCC cover looks pretty legitimate to me. The CCCC on the bottom disappear because of the folding of the front slick. Standard procedure I would say.
A pity though that Carolinasoul does not show the rear of the sleeve.
That Flanagan record went for over 2200 bucks.
The Black Unity Trio LP sold for more at $2300!!?