Price Updates: Trane, Friedman, Blue Notes

Here’s a new one for the $1,000 bin: John Coltrane, Coltrane, Prestige 7105. This was an original pressing with the New York address. It is Coltrane’s first date as a leader, but it’s still surprising to see this one pass the $1,000 mark. This one was in M- condition for the vinyl and near-M- (?) condition for the cover. The price was $1,077.65.

This one almost made the $1,000 bin: Horace Parlan, Us Three, Blue Note 4037. The record and the cover both looked to be in VG++ condition. The price was $912.

I didn’t realize this one had such cachet as a collectible: Don Friedman, Circle Waltz, Riverside 431. The vinyl was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $255.

This one falls into the same category: When did it become a $200-range record?

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Finding a Rare Lee Konitz, Right On My Own Shelf

I have many hundreds of records I’m hoping to sell and on rare occasions someone may come to the house to peruse them. I don’t necessarily encourage this, but if I know you from Jazz Collector I’m generally OK with it. Anyway, the other night I had one of our readers come over and it turns out he was an alto player who was associated with the Lenny Tristano school and had played with Sal Mosca, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Billy Bauer and others. He went through the records I was selling and didn’t find anything he liked and asked if I had an 78s I’d be willing to sell. I do have more than 1,000 78s and I have been willing to pare this down and among the more than 1,000 78s I happen to have about 100 Prestiges in mint, unplayed condition. I purchased these Prestiges on

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For the $2,000 Bin: Marable and Flanagan

Let’s update the $2,000 bin, shall we?

The Lawrence Marable Quintet, Tenorman, Jazz West 8. The vinyl on this was listed as VG++ and the cover was listed as excellent, which I generally take to mean either VG+ or VG++ depending upon the seller and the description. For this item, I would think VG++ would be appropriate based on my grading terminology. This copy sold for $2,024.99. I admit: I don’t own a copy of this LP. Generally the LPs that have the high price tags are not just rare, but the music is good as well. Anyone want to share a review/opinion on this LP?

Also entering the $2,000 club, again, was this:

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On eBay: Watching Some Prestiges

Here are some interesting items we’ll be watching this weekend.

Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This is an original pressing. The vinyl is listed in M- and the cover looks to be VG++. I went years and years without ever seeing a copy of this record, always to hear about it in legend as one of the rarest of the rare. It’s funny, isn’t it, how there seems to be a nice copy of this record on eBay every couple of weeks? I think it’s a function of eBay and potential sellers realizing that can get top dollar for the record, so they look to flip it. I don’t have an original copy in my collection, but I’ve survived this long without it, so I think I’ll be OK. This one is more than $1,300 and it still has not reached the seller’s reserve price.

Hank Mobley, Mobley’s Second Message, Prestige 7082. This is an original pressing and it looks to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. This is being offered by Academy LPs in New York. It’ s funny, I went into their

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On eBay: Dex, Garland, Trane

I wound up taking a six-week hiatus from selling records on eBay after my mom passed away, but I am back now and have been busy posting records by the armful the past couple of weeks. Some of the items are records I’ve written about on Jazz Collector, so we can see whether my investments were wise or not so wise. Here are a few:

Stan Levey, This Time the Drum’s on Me, Bethlehem 37. This is a record that features some very rare Dexter Gordon from the 1950s. It’s amazing to think how infrequently Dexter was recorded during this period, when you would have expected him to be quite prolific. Anyway, I bought this record in a batch of other records and wrote about it under the title: Taking a Chance on Junk Vinyl. It was among a group of 25 records and the whole batch cost me $30. This is already at $40 on eBay and should sell for a bit more than that.

