Sonnys Crib, No Deep Groove, At What Price?

Lots of focus on Blue Note this week. Sometimes, that’s just the way things break. Here’s one of interest, closing soon: Sonny Clark, Sonny’s Crib, Blue Note 1576. This, of course, is one of the hot ones, featuring John Coltrane. This one has the West 63rd Street address, is mono and seems to be in pristine condition. Yet . . . it is not a deep-groove pressing. So, what’s it worth? The seller has a buy-it-now price of $1,000 — or you can make an offer — and there are two hours to go, so it seems unlikely that he will get his asking price. If this was a deep-groove copy in this condition, at $1,000 it would have been gobbled up long ago. Without the deep groove, all bets are off. Isn’t it interesting how specific the market has become. One of our loyal readers commented on another post about a John Jenkins Blue Note he purchased from us, probably for around $15 o $20. It was a United Artists mono pressing and he is quite pleased and getting a lot of joy out of it. And he didn’t need to get a second mortgage on his home.

No Summer Slump Yet: Lots Of $1,000 Records

We have quite a large number of items to add to the $1,000 and even $2,000 bins on this beautiful Monday morning in sunny New York. If there is a summer lull in prices on eBay, it hasn’t much made a dent in the prices of some of the high-end collectibles, such as these:

Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1550. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in beautiful M- condition, for both the record and cover. It was also sold by the seller Roverd-90, who had the Johnny Griffin the other day and also had a few others, such as the Lee Morgan Candy I’ll cover below. Quite a nice week for Mr. Roverd-90. This record sold for $1,825.

As mentioned, Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is one of the rarest of the rare and was in beautiful M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $1,900.

We had pointed out the Jazz Record Center’s auction of Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This one was listed as mint condition — not even mint minus and we had predicted that it would sell for at least $2,000 and perhaps as much as $3,000. We were right the first time: This one fetched a price

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Et Tu, Johnny Griffin?

Here’s an interesting newcomer to the $1,000 bin: Johnny Griffin, Volume One, Blue Note 1559. This is a great record and, as a rare Blue Note with a great roster of artists, it is not surprising that this would sell for a high price tag. This particular copy, in M- condition for both the record and the cover, sold for $1,380. What was interesting to me about this record was the way in which the seller chose to list it. He listed it as “Blue Note 1559 Lee Morgan Hank Mobley.” He also purchased a subhead, which mentioned the presence of John Coltrane as a sideman. Notice how the seller never even mentioned Johnny Griffin, who was the leader on the date.

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A Few Blue Notes on Ebay For You

I took a week off from posting records on eBay. It was quite refreshing, to be honest. But I’m back with this week, slowly, with a few items, including a few Blue Notes. Among the items worth noting:

Grachan Moncur III, Evolution, Blue Note 4153. This is a mono New York USA pressing and it’s in very nice condition, particularly the vinyl which may have been unplayed until I put it on the turntable to try it. You’ll probably see this item popping up on the top of many listing pages when you do a search for jazz records. It costs about $25 for this feature on eBay and I use it once in a while when I have a nice record. I do it mainly so more people will open it and perhaps pay us a visit here at Jazz Collector. I’m not sure if it helps to drive a better price for the record itself, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Freddie Hubbard, Ready for Freddie, Blue Note 4085. This is also a mono New York USA pressing with vinyl that’s in

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A Couple of Nice 10-Inch LPs For The Price Guide

Just catching up on some recent interesting eBay sales to add to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Here’s a nice 10-inch Blue Note: Lou Donaldson, New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5021. This was in VG+ condition, both the record and the cover. The price was $339. I love these old records with titles like “New Faces, New Sounds” or “Introducing.” They really put the timing of the release of the records in a nice context. This one also has a great cover.

Here’s another 10-incher from the same era with a great cover and a great title: Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows For LP, Prestige 166. This is another title that really dates itself: The concept that

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More 78s Anyone?

In my last post, I’d mentioned the autographed Andy Warhol cover that may or may not still be available. Another inquiry that came into my email box came from a guy who has 17 Blue Note 78s: Nine of these are 10-inch and eight are 12-inch. No bebop among them, but there are a couple of Ike Quebec’s, plus Sidney Bechet, James P. Johnson, Art Hodes, T-Bone Walker, Albert Ammons and the Port of Harlem Seven. I get the sense he’d love to sell them all in one batch. If there are any Blue Note 78 collectors out there, just let me know and I’ll put you in touch with him.

For the Price Guide: A Blue Note Batch & A Prestige

Here are a few more big-ticket items we’ve been watching. All of these will be entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide as soon as we get a chance.

Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New Jersey address. The record and cover both seemed to be in VG+ condition. The price was $599.95.

Walter Davis, Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in M- condition. It sold for $790.

Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This too was an original pressing and it was in M- condition, both the record and the cover. The price was $636.  This was actually surprisingly low — we’ve seen this record sell for more than $1,000 several times, and reach as high as $1,590 for a record that  was not in M- condition.

Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The

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A Term New To Us: “Kakubushi Frames”

Every so often I come upon an album or a term that is new to me. Here’s one on an item I’d been watching on eBay. The item was: Kenny Dorham, Round Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Blue Note 1524. The seller listed the album as having “kakubushi frames” in the cover. I pulled out my copy from my shelf (that’s the one pictured at right) and I still can’t figure out what the term “kakubushi frames” is referring to. I’m hoping someone out there can help. By the way, my copy is a nice original pressing with the flat edge and Lexington Avenue address. It’s only in VG condition, but sounds quite nice. I imagine it also has the “kakubshi frames” since it is an original. The one I was watching on eBay was in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG for the cover. It sold for $695.

One For the $2,000 Bin & One For The $1,000 Bin

We were watching a couple of new items that have crossed the four-figure plateau on eBay. They are:

Jutta Hipp, Blue Note 1530. This is the one featuring Zoot Sims. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The seller did a very good job of presenting it, with nice, clear, close-up pictures. It was listed in VG++ condition, for both the record and the cover. It sold for $2,030.

Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was an original pressing with the purple label and the deep groove. It looked to be in nice shape: The record was listed as M- and the cover looked like it was VG+, based on the pictures. The price was $1,225.

Blue Note Album Cover Art: The Winner Is . . . .

Okay, it’s finally time to announce the winner of our most recent giveaway contest for the book: Blue Note The Album Cover Art. As previously mentioned, this is a 128-book of album cover art from the Blue Note catalogue, first published in 1991 by Chronicle Books. It features page after page of classic Blue Note covers from the 1950s and 1960s, featuring many of the great designs by Reid Miles and photos by Francis Wolff. The book also includes a foreward by Horace Silver. We announced a couple of weeks ago we would be giving away a free copy of this book to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector. The criteria for being eligible to win the book were simple: All you had to do was comment on a post on the site, any post. Since we announced the contest, there have been 12 different individuals who have commented on the site and are thus eligible to win the book. They are:

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