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;

Stan Getz Plays (yes, the Verve version of the Norgran LP I was talking about last week); plus Stan Getz at the Shrine, a double LP with Bob Brookemeyer. They are all, like the others, in near mint condition. I have all of these records, but I bid because they were so cheap. Am I happy I bid? Duh, yeah! I’m telling you, these records are in beautiful shape and they cost me $13.65 each.

Three Prestige Red Garland LPs with Bergenfield NJ labels. Price: $152.10. All three of these records feature John Coltrane, so there is real potential for value. Traneing In is a second pressing of Prestige 7123, but it’s in nice shape. All Mornin’ Long is also not an original, but it’s also in near mint condition. High Pressure was listed in VG condition, but it’s closer to VG++ and it is an original pressing and it’s a great record and the last time I tracked it in the Jazz Collector Price Guide it sold for $275, so I’m pleased with this batch as well. There’s some risk, but if these records end up on eBay I should more than get my money back and make some other collectors quite happy.

Oliver Nelson, One New Jazz and Two Prestige With Yellow Bergenfield NJ Label. Price: $46.80 Not sure why I purchased this one, except for that the price was right. I have all of the records and the market for Oliver Nelson on eBay is not all that great. However . . . Meet Oliver Nelson is an original New Jazz and it features Kenny Dorham and it is in near mint condition and it is definitely an improvement over the copy in my collection. Could I go wrong with three original Prestige and New Jazz LPs for an average price of $15.60 each? I think not.

OK, now we come to the first, and probably the only real glitch in the purchase. This was a set of four John Coltrane LPs. Price: $187.20. The big appeal in this batch was a copy of Giant Steps listed as “Atlantic 1311 black fan label.” I wasn’t quite sure about the “fan” part of the description, but the “black” part was what intrigued me. Certainly a black label copy of Giant Steps in near mint condition would more than cover the price of this entire lot. Unfortunately, however, the record that arrived in the mail does not have a black label: The label is a routine purple and red. Not quite sure how this happened. My next step is to contact the auction house and see what they do about this obvious mistake. We’ll see. I have confidence they’ll be fair and reasonable. As for the rest of the set: There’s a blue label copy of Standard Coltrane on Prestige. Eh. There’s an original mono orange label Jazzland Thelonious Monk with John Coltane. Nod bad. There’s also an original A Love Supreme, which looked good at first but turns out to be slightly damaged. Not good. We’ll definitely be seeking some restitution for this batch.

Coming up next: What happened with some of the blind bids we made on collections that had meager descriptions and were pure shot-in-the-dark gambles? Stay tuned.