Lexingon Avenue, to West 63rd, To St. Louis

Let’s look at various items sitting in my watch list for various reasons, starting with The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume One, Blue Note 1505. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was probably in VG+ condition and the cover was probably VG+ as well, based on the pictures. The final price was $610. I flagged this one because my recollection was that this record wasn’t among the Blue Notes you would expect to see in the $1,000 bin, being a pre Van Gelder Blue Note that was a compilation of music originally issued on 78-RPM or on 10-inch vinyl. I wasn’t surprised to see the $600 price tag because nothing would surprise me these days and because, hey, it’s an original Lexington Avenue Blue Note, and just holding one of these in your hands is a thrill. Not to mention the presence of Clifford Brown and Charles Mingus, among others, on the record. I did check in with Popsike and discovered that The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume One has, indeed, had a presence in the $1,000 bin, selling for more than $1,500 back in 2010, well before the most recent market spike. Read more

Red, Trane and More Moose the Mooche (This Time With Trane)

The inbox isn’t empty and, in fact, there was a pleasant surprise to share, but I will save it to the end because . . . well, you’ll see. Anyway, this time we will start with our friend Japhy, under the subject “A new garland for Red!” with a link to: Red Garland, A Garland of Red, Prestige 7064. This was an original New York label. The record was in VG+ condition, the cover was only VG. The final price was $1,375. I will give Japhy the honor of putting this into perspective: “Hi Al. Wanna keep goin’ with the crazy? Here’s a new all-time high for a Red Garland (as a leader) record: $1,375 for A Garland of Red. According to Popsike, that’s $375 more than the prior leader, All Morning Long, which sold for $1k back in 2012. The prior high for this particular side was $760 in 2011.” Read more

Giant Steps, Impulse and Moose the Mooche

Let’s take a look at the Jazz Collector inbox, starting with one of our favorite provocateurs,  CeeDee. This one came in under the subject Trane Reigns! John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This was an original black label pressing listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $1,604. It look me a long time, but I’m glad I finally got my black label Giant Steps a few years ago, prior to the current shift in the market where, it seems, anything goes and most things are going up. Looking back, it was 2016 when I made that particular score, which I wrote about in this post: A New Year’s Adventure in Jazz Collecting. It was interesting getting this link from CeeDee, because I have been in a Coltrane head lately, starting with a comment from my friend Dan about Mal2, followed by another comment from Dan about Cattin’ With Coltrane and Quinichette, followed by an evening listing to, in order, Blue Train and A Love Supreme, followed by the purchase of the new release A Love Supreme Live in Seattle. At this point, I have only listened to Side One of the new Love Supreme. Once I’ve listened to the whole thing, I’ll have more to say. I will note that I could listen to Coltrane all day, every day, never get bored and always hear something new.   Read more

Familiar Names and Titles for The $1,000 Bin

Catching up on some more jazz vinyl auctions on eBay, starting with Tommy Flanagan, The Cats, New Jazz 8217. This was an original purple label mono deep groove pressing. The record features John Coltrane among others. The record and cover were listed in M- condition, although the picture of the bag cover is clearly not M-, and is probably just VG+.  The final price was $1,675. Based on Popsike, that is the highest price we’ve seen for The Cats, possibly more than double the previous high.

Whilst we are perusing the $1,000 bin: Duke Jordan, Flight to Jordan, Blue Note 4046. This was an original West 63rdStreet pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The final price was $1,514.89. This one had a start price of about $5,000 but did not sell: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing. The record was listed as M-, but the cover was VG-. It is back on eBay for the same start price. Read more

Just a Few Jazz Records

Lots of interesting jazz vinyl to drool over on eBay right now. Let’s start with Hank Mobley Sextet, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This is an original West 63rd Street deep-groove pressing listed in EX condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The bidding is already over $2,000 with nearly two days left on the auction, as of this writing. The seller is vinyl-house-uk and they have a load of great original pressings for auction this week, including a lot of nice Blue Notes. Here’s one more: Introducing Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1523. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing that is listed in EX/EX+ condition (whatever that is) for both the record and the cover. The bidding is around $1,250. Read more

