Category: $1000 Records

What’s Happening With Jazz Vinyl?

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So, I lost the auction for The Unique Thelonious Monk. No big deal. The bigger revelation was the prices on some of the other records on the Jazz  Record Center auction. Having been off eBay for a few months dealing with other things in life, I wasn’t prepared for what I considered to be a fairly drastic change in the market. Or perhaps this has been going on for a while and I hadn’t noticed? Or perhaps this is just an aberration based on the reputation of the Jazz Record Center? Or just one or two sellers with lots of money to spend?  Let me share with you some of the biggest surprises that I encountered, starting with The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, Riverside 1169. This was an original stereo pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $787.22. Per Popsike, this is the highest price ever recorded for any copy of this record. But a stereo copy? Read more

Back in Action??????? Really????????

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Well, what do you know? I felt like going on eBay today. It’s kind of a bleak, rainy day here in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, I’m caught up on my work, taped my radio show yesterday (Roy Haynes, Memorial, Part 2), and I’m sitting at my computer and thinking to myself, man, you haven’t been on eBay in a long, long time. Months, I would guess. If any of you regular readers are still out there, what have I been missing? Here’s what I’m seeing today

Not a good start as I pore through some of the higher priced jazz vinyl. The first is Walter Davis Jr., Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This is an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. Great record. I, for one, have never owned an original pressing of this record, but I did purchase a United Artists copy from my old friend Red Carraro for $10 back in the 1970s or 1980s. I still have it. This copy on eBay looks totally beat. The seller didn’t have the nerve to describe the condition. But he did have the nerve to put a price of $1,500 on the record. Read more

Catching Up on Some Rare Jazz Vinyl

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Here are a few jazz vinyl auctions we are watching from The Jazz Record Center. All of these auctions close later today. Clifford Brown Memorial Album, Blue Note 1526. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing with the frame cover. Record is listed as in “near new” condition and the cover is probably M- or VG++, depending how you feel about superficial “dings.” Bidding is at $500.  On one of my Horace Silver radio shows/podcasts I tell the story of how Alfred Lion and Art Blakey drove down to Wilmington, Del., to hear Clifford Brown for the first time and brought him back to New York to record those legendary Blue Note records at Birdland. Great stuff. Read more

Another Jazz Vinyl Perusal

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As you can probably tell, I no longer peruse eBay with the same vigor and excitement as I have done in the past, particularly when I was buying or selling jazz vinyl with any regularity, which I have not done for a quite a long time. But I still like to peruse and write about my perusals, so here we go with another live edition of Al perusing rare jazz vinyl on eBay. My normal course of action involves looking at current auctions, starting with highest prices first. Right at the top are three records I have seen before doing this, none of which has sold at the prices asked by the dealers. These are: Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is an original pressing listed in “excellent” condition for the record and the cover. The start price is $3,500. Chet Baker Sings, Pacific Jazz 11. There is no condition listed for this 10-inch record. Cover looks to be about VG+. Starting price is $1,800. Not a serious seller, IMHO. And from the same seller as Lee Morgan Candy, we have Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. This looks to be an original red label pressing, also listed in “excellent” condition for the record and the cover. The start price is $1,500. I’ve been watching these records for a long time on eBay and the fact that there are no bidders at the starting price doesn’t seem to dissuade or discourage the sellers. Read more

More Jazz Records, More Record Prices

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Back to perusing rare jazz vinyl on eBay. Last I looked, I had a bunch of items on my watch list from The Jazz Record Center. They’ve had at least two other auctions of rare jazz vinyl since then, so let’s do a fairly comprehensive overview of some of the more interesting and/or expensive items. We’ll start with Miles, the New Miles Davis Quintet, Prestige 7014. This was an original New York yellow label with the green cover. The record was listed in “new condition, with a high luster” and the cover was listed in “extraordinary” condition. Sounds like it was as it was sitting on a record store shelf in 1956. This one sold for $2,155. Is that a new high? Let’s head over to Popsike and . . . yes it is, by a lot, nearly $1,000 more than the previous high. Condition counts. See below. Read more

Record Record Prices for the Record

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I should get that $12,600 copy of Blue Train on the record, pardon the pun: John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This was an original pressing with the New York 23 label on Side One and the West 63rd Street label on Side Two. It was sold by our friends at the Jazz Record Center in New York. The record looked to be in M- condition. There were nine bidders, 24 bids and in the final hour or so the bidding went from $4,300 to the final price of $12,600. Wow. I think this is the highest price I’ve ever seen for a jazz record. Does anyone recall anything that sold for a higher price. Whilst perusing the Jazz Record Center complete listings, I came upon several other high-ticket items that will be of interest to our Jazz Collector community, including: Read more

$1,000 Jazz Vinyl (And Not)

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Back in action. Let’s do another live tour of random rare jazz vinyl now listed on eBay. Let’s start right at the top: Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing. The seller grades it in “Ex” condition. Seller only has a rating of 95.7 on eBay across more than 8,000 listings, but when you read the feedback it seems to be overwhelmingly positive. If I were bidding, I probably would not be concerned, but I will not be bidding. Even though I sold my original pressing of Candy more than 30 years ago and have since been unable to replace it, the starting price of $3,500 for this copy would be way, way, way out of my comfort zone. So far there are no bidsThe same seller also has Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. This is an original pressing with the deep red label. The record and cover are listed in “Ex” condition and the start price is $1,500. So far there are no bids. Read more

Catching Up on Some High-End Blue Note Vinyl

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Time to follow up on some of the jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay, starting with Duke Jordan, Flight to Jordan, Blue Note 4046. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing offered by the Jazz Record Center. It looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. When we spotted this there were four days left in the auction and the bidding was at $1,600. The final price was $2,753. Still a market for the high-end stuff from reputable sellers, right? From the same auction there was Sheila Jordan, Portrait of Sheila, Blue Note 9002. This was an original New York USA pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $306. Keeping up with the Jordans, I guess. Read more

Live From eBay, One More Time

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I really enjoyed doing that “live” eBay search last week, so let’s try it again. I’m heading over the eBay now. Searching on Jazz Vinyl Records sorted by highest prices first and auctions only. Here we go. Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing from a reputable seller. The record is graded as a “solid VG” and the cover is probably VG++. Looks like a nice copy, although there are some tics in the playback, as described by the seller. The start price is $2,000 and there are no bidders with more than four days left on the auction. Read more

Watching High-Ticket Jazz Vinyl on eBay

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I hopped on eBay last week and put a few rare items in my queue, starting with this one: Don Pullen and Milford Graves in Concert at Yale University. This one doesn’t have a label and has a hand painted jacket. The seller was our friends at Carolina Soul and they graded the vinyl in VG+ condition and the cover in VG++ condition. The main reason I put the record on my watch list was the price, which was already above $6,000 at the time. I wasn’t the only one to notice, obviously, but I did get the following note from our friend Daryl, who wrote the following: “Carolina Soul – what is this album? Will it fetch this dollars from a music (plus cover) perspective? Will it top the $9,000-plus sale from December 2022 as found at Gripsweat? We’ve written about that one before, Free Jazz (And More) at a Price. Per Clifford on that earlier post, no more than 100 copies of this record were produced. Anyway, based on the picture, this doesn’t look like the same record that got the $9,000-plus price. This one sold for “only” $6,100. Read more

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