Updating the Jazz Vinyl Price Guide
I’ve been spending the entire morning catching up on the Jazz Collector Price Guide and, if time allows, this weekend I will make a lot of additions and finally take the database to more than 5,000 records. Quite impressive, if you ask me, since I’ve logged every one of those by myself, by hand, typing in each entry one by one. Here are some of the recent items that will be added and I hope to do another post before the end of the year with some of the older items I may have missed during the past few months.
Brew Moore in Europe, Debut 127. This is the original Danish pressing, quite hard to find. The record was in VG++ condition and the cover was M-. The price was $373.
Here Comes Louis Smith, Blue Note 1584. This is one of those where you had to look carefully at the listing. The record is listed in Ex+/N- condition and the cover as Ex. The picture shows that the cover has tape all around it, so if I were grading the best I’d give it is a VG-. It would also make me wary about the condition of the vinyl, if the seller considers this cover as excellent. Potential buyers had some of the same concerns, it seems. The record sold for $495.
Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1543. This looks to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing — the last of the original Lexingtons, right? — and it seemed to be in VG+ condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It has the Andy Warhol cover and it sold for $1,135.
Lee Morgan Sextet, Blue Note 1541. This is also a Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was was described as VG++ condition and the cover looked VG minus — or worse — based on the pictures. This one sold for $677. I have a feeling there will be a disappointed buyer at that price at that condition.
Here’s a later Blue Note: Larry Young, Unity, Blue Note 4221. This was an original New York USA mono pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover as VG+. The price was $357.99.
5000! Very impressive indeed! And, maybe a bit frustrating too, considering the changes in the market. What is true today, isn’t necessarily tomorrow, witness Silver’s Song for my Father. All dogmas with respect to Silver need to be revised. I thought Silver was out of grace with the Blue Note flock, but apparently not.
Thank you Rudolf. One of the features of the Jazz Collector Price Guide is that you can actually search the items by the date they were entered. If you click on “View the Complete List Price Guide” you can actually sort the list by a number of categories, including the date in which each item was entered.
Always thought that Debut/Fantasy record had one of the weirdest covers ever.
I mean, Lars Gullin and Brew look like they are pasted on and what in the world is Sahib Shihab’s head doing in a bucket?
And the black attire makes them look like clergymen.
The seller of the Lee Morgan Sextet describes a raised edge. Fred Cohen’s book says a genuine 1st pressing must have a flat edge. So I won’t indeed be surprised if the buyer is disappointed. And the Louis Smith seller shoots a crystal clear front cover photo, but posts an incredibly out of focus and hazy label. Besides the fact that I’m not willing to pay so much myself; even if I had the dough, I most certainly wouldn’t bid on such badly advertised material.
Last but not least, Al: my comments always show up as “your comment is awaiting moderation” before they get published. It sometimes makes my comments look outdated or ‘after the fact’, since they sometimes appear long after I made them. You think you can do something about that? 😉
Thank you so much for your work and congratulations for the impressive Price guide.
I was wondering abou the Louis Smith Record. Jazzrecordsscene seemed to be a honrable seller. How come, that the description of the cover as EX is…nonsense. At best! What does that tell me as a buyer for buying records through their shop?
Any time I see the words “no skips on my turntable” it raises a little red flag in my mind, you know?
I find it interesting that out of 197 listings, the seller of the Lee Morgan lp sold about 5. Pretty poor percentage.
And it look s like Jeff Barr of Jazzrecordscene is trying to squeeze out every dime he can these days.
Like you say Al, tape on an lp cover makes the grade much lower. VG- or less in my opinion.
I like it that my comment is awaiting moderation. I envision a table in a room somewhere with a panal of moderators, all serious in appearance and somber in manner, evaluating the merits of my words.
Hmmm..sounds like a jazzy version of The Star Chamber! Al,as long as you’re dispensing justice,how about taking on the field of Republican presidential candidates? Time to trim the herd-ugh!
Re: Lee Morgan.
A look through the seller’s negative feedback reveals that this record had been sold once before with negative. The seller doesn’t appear to take feedback very well.