Don Sleet, All Members, Jazzland 45. This was an original orange label mono pressing. The record looked to be VG++ and the cover was listed as VG. The price was $94.

Mike Cuozzo with the Costa-Burke Trio, Jubilee 1027. This was an original pressing and the value is certainly aided by the presence of Eddie Costa. It was only in VG condition for the record and the cover and still sold for $108.50.

Bill Perkins, Just Friends, Pacific Jazz 401. This was an original pressing sold by the Jazz Record Center. It was in excellent condition — the words “immaculate” and “exceptional” were used in the description. It also benefitted from the presence of strong sidemen, in this case Art Pepper and Richie Kamuca. The price was $330.55.

Johnny Hodges, Perdido, Norgran 1091. This was a black-label pressing, which I think is an original. At some point, we will need to do in Norgran what we are doing in Blue Note and Prestige and come up with some definitive information about yellow and black labels, logos, etc. This was in beautiful M- condition and sold for $90.47.

Rene Thomas and Bobby Jaspar, Thomas Jaspar Quintet, RCA PML 10324. This was an original Italian pressing and, frankly, I’ve never seen or heard of this LP before. It looks like a nice cover and the players are certainly excellent, so I imagine it is quite a find. This one was in M- condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover and sold for $700. If anyone has more insight on this record, please feel welcome to share it.

I knew just about every record on which Dexter played, but obviously I did not. I’ve listened to one side of this and it’s pretty good, although I’m still waiting for a Dexter solo. This record looks to be from 1952. Anyone out there have any more insight/information? If you enlarge the picture on the site, you can clearly see the sidemen, which also includes Chico Hamilton and Conte Candoli.

I’ve never thought of this record as a collectible: The Standard Sonny Rollins, RCA 3355. This was an original pressing and it was in M- condition. It sold for $122.50. It was a stereo pressing and I’m wondering, perhaps, if it is as much an audiophile collectible as much as a jazz collectible. I’m a big Rollins fan, but this is not among my favorite Sonny LPs.

How about this one: Presenting Red Mitchell, Contemporary 3538. This is an original deep groove mono pressing with the yellow label. The vinyl was listed in M- condition and the

cover was VG++. The price was $139.50.

The market for this record, and others of its era, seems to be slipping: Flip Phillips, Flip Wails, Clef 691. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was VG++ and the cover was VG+. The price was $52.50. This price was probably aided by the fact that it has a nice cover illustration by David Stone Martin.

Gerry Mulligan, Seven LPs. Price: $46.80. Why? There is no good answer to this question. I certainly have all of these LPs, and probably don’t even want to keep all of these LPs, and there is probably not that much of a market for these LPs on eBay. The best of the records, from a collectible standpoint, is The Gerry Mulligan Songbook on World Pacific. There’s also a nice Mulligan on Emarcy with Zoot Sims. There’s a copy of Mulligan and Stan Getz on Verve, but it’s an MGM pressing. Really, there was no rhyme or reason to bidding on these — and actually winning — other than the adrenaline rush of buying more records.

Sonny Rollins, Three RCA Victor LPs and Lester Young For LPs. Price: $93.60. This fits into

a similar category as the Gerry Mulligans in that I have all of these records and I’m not necessarily looking to have duplicates. I might do OK with these in eBay, however. There’s an original mint copy of The Bridge, a mint unplayed copy of What’s New and a mint, unplayed copy of The Standard Sonny Rollins. Each of these records has the original inner sleeve and none of them seems to have ever been handled at all. Recently a copy of the Bridge sold for $91 on eBay, as noted in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, so maybe If I sell this one I can recoup my investment. But it was another adrenaline-fueled purchase with little logic behind it. As for the Lester Young LPs, one of them — Pres and Sweets — is an original Verve Trumpeter, so that is quite nice. And the Lester Young with Buddy Rich is in beautiful condition and has a great cover, suitable for framing. So, not bad.

I had thought I would finish writing about this Jazz Adventure now, but I must move on to paying work, so I will complete this later today or tomorrow morning with a few more batches of records, including a very interesting package of 11 Bill Evans LPs. Stay tuned.

Sonny Rollins, The Bridge, RCA 2527. This was an original stereo pressing listed in M- condition by a very reputable seller who also owns the best record store on Long Island. Still, while this is an interesting record with an interesting history — the return of Rollins after his legendary practice sessions on the Williamsburg Bridge — it has never really been a collectible item, at least in terms of its selling price. Perhaps it’s starting to move up the ranks: This one sold for $90.99. Not quite Blue Note prices, but a collectible price nonetheless.

Here’s another one we normally don’t track:

Roland Kirk, The Inflated Tear, Atlantic 1502. This was an original mono pressing, with a promo stamp on the cover and a white label. The seller notes that there were very few mono pressings of this LP because it was only available in the promo copies. I had never heard this story. I looked at the copy in my collection and it is a stereo. Anyway, this didn’t get an outrageous collectible price, but it sold for $43.67, more than usual for this LP. It also hit my radar because, if the mono pressing is truly unusual, I would expect that additional copies will sell for more money in the future. That’s how we collectors think, isn’t it: If something is rare, it must be of value.

Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights Volume 2, Blue Note 1597. This was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $482. Frankly, we would have expected it sell for a higher price in this condition.

Thelonious Monk, Monk, Prestige 7053. This was an original pressing with the New York address. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was VG++ as well. The price was $600.

Moondog, The Story of Moondog, Prestige 7093. This was an original pressing with the New York address. The record was in VG+ condition

and the cover was also VG+. The price was $250.50.

Finally, there was this: Joe Newman, I’m Still Swinging, RCA 1198. This was an original mono pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $203.50. The last time we tracked this record it sold for $58. Quite a leap.

I would be happy to ping him and see if he still has it or if he’s sold it already. I know based on earlier emails he’d be looking for at least $1,000 ad probably much more. If you are interested, just send me an email at al@jazzcollector.com and I’ll send him a follow-up.

165 page views and it has 46 potential buyers watching it on the watch lists. The two Artie Shaw LPs together have a total of zero bids, have been viewed a total of 25 times and have two potential buyers watching them on their watch lists.

I got into pulling some of the old files as I’m updating the site and here’s something I wrote a few years ago about the album Sonny Rollins, What’s New?, RCA Victor LPM-2572.  If you keep reading there’s a question here for readers that was never answered on the Jazz Collector site, so perhaps, if you know the answer, you can provide it.  Anyway:

What’s New was Rollins’s second album after he came back from one of his self-imposed retirements in the late 1950s/early 1960s. This was the retirement during which he gained notoriety for practicing on the Williamsburg Bridge. After this comeback, his tone was a bit harsher than it had been during the ‘50s and his attack was a bit more staccato, but his playing was very inventive and inspired. In particular, he seemed to have a strong rapport with

guitarist Jim Hall. They seem to be in synch on this entire record, especially on the jewel of the session, “If Ever I Would Leave You.”  I had always heard that this was the first record in the U.S. to use the term “bossa nova.” It was back released back in 1962 and George Avakian’s liner notes talk about the bossa nova as if it needed explanation to an uninformed audience. Perhaps one of our readers knows whether this album was, indeed, the first to talk about “bossa nova” in its liner notes. In any case, it’s a wonderful LP, highly recommended.