Prestige | jazzcollector.com

Here Are Jazz Collectibles You Won’t See Every Day

October 25, 2016 Al 29 comments

Two of our regular readers, Clifford and Michael, separately sent me links to this rare jazz collectible, wondering if it was legitimate: John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse A-77, Test Pressing. Take a close look at it. Does it really say “Ken” Coltrane? Anyway, it looks legit to me. Unfortunately, it was only in VG condition and, of course, it didn’t have a cover. The final price was $300, which seems pretty reasonable to me for what I imagine is a pretty rare collectible.

One of our readers, Dave Sockel, recently was in touch with a relative of Duke Pearson and sent me a PDF of this very cool collectible — duke-pearson-session-book-1969-1970. It includes rehearsals, musicians and their fees, session dates, comments on the sessions and dozens of signatures from the various musicians, confirming their payments. Thanks to Dave for sharing and allowing me to post this on Jazz Collector.

Whither the 16-RPM Jazz LP?

October 17, 2016 Al 48 comments

Here are a few collectible rare jazz records we are following this week on eBay, starting with Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants, Prestige 3. This is the 16-RPM version of the record and it is, of course, an original pressing. The condition doesn’t look so great and the seller is asking for a starting price of $400 so it is not going to be of interest to me as a potential buyer, but I do have interest in the record as an oddity. Does anyone own this record and, if so, have you ever listened to it — indeed, do you have equipment to listen to it? Is the sound better, worse, the same as a 33-RPM record? And finally, does anyone have any idea why Prestige issued this record and several others in the 16-RPM format? Inquiring minds want to know.

Here are a couple more nice Prestiges from the Jazz Collector era:

DG, or Not DG

October 15, 2016 Al 9 comments

I’ve been off eBay for a few days and I would once again thank Clifford for filling in. It’s always great to see so much interest in his posts, particularly since he covers an area of the jazz collector world that is pretty foreign to me. Anyway, before I left I had a watch list on eBay, and here are some of the items I was watching, starting with: Herbie Hancock, Takin’ Off, Blue Note 4109. This one had a comment in the listing that caught my eye. It looks like an original pressing with the New York USA label, ears, Van Gelder in the deadwax, et al. The seller says that there is a deep groove on side 2. I had thought the pressings after around this era no longer had deep grooves, but apparently I was mistaken. I looked at my copy and there seems to be some kind of groove, although not nearly as pronounced as the one in the picture on this listing. I looked it up in Fred Cohen’s book and it does seem that an original pressing of Takin’ Off does have a deep groove on side 2. Anyway, it’s very hard to get all of the DGs straight, even, apparently, when you’ve been blogging about this stuff for nearly 10 years. Anyway, this one was probably in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $521.

Eric Dolphy in Europe, Volume 1, Prestige 7304. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New Jersey address. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover looked to be about VG+, based on the picture, with some ring wear and fraying at the bottom. The record sold for $344, about what you would expect, right? Read more

A Matter of Prestige?

September 30, 2016 Al 14 comments

Are we finally starting to see the Prestige records follow the same path as the Blue Notes? I’ve been quite surprised at the price of several Prestiges recently, including the Sonny Stitt record I mentioned last week and this one that sold yesterday on eBay: Bennie Green With Art Farmer, Prestige 7041. This was an original New York yellow label pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was excellent. Great pictures from the seller are always helpful in achieving high prices. Still, I wouldn’t have pegged this record to sell for $860, which was the final price. Careful readers may recall that I purchased an original copy of this record for 25 cents. It was sitting in the bargain bin at Mr. Cheapo’s record store in Mineola on Long Island. I typically never looked in the 25-cent bin because it was always junk. But this day I was looking to kill time and not go back to work and, voila, there was Bennie Green With Art Farmer. Now the condition was just VG for the record and VG for the cover. But it was literally a quarter, the same as the parking meter outside the store. Still have it. The record, not the quarter. Read more

Stitt and Braith and What is Collectible (and Why?)

