There was enough potentially decent stuff in there to pique my interest and, if the collection were in reasonable driving distance, I probably would have made an offer. So I wrote back to the collector to ask a few more questions, and it turns out that the records are in Hilton Head, South Carolina. I did a quick Google search and we would be looking at about 16 hours from my home in The Berkshires, so I looked at the collection one more time and decided pretty quickly that it wasn’t THAT interesting.

I’ve had several emails back and forth with the collector, whose name is Sean, and it was very pleasant. I gave him the names of some dealers, I send out a note to a couple of our readers here who may be within closer driving distance but, as of my last correspondence, the collection was still for sale, so Sean said he would be pleased if I would put something up on Jazz Collector to see if anyone would be interested.

I just checked and Sean has put up his own site to sell the collection, so it looks like if you are interested, you can just contact him directly. And here is that link. Happy hunting and, if anyone here does wind up with the collection, please keep us all posted.

I’ve been waiting a few months to post this photo, sent to me by my friend Dan with the simple message: “Feb 4, 1958.” That was 60 years ago today, which also happened to be the occasion my fifth birthday. Quite a birthday tribute to me. We figured with Miles, Cannonball and Coltrane, it had to be a Milestones session and, thank you Internet, that is precisely what it is. If this picture doesn’t put a smile on your face, maybe you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

Here’s one more thing:

It looks like I may be moving in Manhattan in a few weeks and will have to reorganize my records once again. I have a really nice cabinet that probably won’t make the move with me. It holds about 1,500 records and a TV. Anybody interested, you can reach me at alatjazzcollector.com.

And, no, the records are not included. I know you’re eyeing those Impulses, admit it.

Imagine no longer. It is here, it is now and it is happening. For three weeks only.

Welcome to the one-time-only Jazz Collector Record Store.

This is the story:

In three weeks the lovely Mrs. JC and I are moving from our spacious home on Long Island to two locales, our lake house in The Berkshires and a much less spacious apartment in Manhattan. I plan to take as many records as possible with me, but I would like to divest of many records and other jazz collectibles before the moves as well.

I have 2,000 records in my basement for sale. These are mostly later pressings and reissues, but they will be moderately priced. For instance, I have about 50 Japanese and Liberty Blue Notes I will be selling for $10 each. I also have beautiful jazz posters and artwork, hundreds of jazz books, hundreds of jazz magazines, hundreds of CDs. Many are for sale.

Fine, but nothing to go nuts about, right?

I will also be willing to dip into my jazz vinyl collection. Deep into my collection, depending upon the records and the prices. How deep? I’ll consider selling major collectibles, such as an original Jutta Hipp on Blue Note, Kenny Dorham at the Café Bohemia on Blue Note, Sonny Criss on Imperial, Donald Byrd on Signature, Joe Henderson, Andrew Hill, Stanley Turrentine, Blue Notes all. I will not sell my Trane, Rollins, Dexter, Miles, Adderley, so don’t ask. But I may be willing sell some of my McLeans, Hubbards, Fullers or Mobleys. I will even sell my autographed 78 of Moody’s Mood for Love – but only to Don-Lucky because it has been promised to him.

Here are the conditions:

1. Do not expect bargains. I will sell records from my collection for prices slightly below what you will see on eBay or on the Jazz Collector Price Guide. The advantage is you get to see, touch and, if you want, listen to the record before purchase. There will also be many moderately priced collectibles.
2. Do not haggle. If you don’t like the price, don’t buy the record. If I tell you I won’t sell it, please put it back on the shelf.
3. In-person only. I’m not selling these records by mail. This sale is being conducted from my home, by appointment only. My house is quite easy to get to by car or train. Be polite and respectful, please.
4. No personal checks, no credit cards. Cash and Pay Pal only.

If you are anywhere around the New York area between now and July 14 I strongly suggest you make an appointment. Jason, this would be worth a trip from Massachusetts. Don-Lucky, this might be a time to plan that long-promised trip to New York. Any collectors or dealers from Japan, if you’re in New York, this will be worthwhile. I have thousands of great jazz records and I’m in a mood to cut back. I don’t need the money, it’s just psychological: I want to downsize my life. Once I get settled in my new homes, I imagine my mood will change and I’ll regret selling every single record I sold.

One more warning: There will be a challenge finding dates to fit people in: Because I’m moving, I may not be around a lot the next couple of weekends, but during the week the appointment book will often be clear.

You can e-mail me at the usual place, al(at)jazzcollector.com to make an appointment, or you can call my home office, 516 467-4276. Good luck and I hope to see some of you soon.  For those of you who can’t make it in person, I will be happy to provide updates on Jazz Collector.

Dexter Gordon, Dexter Calling, Blue Note 4083. This is an original pressing. It’s not in mint condition and some idiot stamped his name a few times on the back cover but, like a lot of these Blue Notes, it sounds so much better than it looks.

