Catching Up on Some Rare Jazz Vinyl

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

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

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

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)

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

Jazz Vinyl for the New Year

Let’s close out the year with another real-time excursion through eBay, with a search of some of the higher priced jazz vinyl on auction now. It’s off to hunt we go. Here’s a new listing: Freddie Hubbard, Hub Cap, Blue Note 4073. This is an original West 63rd street pressing, one of the last of the West 63rd Blue Notes. This one is graded in VG+ condition for the record. The seller has a bunch of pictures of the cover. My grade would be VG based on the pictures. There is nearly a week left in the auction and the start price is $500, with no bidders so far.

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The Artificial Intelligence Version of JazzCollector.com

Have any of you tried ChatGPT for artificial intelligence? I have been using it for a work project, and it’s been a pretty fascinating experience. I can see that the type of work of been doing for the past 16 years, basically writing about the convergence of business and technology, will likely be almost completely taken over by AI within the next few years.  I am using ChatGPT 4, which is the most sophisticated version. I am bringing that up because my system stopped responding for a few minutes this morning, so to get it restarted, I typed in a topic I know quite a bit about: Jazz Collector. I asked two questions: What can you tell me about JazzCollector.com? Who is the main person responsible for JazzCollector.com. The response came back in less than one minute. I thought you might all be interested, below. BTW, the picture accompanying this article has nothing to do with the article. Just thought I’d post a picture of one of my favorite covers, so as not to mess up the format. Anyway, here’s what artificial intelligence has to say about Jazz Collector and me: Read more

Catching Up on Some High-End Blue Note Vinyl

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

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

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