September 23, 2016 Al 30 comments

Interesting discussion on the previous post about buying/selling records on eBay and dealing with returns. I haven’t sold on eBay in about six years, ever since my real business took off, but when I did I offered a full return policy and typically also included postage. I had a couple of people take advantage, but most transactions went very smoothly. Like Bill, I tended to under grade the records a bit just to avoid any problems. If I felt anyone was scamming me, or if they were returning records frivolously, I blocked them so they couldn’t bid on any more of my records. Anyway, back to business: Sonny Stitt, Stitt’s Bits, Prestige 7133. This was an original New York yellow label. It was listed in M- condition for the record and the cover, but it’s clear from the photos that the cover is not M-. This record sold for $405. I don’t recall too many of the Stitt records selling for this amount, and not this one. I’m a Stitt fan, but I know he’s never been popular among collectors, so what is the story here?

This one also fetched a relatively hefty price, all things considered: Read more

A Prestige Pair; a Bird Autograph?????!!!!!!!!!

September 12, 2016 Al 16 comments

We’ll start the week with a couple of nice Prestige records on eBay and then move on to a possible autograph (?) by Charlie Parker. First up is the Clifford Brown Memorial Album, Prestige 7055. This is an original New York yellow label pressing that looks to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The bidding starts at $155 and so far there has been no action. The auction closes in a bit more than two days. This has never been one of the Prestiges overly coveted by collectors, but I would still expect it to sell for a decent price, in the $300 or more range. We’ll see. Clifford is one of the greats, so it has always eluded me why collectors might be willing to pay a higher price for a Moondog Prestige versus a Clifford Brown. I guess it’s supply and demand, but you’d think the demand for a great Clifford record would be higher.

Back to Jazz Vinyl Reality

September 7, 2016 Al 29 comments

Sorry for the long delay between posts. The Lovely Mrs. JC and I took a much-needed vacation and I am just getting settled back in. Didn’t go too far, just to Provincetown on Cape Cod, but it felt like a million miles away. Anyway, I’m going to swing over to eBay now and see what may be of interest to me and, of course, to you loyal readers who keep the site going even whilst I’m away. So, thank you all.

Here’s one from near the top of my want list: Walter Davis Jr., Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing listed in Ex condition for both the record and the cover, which sounds like VG++ to my grading sensibilities and nomenclature. The bidding is in the $470 range with more than a day left, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price. Read more

Tracking a Trio of Jazz Vinyl Gems

August 22, 2016 Al 10 comments

Back to eBay: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing. The record was listed in VG condition and the cover was listed as VG+. The seller intimated that the record might be closer to VG+ than VG, but the pictures of the cover made it look like the cover was closer to VG than VG+, so if I were bidding I would have stuck with the VG. The final price was $1,390.

Tommy Flanagan, The Cats, New Jazz 8217. This was an original purple label deep groove pressing that was listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. This record, of course, features John Coltrane as a sideman. This copy sold for $410. This is one of those records that has really increased in value and demand during the time period (eight-plus years) we’ve been doing the Jazz Collector site on a regular basis.

Watching a Pair of Heavy Hitters

August 4, 2016 Al 2 comments

I’m back on eBay and have a couple of heavy hitters on my watch list, starting with Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swinging’, Blue Note 4024. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The seller has a start price of about $700. There are more than three days left on the auction and so far there are no bidders. I’m pretty sure this one will sell and perhaps even break into the $1,000 bin. I love this record. It’s a bit of an aberration for Blue Notes of the era because it is mostly standards and just one original. Not sure what Jackie was thinking at the time because none of his subsequent Blue Notes followed the same pattern. Maybe he just needed the cash? In any case, a great album, and one that I’ve never been able to acquire in this kind of condition. My own copy is kind of VG or VG+ and I’d love to upgrade. Someday, maybe, but not this week.

Prices Down? Methinks Not

July 27, 2016 Al 14 comments

I know this one has already been all over the previous post, but I wanted to get it into a headline and separate post so that it would come up in searches: John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This has the New York 23 label on one side, which makes it an original pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG++, with some writing on the back. There were nine bidders, 13 bids and the final price was $4,717.89.

Not sure who said that prices seem down on the previous post, but that’s certainly hasn’t been the case for the records I’ve been watching. Here are a couple of examples: Jackie Mclean, 4, 5 and 6, Prestige 7048. This was an original New York yellow label listed in VG++ condition for the record and Ex for the cover. It sold for $1,144.

And how about this one:

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