Tracking Rare Vinyl From the Jazz Record Center

Whilst we were away our friends at the Jazz Record Center had an interesting auction loaded with Blue Notes, including this one straight from my wish list: Sonny Red, Out of the Blue, Blue Note 4032. This was not only an original West 63^rdStreet pressing, but it had a stamp on the label that read: PROPERTY OF DONALD BYRD, which you would assume would make it straight from Donald Byrd’s personal collection, unless you are a conspiracy theorist and believe someone nefarious would go to the trouble of creating a PROPERTY OF DONALD BYRD stamp and press it on an original Blue Note record to try to hike the value. As for me, I would trust the provenance of this record and would probably pay more for an LP with this stamp, because it’s kind of cool knowing that Donald Byrd owned the record. In any case, however, I would not pay the $1,600 price that this one sold for, albeit in M- condition for both the record and the cover. I did own an M- copy of this record once, which I purchased for $5 at the old Titus Oaks record store in a former Wetson’s fast-food hamburger joint in Hicksville. But, alas, I traded it for a few records of far less value more than 30 years ago, and have never been able to replace Out of the Blue  at a price I was comfortable paying.

There were several surprises from the auction, including this one: Chet Baker, Chet, Riverside 299. This was an original deep groove pressing with the small labels, looking to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It features Bill Evans, which always increases the value, but I was still surprised to see it sell for $1,225. I noticed on one of my other posts that a reader had a nit to pick with me, regarding my ongoing sense of surprise at record prices going up when, in fact, they’ve been going up for as long as I’ve been doing the Jazz Collector site and, to be completely honest, well before that. The commenter definitely makes a good point. My astonishment at prices probably should have been tempered long ago, but, remember, I did start collecting in an era well before eBay, when you could go into a Titus Oaks record store and walk out with 20 original Blue Notes in M- condition, each priced at $5 — and with a 15% discount to boot because you purchased so many records. That did happen to me and the expression of glee on my face and joy to my core that I experienced walking out of that store still comes back just thinking about that particular day. In any case, based on Popsike, this version of Chet does represent the highest price paid for a copy of this record.

Here are a few more from the same auction:

Dizzy Reece, Blues in Trinity, Blue Note 4006. This was an original West 63^rdStreet pressing listed in Mint condition, not even with a “minus.” The final price was $1,784.

Charlies Mingus, Blues & Roots, Atlantic 1305. This was the original mono pressing with what JRC calls the “spiral labels,” which I have often seen referred to as the “bullseye labels.” Whichever label you choose to use, this one was also in Mint condition and sold for $510.

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, A Night in Tunisia, Blue Note 4049. This was an original West 63^rdStreet pressing, also in beautiful condition, described by JRC as “extraordinary.” The final price was $431, which might have been a surprise to me when I first started writing this post, but which no longer qualifies due to my newfound sense of enlightenment.