We’re Back: Another Adventure in Jazz Collecting

So yesterday I was in my apartment in New York and I had 45 minutes to kill and I decided to put on a classic Blue Note record I hadn’t listened to in a while, if ever. I went through the collection and stopped at Johnny Griffin, A Blowing Session, Blue Note 1559, and I put the record on the turntable and it is quite an interesting record, with early Coltrane and lots of up-tempo material, particularly The Way You Look Tonight. And one other interesting thing is the presence of Art Blakey in the rhythm section, who has an ability to make every session sound like one of his own, with that perpetually driving beat and heavy accents. And I’m listening to the record, and I’m looking at the cover, and I’m reading the liner notes and I’m thinking to myself: Where and when did I get this record? And therein lies a story.

It is a story I was actually saving for my Jazz Collector Book, whenever I get around to writing one, but since the book is not yet in the computer and the story is in my head, I will tell it here, in several parts, and hope to have yet another story to tell when I eventually do sit down to write that book, which may be soon or may be never. This is a story that starts in September of 2011 and, as with many of my stories here at Jazz Collector, it begins with a simple inquiry that arrives in my e-mail. And the inquiry goes exactly like this:

I have recently inherited a huge collection of jazz albums from the 1950’s and 1960’s. They are in excellent condition with artists such as sonny stitt, hodges sonny clark (an excellent condition “cool struttin”, lou donaldson, sonny rollins, johnny griffin and the list goes on and on. I have about 200 albums. Many were bought in England and South africa. I know that they have value but how do I find out what their worth is.

Off course I am quite intrigued by this inquiry as it mentions many jazz artists who have great interest to me and it even mentions the record “Cool Struttin,” which is a record that I once owned in very poor condition and a record that I have been seeking for many years in good condition to add to my collection. Not to mention it is a record of significant value, often selling for more than $3,000 for a single copy on eBay.

Through the years, however, I have learned not to get too excited with inquiries such as these because invariably there will be some kind of complication or snafu that will make it impossible for me to obtain these records at a price that would be compatible either my wallet or my sensibilities, or, in many cases, both. So, in this instance, I decided to be as helpful as possible, answer the question directly and not even offer a hint of my own personal interest in the collection of records, which, I can admit now, was quite considerable. This was my reply:

Best way to find out the value is to go through my Web site and find out if you have original pressings. You can search the record, such as Cool Struttin’ to find out if it is an original pressing. If it is, and it’s in good condition, then it is worth quite a lot of money. For original Blue Note recordings, there’s an excellent book by Fred Cohen at the Jazz Record Center, describing in detail what makes a record an original. Once you get a sense of the value, the best way to sell the records usually is through eBay: That’s where you maximize the value. If you sell them as a whole, you won’t get top dollar, but you will probably get a fair price if you go to a reputable dealer, and you can get rid of the records quickly. Happy to provide more help if you need it. Where are you located? – al

What happened next? Stay tuned for Part 2.