Tracking Jazz Vinyl To The Ends of The Earth . . . . . . (And Perhaps Beyond)
Back in action again. Working out of my apartment this week in Manhattan. There’s a construction project next door, so I’m sitting here with headphones to block out the noise. Right now it’s Bill Evans “I Loves You Porgy.” There are worse ways to work. Now, on to eBay, starting with Here Comes Frank Foster, Blue Note 5043. This is an original 10-inch pressing with the Lexington label. The seller misspells the name as “Forster.” Can’t imagine that would affect searches, but you never know. This one is listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The starting price is about $300 and so far there are no bidders with more than three days left. I imagine, in this condition, this record will get some decent action. I have seen Japanese reissues of this record, but was it ever issued on Blue Note in the U.S. on a 12-inch LP? Same with the Dizzy Gillespie Blue Note, Horn of Plenty. I don’t recall seeing that on a 12-inch LP. Any other Blue Notes in a similar category? I can’t think of any off the top of my head, although I’m sure there are more.
This is another nice one that doesn’t have any action yet: Sonny Criss, Go Man, Imperial 9020. This looks to be an original pressing. The seller lists in in VG++ condition, but based on the descriptions it looks more like VG+ to me. The start price is $200 with more than a day left on the auction.
This one has a lot of action and a real high price, yet it still may not sell: Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. According to the seller this copy is not only in M- condition, it has to be, and I quote, “the finest on planet earth.” The bidding is close to $1,700 with four days left, but it has not reached the seller’s reserve price, although it probably will get more action as it nears the end. Despite the platitudes, I will keep searching for another copy, even if I must travel to Mars.
Couple of Sun Ra on Transitions too by some well known sellers:
bullsite2000 – $2,225.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUN-RA-JAZZ-BY-SUN-RA-TRANSITION-TRLP-10-US-ORIGINAL-1956-W-BOOKLET-FLAT-/151875968404?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=K1Csq3Q6tftJI%252BT5vHr3DvVSMVg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
Atomic Records – $1,814.10
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUN-RA-Jazz-By-Sun-Ra-ORIGINAL-TRANSITION-LP-w-Booklet-SUPERB-/391313347252?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=K1Csq3Q6tftJI%252BT5vHr3DvVSMVg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
Re: the Morgan, I don’t know which is funnier to me: NM+++ as a grade or a “kabuki” cover (I mean, there is a lot of drama in jazz, but it’s a little different)…
you’re right Al, almost half of the Blue Note 10″ catalogue wasn’t published on 12″ at the time. I may be wrong but I think the following are true originals.
5005-5006 James Moody
5007-5008-5014-5015-5016 Erroll Garner
5010 new sounds (Moody, Blakey etc)
5017 Dizzy Gillespie
5019 Swinging Swedes-Cool Britons
5020-5033-5054-5063 Gil Melle
5023 Kenny Drew
5025 Wynton Kelly
5029 Elmo Hope
5031 Wade Legge
5035 Sal Salvador
5036 Urbie Green
5042 Tal Farlow
5043 Frank Foster
5044 Elmo Hope
5045 George Wallington
5052 Cool Britons
5053-5064 Julius Watkins
5056 Jutta Hipp
5059-5060 Leonard Feather
5061 Fats Sadi
5066 Hank Mobley ?
5067 Lou Mecca
The “Horn of plenty” Blue Note 10″ by Dizzy Gillespie was recorded in France .Here are the details:
Dizzy Gillespie Jazz Ensemble
Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet, vocals) Don Byas (tenor saxophone) Arnold Ross (piano) Joe Benjamin (bass) Bill Clark (drums) Umberto Canto (congas)
Studio Jouvenet, Paris, France, March 27, 1952
52V4210-1 | BN2003 Hurry Home Vogue (F) V 5130, LD 077; Blue Note 1614, BLP 5017; Vogue (F) LD 496-30; Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89
52V4210-2 Hurry Home (alt. take) Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89
As you may see there are several 12″ LP issues on european labels
52V4211-1 Afro-Paris (incomplete) –
52V4211-2 Afro-Paris (alt. take) –
52V4211-3 | BN2004 Afro-Paris Vogue (F) V 5129, LD 077; Blue Note 1614, BLP 5017; Mode (F) CMDINT 9841; Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89
52V4212-1 | BN2008 Say Eh! Vogue (F) V 5130, LD 132; Blue Note 1615; Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89
52V4212-2 Say Eh! (alt. take) Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89
52V4213 I Cover The Waterfront Vogue (F) V 5129, LD 077, LD 496-30; Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89
* Vogue (F) LD 496-30 Dizzy Gillespie – Dizzy: 10eme Anniversaire Des Disques Vogue, Vol. 8
= GNP Crescendo GNP 9028 Dizzy Gillespie – Dizzy!
