Random Rare (And Not So Rare) Jazz Vinyl
Back on eBay and here are a few that caught my eye: Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights Volume 1, Blue Note 1596. This is an original West 63rd Street, deep-groove pressing and, of course, it has the Andy Warhol cover. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover is VG++. The bidding closes in about a day and the price is at $405. The seller is one of my favorite record stores, Round Again Records in Providence, RI. My son went to undergraduate and grad school at Brown, so I used to visit the store quite often and always had a nice conversation with the owner Steve, and always walked away with a few nice records. It’s been a while – Michael finished grad school in 2010 – so it’s nice to see that Steve is still buying and selling records and finding those occasional lovely Blue Note scores. Makes me think about taking a drive over there. Hey, it’s only a couple of hours. One of these days.
From the same auction, there is The Magnificent Thad Jones, Blue Note 1527. This is an original Lexington Avenue deep groove pressing. The record looks to be in nice condition, except for a flaw in the pressing that causes some issues. I hate those, don’t you? The cover is listed in VG+ condition. The bidding is at about $150. I was quite fortunate to acquire a mint original copy of this record when I purchased the Bruce M. West collection in Baltimore. Hard to believe that was eight years ago.
I saw this on eBay and had to flag it: “Signed Charlie Parker Quintet LP Self-Titled Jazztone 1240 Stan Getz.” I’m assuming the signature purports to be Bird. The first suspicion is the red felt marker. They didn’t make those back in the day, did they? Of course, there is also the fact that the record was released in 1956 and Bird died in 1955. Giving the seller the benefit of the doubt and assuming he doesn’t know anything, whoever attempted this forgery could have done just a little bit more research, don’t you think? The starting bid for this record is $1,399. Without the autograph, based on the condition, my assessment of the actual value of the record would be in the Blutarsky-esque range of zero point zero.
Since it is obviously fake, I’m too lazy to Google it, but does the “Bird signature” even look like a Bird signature?
Also, not to disparage a beloved shop, but the grading on the Burrell cover looks pretty generous to me.
no, it does not look like his signature. This is a hilarious auction.
Yes, clearly VG+ at best. To be fair, I did mischaracterize the listing, where it says VG+ to VG++. But, as GTF observes, that small water stain takes it out of VG++ in my book.
I’ve been looking for years to purchase a very good condition Kenny Burrell “Blue Lights Volume ” BN1597 deep-groove pressing – I know they’re incredibly rare. If anyone has one they’d like to sell, or knows of one, please let me know! Best to all, Todd Levin
The “autograph” is not that of Charlie P , it looks more like Donald Trump’s scrawl ,LOL.
I don’t think anyone meant to fake Charlie’s sig. It doesn’t even look like it says Charlie or Parker. I think it was just an early owner of the record put his name on the LP. I know when I was young and before I knew better, I put my name on my records. Of course, it was just my last name printed very small in the bottom right corner of the back. I know some people that lived in dorms or other places where friends might have shared their collections, it was a way to make sure it got back to you. Anyway, I have LONG since known as we all do, it’s a no-no. I think the owner just wrote his ugly red name to identify the record being his and probably, someone found this at a garage sale and thought they hit gold. Pretty hilarious
Do you accept guest posts by fellow musicians? 🙂
Back in the day, when I was living Chi-town way, there were lots’o d.j.’s spinning in club sets, parties, etc. And all these cats, and me too cuz I spun a bit here and there, would put their names on their lps. To prevent them from “walking off.” And there were great names too, like ‘Raindrop,’ and ‘Daddio Daylie’ and such.
And that’s all this signature probably is, as Jeff Little said. A signifier of possession and possessor.
Jeff: that is a shockingly lucid thought. I can’t believe none of us seem to have considered that.
I have been viewing this site for years, but this is my first comment. The note from Lennib about “Raindrop” brought back memories to me of shopping for Jazz LPs in Chicago in the period 1977-1983 when I lived there. If I am recalling correctly, Raindrop also had a small store with a counter at the from and then all of the records for sale in the back behind the counter. It took several visits and chatting with him to be allowed the opportunity to go behind the counter and look for records. There were lots of cats back there as I recall and cat food bowls on the floor that you had to step around. I know I have a couple of records in my collection with “Raindrop” on the back.
Aleah. Wish I was a fellow musician. If you have an idea for a post send it to me at alatjazzcollectordotcom.
the autograph on the back of the Charlie Parker is not fake. It’s Max Roach. Max Roach signed very small in cursive in the 50s and 60s. Here are a few pictures of Max Roach’s autograph I own acquired in the 80s or after (you can see the signatures vary in length quite a bit). https://imgur.com/a/TlSIHWT