Vinyl Madness

I did a bit of a double take when I saw this record sell on eBay: Thad Jones, Mad Thad, Period SPL 1208. The reason for the double take was I remember owning this record but do not remember seeing it in my collection for many years. Sure enough, I perused the shelves and I apparently do not own this record any more. Do I have any idea what happened to it? Well, have some idea: I sold it. When, why, to whom, I have no idea. My guess is that the copy I had was in poor condition and I was weeding out some records from the collection. Or it could go all the way back to 1990, when I sold a large batch of records in order to buy a boat. Careful readers know the story: I sold the records, bought the boat and there was a hurricane and the boat sank. Vinyl karma? Anyway, I do not have a copy of Mad Thad. This would have been a nice one to own. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG. The final price was $940. This is the second highest price for this record, according to Popsike. Whenever I did sell my copy, you can rest assured I didn’t get anything close to that price. Read more

Explorations in the Jazz Collector Stratosphere

Time to clear out the watch list, starting with The Arrival of Kenny Dorham, Jaro, JAM 5007. This was an original mono pressing with the blue label and deep grooves. The record and cover were both listed in EX+ condition. The final price was about $1,248. From what I can see on Popsike, this is a new high for this record, beating the pervious top tag of $1,050. Speaking of new highs, I had to do a double-take on this one: Get Happy With Freddie Redd Trio With Guests, Nixa Jazz Today Series, NJL 19. We wrote about that a few weeks ago and the post received 59 comments (and counting). At the time of the writing the bidding was in the $460 range and there was some speculation that would end up in the $1,000 bin. How about the $4,000 bin, as in $4,377. Read more

In the Mailbox: Yikes, Yowzas & George Benson’s Collection

Got a few emails from our friend CeeDee, starting with The Booker Ervin Quintette, Cookin’, Savoy 12154. This looks like a red label, but it’s not clear. Some of the photos look red, some look maroon. Not sure this record had deep grooves, but there are none in the picture. This copy was in Ex condition for the record and the cover and sold for about $558. The previous high for this record was $175, according to Popsike. Read more

Ramblings, Records and Rancor, Oh My

In my real life I’ve been writing what we call an “eBook” for a client. Basically, it’s a long term paper of about 5,000 words. The topic is climate change and, if you want to get really depressed, read the latest report from the United Nations. Anyway, I share this because being buried in work has left little time for the important things in life, like Jazz Collector and, lo and behold, in my absence there are 55 comments, and counting, on the latest post. Surely, they can’t all be about getting happy with Freddie Redd and Jazz Collector, so I am curious about what is going on to inspire such interest and, perhaps, inspiration. So, pardon me while I catch up. Hmmm, now I see that there was a personal, and in my view entirely unfounded attack on Clifford from a new commenter named Gohoos81, who has since apologized and rambled to the point where I am having trouble deciphering whether this was a real diatribe or an attempt to spam the site. Whatever. I see there has been enough pushback without me having to waste more time worrying about it. But Gohoos81, if you are still here, you may find that there are other sites where the community is more welcoming of your rancor and bluster, but you don’t seem to have a very welcoming audience here, including your usually amenable host. Read more

Get Happy with Freddie Redd and Jazz Collector

You would think that someone collecting jazz records for more than 50 years, as I have, and who had been obsessed with finding a clean copy of Shades of Redd, as I have, would have known about the following record, as I have not (until now): Get Happy With Freddie Redd Trio With Guests, Nixa Jazz Today Series, NJL.19. Not only have I been unfamiliar with this title, I am also unfamiliar with the label. So, excuse me for a moment, while I look at the record and do a search. A quick perusal tells me this is a Metronome Recording, Made in England and, as described on the label, is an “unauthorized public performance.” The trio is Freddie Redd, Tommy Potter and Joe Harris and the guests are Rolf Ericson and Benny Bailey. Based on the liner notes I would place the record in the late 1950s, maybe 1958 or 1959? Now to Popsike, Google and beyond. Read more

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