* Jazz Legacy (F) JL 89 Dizzy Gillespie – Havin’ A Good Time In Paris, Vol. 1: Jazz Legacy 39
* Mode (F) CMDINT 9841 Various Artists – Les Grands Jazzmen Jouent Paris
* Vogue (F) LD 077 Dizzy Gillespie – Paris, March 27/April 11, 1952
* Blue Note BLP 5017 Dizzy Gillespie – Horn Of Plenty
* Vogue (F) LD 132 Dizzy Gillespie – Jazz Time Paris, Vol. 1
* Vogue (F) V 5130 Dizzy Gillespie – Hurry Home / Say Eh!
* Blue Note 1614 Dizzy Gillespie – Hurry Home / Afro-Paris
* Vogue (F) V 5129 Dizzy Gillespie – Afro-Paris / I Cover The Waterfront
* Blue Note 1615 Dizzy Gillespie – Everything Happens To Me / Say Eh!
Al: I did a study on the subject of 10″ sessions getting lost in the transition to 12″, a great part of which was devoted to Blue Note. LondonJazzCollector was kind enough to publish it: see under gallery on the opening page, andscroll down to Oct. 11, 2015 “The transition from 10″ to 12″ LP and the lost recordings.”
The Frank Foster is one of those lost sessions.
P.S. 23 lost 10″ sessions out of a total of 70 ten inchers issued by Blue Note, after deducting 10 inchers of re-issued 78 rpm material and of leased material from European labels such as Vogue, Metronome and some of U.K. origin. For détails of “lost” Blue Note sessions, see appendix one of my study. Other labels covered: Prestige, Riverside, Pacific Jazz, Contemporary, Nocturne, Kenton Présents Jazz.
As Giovanni pointed out, the Vogue session of Dizzy, leased out to Blue Note, was later re-issued by Vogue in their 12″ series. Blue Note for their 12″ program had no control anymore of leased sessions, therefore I took them out when analyzing the really “lost” sessions.
About eight years ago I sold on eBay a copy of “Indeed” that was indeed flawless and unplayed. It came from a unique source: the unplayed store stock accumulated by a drummer who, since the WW II era, had made a living playing along with records at venues ranging from USO shows to senior citizen centers. Stored in his three-storey tenement home were — no exaggeration — nearly 50,000 78’s in their original shipping boxes, 3,000 LPs (10- and 12-inch; roughly 20% jazz) , plus antique music boxes, assorted ephemera, and even a console AM radio/wire recorder/turntable on which one could record directly from radio to wire. My two partners and I got first pick of the LPs and did very, very well when we brought them to auction. Plus each of us made sigificant additions to our respective collections. “Indeed” — unplayed and pristine in terms of record and frame jacket — ended up on my shelves (next to another, not-quite-as-fine original), as did museum-quality copies of “Saxophone Collosus,” “J.R. Monterose” (BN), Mobley’s Prestige 1st and 2nd “Messages”, “Cool Struttin’,” assorted Norgrans, Clefs and Verves, Riversides, and dozens of 10″ Blue Notes (including the Foster and, with booklet, Dorham’s “Afro-Cuban”) and other beauties.
Back to the Morgan: I auctioned my personal copy on eBay. It sold for the then-and-now princely sum of $2,700 to a renowned NYC-based collector and erstwhile historian of Blue Notes. He told me that he already owned more than one “perfect” copy of the LP, but that equally fine gakubushi frame jackets had, to that point, eluded him.
Buyer and seller were satisfied.
The Lee Morgan sold for $7,786.00. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a jazz LP sell for nearly this much.
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