The Musings of Me

Just yesterday morning I finished writing a book that I have been co-ghost writing along with my business partner, Mike. It is nothing too exciting and has nothing to do with jazz, unless you could somehow make a connection between cybersecurity and jazz, which I could not do, nor would I ever want to do. I was thinking, perhaps, that working somewhat diligently on the book was both a reason and an excuse for my recent absence from Jazz Collector and my paucity of posts over the past couple of months. Perhaps that is partly true but, of course, it is not the whole story. Sometimes when you are writing intently and intensely for work, the idea of writing for fun becomes less appealing.

However, I also think our hobbies are an escape, and sometimes we need them more than others. There are some days when I wake up and want to spend hours listening to or reorganizing my records. Then there are days when I look at the records and ask myself what the hell am I doing with 8,000 records, most of which I will never have time or interest in putting on the turntable. Yes, I know each of you would like a personal phone call on those days and would be happy to take the burden off my hands, but that’s for another time.

All of which is to say that I am writing a post now, and hope that I will find the inspiration to write them more frequently now that the book project is out of the way. I probably went three weeks without even looking at eBay once, but then I took a peek last week when I realized I had better write another post soon, lest you all think something bad happened to me.

The first things that caught my eye were a group of 10-inch LPs from the Jazz Record Center, starting with Art Pepper Quartet, Discovery 3019. This was an original pressing that looked to be in VG++ or M- condition for the record and the cover. I’m glad to see that they listed the record as having low-level surface noise as typical for Discovery LPs, because many, many years ago I sold my copy to a friend for $30 or $40 because it not only had surface noise, but it had several skips and scratches as well. This copy was not that one and it sold for $520.

From that same auction came the Horace Silver Quintet, Blue Note 5062. This was an original Lexington Avenue 10-inch LP featuring Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey. A classic for sure. The record and cover looked to be in VG++ condition and the final price was $224.50, which seems relatively low to me, all things considered. This one seemed low too: Lester Young, Nat Cole and Red Callendar Trio, Aladdin 705. This looked to be in VG++ condition for the record and probably M- for the cover. The final price was $293.

Following the 10-inch LPs that caught my eye, there were a couple of those cool Esquire Prestige pressings that I never really saw before there was eBay, with me being here in the States and focusing on the original U.S. pressings. The first of these was The Musings of Miles, Esquire 32-012. What an awesome cover, IMHO. And it’s such a great record, Miles in a quartet setting with an amazing rhythm section. Perhaps if I had been paying more attention, this record would be here in my home.  It looked to be in VG+ condition for the record and VG+ for the sleeve. The final price was about $107.

The other one I was watching  was Sonny Rollins Quintet, Esquire 20-080. This one looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The start price was about $195 and there were no bidders. This is a 10-inch LP from the Movin’ Out session. According to Popsike the ask price would have been a high-water mark for this LP, so it seems to be in a reasonable ballpark for a future acquisition by me, particularly on one of those days when the adrenaline is flowing and the urge to acquire is back in full force. Maybe even tomorrow. Who knows?