Red Garland with John Coltrane, High Pressure, Prestige 7209. This was one of the ones I purchased in the

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On eBay: Lee Morgan, Webster Young, Andy Warhol

The seller Jazzhound, who is apparently local to me but whom I don’t know, has been selling some nice items on eBay, including: Lee Morgan, The Cooker, Blue Note 1578. This was an original pressing and the vinyl was in M- condition and the cover was VG++ and the price was only $565.33. Did I say only $565.33? Yes I did. It just seems that this record should be selling for more money, even though this is the highest price we’ve ever recorded for the Jazz Collector Price Guide. The same seller has a few more nice rarities selling this week, including: Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This is an original pressing with the New York label and it is a fine album, indeed. This copy is in M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover and it is currently at around $500. And this is one that features a cover design by Andy Warhol:

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Adventures in Jazz Collecting, The Auction Part 4

OK. The auction records are here, in a newly created bin on the floor of my music room/office. It’s fun looking through the records, of course, encountering pleasant surprises, but what I am most looking forward to is listening to them. That’s the best thing about getting new records, or even getting new copies of old records: Exploring and discovering (or rediscovering) the music. As I type this I’m listening to Wes Montgomery Full House and it’s probably the first time I’ve listened to this LP in 10 years or more. With 10,000 records a lot of great LPs wind up sitting on the shelf. I remember the first time I heard this record. I was in a car with my friend Dan and we had the radio on and we heard a Wes solo and we knew immediately it was Wes and then the tenor player starting playing and we were both blown away because he was really cooking and we couldn’t figure out who it was. It was, of course, Johnny Griffin. And now I am listening to this beautiful near mint copy of this record again and, ah, what a nice way to start a gorgeous Sunday morning. Anyway, back to the auction items:

The next one I purchased was listed as: Stan Getz, Three Verve LPS with Trumpeter labels. Price $40.95. These turned out to be For Musicians Only with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt;

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The Rise of the Second Pressing, Redux

We’d been talking a few weeks back about how second presses — and even third presses — are starting to get some traction as collectibles. Or, to put it more aptly, how later presses are starting to sell more often at collectible prices. Here’s one we happened to notice yesterday on eBay: Jackie McLean, 4, 5 & 6, New Jazz 8279. In the listing, the seller lists this as an “original” purple label pressing, which is somewhat accurate, I guess. It is an original version of this pressing, but the issue itself is a reissue of the original Prestige, so it is a bit of a stretch to call this an original pressing. Nonetheless, I’m not sure whether the description has that big an impact on the bidding because you would think the people bidding into three figures on these records would have some knowledge of what they are doing. Except, of course, those

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A Few More For the $1,000 (and $2,000) Bin(s)

This one has been breaking the $1,000 barrier pretty consistently: Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This copy seemed to be in VG+ condition for the record and VG condition for the vinyl, based on the seller’s description. Still, it sold for $1,148.

Jazz Record Center had a few more in the $2,000 bin, including: Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This one was in beautiful M- condition and sold for $2,650.07. One of the nice things Fred often does in the listings is provide little details that help to expand our knowledge of the market. In this case the little tidbit is that there is no address on the cover because Prestige at the time was transitioning from New York to New Jersey.

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eBay Watch Resumes: Here Are Some 10-Inch LPs

I went back on eBay last night for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was like a visit with old friends, seeing the Prestiges and Blue Notes and Norgrans all hanging out as if I had never left. After a short visit I put a few on my watch list to see once again. Here are some of them:

Gigi Gryce Big Band Featuring Clifford Brown, Blue Note 5049. This is an original 10-inch record and is being offered by Euclid Records. The vinyl is listed as VG++ and the cover is M-. The current price is $73.85, which seems pretty low, but the 10-inchers no longer seem to have the cachet they once had, even though in many cases they are the original pressings. This one was originally issued on French Vogue, right? Anyway, I’d be tempted to bid on this one myself since I once had a near-mint copy of this record and let it slip through my fingers, although for a price of $200 more than 20 years ago, so I can’t complain too much. In a similar category is this record: The George Wallington Showcase, Blue Note 5045. This one is being offered by Atomic Records, one of the other large sellers on eBay. This one seems to be in

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