This is one of those blues records. I have no idea if this is a collectible, but it seems pretty rare, is clearly an original and I couldn’t find even a single copy on popsike. Perhaps someone in the audience will know: The Perry Bradford Story, Crispus-Attucks Records. This is not only unplayed, it is autographed as well. It’ll be interesting to hear if there is a story behind this record.

There are two things to note about this return to selling records:

1. On the Jazz Collector site there is a heading at the top for “Items For Sale.” For nearly a year, it’s been the same bunch of records I’ve had parked there. Now, there will be no items worth viewing, so this can be a section of the site to regularly look at once again.
2. Remember that idea of having a “store” in my basement, with all of my thousands of records to sell? Well, I’m finally ready. If any Jazz Collector reader is in town, or is local, and would like to make an appointment, the Jazz Collector “store” is open for business. You can contact me at al(at)jazzcollector.com.

Here’s the method to this madness. First off, I wanted to thank everyone for their good wishes and keeping the site going while I was away. Second, eBay has changed its pricing policy for anyone who is running a store on the site. It’s interesting the way they do things, because I received this very nice email congratulating me because they were reducing prices and upgrading my store listings. It turns out that this was, as you might expect, a bit of a

red herring. Actually, they are increasing the price, pretty dramatically, for my store listings. I have a basic store, usually with about 100 items, and it has been costing me three cents a month for each listing. Under the new scheme, the cost of listing each item in the store is now 20 cents a month. How eBay thought this was a price decrease for me is a logic beyond my understanding. In any case, the new rates go into effect on March 30, so I figured this would be a good time to reduce the inventory and give everyone an opportunity to find some bargains. I had to create a storewide sale on eBay to facilitate this process. I think it actually goes into effect at 11 a.m. Eastern today, which is about a half hour from the time I am posting this item. The sale will last a week and after that I will probably pull the items off the online shelves and replace them with new items. If you’re interested in any of these items, good luck.

He also, apparently, had tapes that were never issued in any format — and we’ve discovered one of them here. Not only that, but it’s quite a legendary performance by a legendary group of artists: Max Roach with Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham, recorded Dec. 12, 1956 at the Cafe Bohemia just seven months after the tragic accident that claimed the lives of Clifford Brown and Richie Powell.

This is the story: One of our friends and faithful Jazz Collector readers visited with the guy who had the tapes back in the 1970s and made a copy, on a reel-to-reel tape, of two

tracks that were recorded on this evening by the group, which also included Ray Bryant and George Morrow. The tracks are: Daahoud and I Feel a Song Coming On. They are pretty amazing, particularly I Feel a Song Coming On, which was a highlight of the LP Sonny Rollins Plus Four, Prestige 7038. Anyway, our friend is now making this music widely available for the first time. If you’re interested, you can purchase the music at a Website he set up at www.norgran.com. It’s hard to believe that URL was available, right? Anyway, we have no financial stake in this, we’re just publicizing it because we would like our friends at Jazz Collector to have access to this great music. If you do purchase it, let us know what you think of the music by commenting on this post.

Dorothy Ashby and Frank Wess, In A Minor Groove, New Jazz 8209. We saw a copy of this sell for about $150 a few weeks ago and figured we’d give ours a shot.  So far this one has no bids at $30 with just a few hours to go. If it doesn’t sell, we’ll be happy to keep it: We were quite ambivalent about selling it in the first place.  There aren’t that many jazz harp LPs to begin with, and this is a good one.

Thelonious Monk, Monk’s Moods, Prestige 7159. This one is similar to the Early Miles LP we also have up on eBay now. It’s an early reissue of classic music, with nice packaging and it’s part of the early yellow-label Prestige catalogue. As we had mentioned last week,

we once had the goal of owning the entire catalogue of Yellow Prestiges, or at least those in the 7000 and 7100 series, but we gave up on that, thank goodness, in a rare moment of sanity. In any case, we have the earlier original pressing of this and we are hoping to sell this copy to someone looking for the music or someone still seeking the fantasy of Prestige catalogue completion. After you look at these, please take a look at our other auctions this week: We have a lot of items and many of them seem to be selling for quite reasonable prices at this stage.

Archie Shepp, Four For Trane, Impulse 71. This is an original orange label pressing in nice VG+ condition. It is closing later today and is currently at $40.  Also from the same batch is this:

Yusef Lateef, Jazz ‘Round the World, Impulse 56. This is also an original mono pressing with the orange label. This one is in VG++ condition and is currently at about $25. I knew a knowledgeable collector about 20 years ago who predicted that one day the Impulses would have the same cachet — and the same value — as the Blue Notes and Prestiges. With three or four notable exceptions — John Coltrane with Duke, Coltrane Ballads, A Love Supreme, Oliver Nelson Blues and the Abstract Truth — that prophesy hasn’t come close to coming true. Perhaps someday in the future, but I wouldn’t bet too heavily on it: Although the packaging on the Impulses is great, as is the music (generally), as are the recordings, generally by Rudy Van Gelder. So it’s hard to go wrong, isn’t it?