Four Jazz Classics, and Nary a Blue Note

Art Farmer copyAnd now for some more jazz vinyl from our eBay watch list, starting with Art Farmer Quintet, Prestige  7017. This is an original yellow label pressing with the New York address. The record and cover are both listed in VG+ condition. The price is only at $88 with less than a day left on the auction. Someone may be in line for a bargain (and a great record). In the same vein, and from the same seller, there is Art Farmer and Gigi Gryce, When Farmer Met Gryce, Prestige 7085. This is also an original New York pressing, listed in Ex condition for the record and the cover. Based on the seller’s descriptions, it looks like Ex is a higher grade than VG+. This one is at a bit more than $200.

While we’re on Prestiges, there is:

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Why a Monk?

Thelonious Monk 10-inch Jazz VinylThanks to Lennib for spotting this one: Thelonious Monk Plays, Prestige 189. This was an original 10-inch pressing, listed among the very nice 10-inch records we mentioned the other day. This one was also very nice, probably in M- condition for both the record and the cover. Even in this condition, the price was quite a surprise, selling for $1,136.11. That has to be the highest price we’ve seen for a 10-inch Prestige and, frankly, there’s no explanation we can come up with, other than the likely reality that two people really, really wanted this record and the bid the bidding up. From what we can see, the other records in this batch sold for prices that you would typically expect, given the titles and condition, including:

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A Classic and a Collectible (and a few More)

Warne copyWas watching another copy of John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This was also an original pressing with the New York 23 label on one side. There was a copy of this last week with a VG cover that sold for $1,666. This one was in better shape — VG+ for the cover and either VG+ or VG++ for the record, depending upon how much you trust the seller’s description. This one sold for $2,318. As opposed to my headline for the Ellington at Newport record mentioned earlier, this one is a classic and a collectible. And it’s value as a collectible seems to keep on rising.

The same seller had this one, which you don’t see too often: Warne Marsh, Jazz of Two Cities, Imperial 9027. This was an original pressing in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $208.14. I’ve owned a reissue of this record for many years, but can’t remember ever putting it on the turntable. Maybe tonight.

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A Classic, But Is It A Collectible?

Ellington copyFollowing up on the latest auction from the Jazz Record Center, starting with Duke Ellington at Newport, Columbia 934. This was an original mono six-eye pressing. The record itself was sealed — in those days Columbia had a sealable inner sleeve. So the record was unplayed and the cover was M-. The price was $227.50. This is quite an important record in the history of jazz, capturing the concert that helped to revitalize Ellington’s career, but I’ve never known it to be particularly collectible. I’ve had original pressings at record shows and haven’t been able to sell them, even for $20. I’m not sure how much the market has changed for this record, although in certain circumstances, such as this one, clearly it can now sell for collectible prices. There was a previous copy that once sold for about $127, but the seller was bobdjukic so I’ve always assumed that was an aberration.

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Le Jazz Vinyl Et Plus

Barney Wilen Jazz VinylI thought I’d have more to say about the death or Ornette Coleman, but I really don’t. I am not an expert on his music and was never really a fan, although I typically liked what I heard, at least from his early years. So I’m going to go back to what I normally do here, which is watch records on eBay, starting with a pair of French records from a French seller: Barney Wilen, Tilt, Swing 30.058. This is an original pressing from 1957. It is listed in VG+ condition for the record and M- for the cover. The price is in the $400 range with less than two days left, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price. Nice cover, but don’t know the record. Readers? Another one that is quite rare, but unfamiliar to my ears:

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. . . And Four More Classic Jazz LPs

Kenny Dorham Jazz Vinyl copyCatching up on some more jazz vinyl sales we missed recently, including Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This was an original New York yellow label pressing, that was in probably VG++ or M- condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $1,980.55. The same seller had a bunch of other nice records, such as Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was an original pressing with the purple label and deep grooves. The record was probably VG+ or VG++ and the cover was M-. The price was $1,136. One more while we’re at it:

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A Brief Adventure

Monk Jazz VinylI had another one of those fortunate coincidences yesterday that sometimes seem to cause some sort of envy around here, but which I shall share nonetheless. So I am up at my home in The Berkshires, and The Lovely Mrs. JC works in Manhattan and sometimes she takes the train up and I meet her at the station in Hudson, N.Y., about an hour from our home. And yesterday she was arriving at 6:30 but I decided to leave a bit early because there is a major construction project along the way and I didn’t want to be delayed, anxious to see her and all that. But there was no traffic and I made it to Hudson with about 15 minutes to spare and I know that there’s a record store in Hudson and as I was driving past it I figured, OK, if I can find a parking spot in front, I’ll go in. And there, of course, was a spot right in front, so it was no hassle. Now, I’ve been to this store several times before and I have never purchased anything. They have come vintage jazz and their prices are fair, but they aren’t bargain prices by any means. Except . . .  Read more

Watching Some All Star Jazz Vinyl

essen copyHere’s a nice one that I don’t recall seeing in the past: The Essen Jazz Festival All Stars, Debut 131. This record features Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke. I’ve always known this by the Fantasy issue in the U.S., which, if I recall, was colored vinyl in the original pressing. This looks to be the original Dutch Debut pressing, which was in stereo? Not familiar with it, although it is somewhat surprising that stereo would be the original release in 1960. Anyway, I like this cover a lot better than the U.S. cover. This copy is listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover and has a start price of $400 with nearly six days left on the auction.

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Kind of Blues & The Abstract Truth

Miles Davis Jazz Vinyyl copyLet’s catch up on some rare jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay, starting with Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Columbia 1355. This was an interesting one because it looked to be an original first pressing and the record had never been played. When this album was first issued, Columbia used a plastic inner sleeve that had a seal. I know that from a couple of albums I purchased in the Baltimore collection. On this particular copy of Kind of Blue, the seal had never been broken. The cover also looked to be quite pristine and was graded in M- condition. The record wound up selling for $510, a fairly hefty price for the highest selling jazz record of all time. The question is, what will the buyer do with the record? Will he/she open it and play it, thus potentially lowering the value? Or will he/she put it on the shelf for posterity and listen to a different copy of the record, which is so readily available?

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Two for The $1,000 Bin, Plus Two More

Mobley copyBack in business, back on eBay, back to posting more regularly. First let’s catch up on some of the items we had been watching, starting with Hank Mobley Sextet, Blue Note 1560. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The seller had described the record as Ex and the cover as VG++, but it was clear from the pictures that the condition was less than VG++. At the time we first posted this record, the start price was around $500 and there were no bids. In the end there were four bidders, six bids and a final price of $1,075. I’m sure the seller was quite pleased. Hopefully, the buyer was as well.

Bill Evans, Explorations, Riverside 351. This was an original mono pressing with the blue label, deep grooves and reels/microphone logo. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG+ and the final price was $504.90. It looks like this record, and a few others we were watching, were purchased by one of our readers, so congratulations. Here’s another one of his scores: Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This was an original yellow label pressing with the New York address. The record and cover were both listed in M- condition, and the pictures accompanying the listing certainly made it look quite pristine. The final price on this one was $1,037.99. Welcome to the $1,000 bin.

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