Adventures in Jazz Collecting: The Auction, Part 6

Now we get to the batch of records that turned out to be the most pleasant surprise of all. There was at one point a group listed as such: Bill Evans, Seven Riverside LPs. There was a picture on the Web site and there was a copy of Waltz for Debby in there and perhaps an original pressing of New Jazz Conceptions as well. Anyway, I was hoping to steal this one, but once the bidding surpassed $400 I realized there was no steal to be had and I had better keep my mouth shut. The package eventually went for $650. Ah, well. However, about 15 minutes later there was another group of LPs, described as such: Bill Evans, Eleven LPs, Eight Verve and Three Riverside. There was no picture or other description. I won this lot at $80, so my total for these 11 records was $93.60. This is a great batch of music, and each record is in

mint, unplayed, not-even-handled-by-human-hands condition. The package includes an original – deep groove, no less – blue label copy of Interplay, with Freddie Hubbard and Jim Hall. This is a major upgrade from the copy in my collection. There is also a beautiful unplayed copy of Undercurrent on United Artists and a great copy of Trio 64, which is one of my all-time favorite Evans LPs. All in all this is a great batch of 11 records with pristine covers, pristine records, original inner sleeves. Very pleasing indeed, especially since I bid blind for these and got them for such a cheap price. Again, it makes me think I should have bid for more of the blind packages, but that’s what happens, right? It’s never about the records we have, it’s always about the ones that got away.

The next batch I won was a weird one. The description was simple: Lot of Duke Ellington LPs. I had no idea if this was two records or 20 records: If they were in good condition or poor: If they were originals or reissues. There were two other lots of Ellington records that sold for $10 each. The one I purchased was $25, which meant I spent $29.25. There must have been a reason the batch I bought fetched more money, but I’ll never know because I didn’t buy the other lots. My lot was another pleasant surprise. It was 25 records in total, mostly original RCAs, and all of them, again, seem to have been unplayed and never touched. The batch included one nice blue-label Riverside I’ve never seen – Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson, The Birth of Big Band Jazz, Riverside 129. There is also a nice original copy of Piano in the Foreground on Columbia, which is a terrific trio LP. There are also a couple of nice vintage RCA records, including The Duke and His Men, RCA 1092 and The Indispensable Duke Ellington, RCA 6009, a very nice double LP. Ellington is not the most collectible of artists, but these are 25 mint original pressings for $29.25, so I am pleased with the results of this gamble as well.

There are two more purchases and then we shall be done with this chapter in Adventures in Jazz Collecting. The seller had groups of records, described simply in a variety of ways: “Lot of Thirty 10 Inch LPs” or “Lot of Approximately 40 1960s-70s Jazz LPs.” The temptation was to bid on all of these: I am, as you may have surmised, not shy about taking risks. In retrospect, knowing what I know now about the condition of these records, I would have bid on many more of these batches. As it is I won one group of 30 10-inch records for $50, meaning I paid $58.50. These records were all in near mint condition, which is quite surprising for 10-inch LPs. I don’t think they were ever played. However, there were no Blue Notes, Prestiges or other blockbusters in the lot. There’s a nice copy of Louis Bellson Just Jazz All Stars on Capitol, featuring some nice Wardell Gray; There’s a record on Vanguard called Buck Meets Ruby, which I never owned. There are a few others of moderate interest, but nothing too compelling, unless there is a Les Brown fan out there in the world of Jazz Collector. In that case, I’ve got a nice package of records for you, so drop me an email.

The final lot I purchased was a simple one. The Complete Tal Farlow Verve Sessions on Mosaic. This is a CD set, not vinyl. I don’t know why I didn’t purchase this when it came out. Tal is my favorite jazz guitarist, Plus, I also knew him personally and he was the good friend and mentor of my best friend Dan Axelrod, who contributes to the liner notes here. So buying this was filling an obvious hole in my collection, and this will be a set I will keep and treasure, even though it is on CD.

So there it is. A total of 69 12-inch LPs, 30 10-inch LPs and one 4-CD boxed set. An even hundred. With taxes and shipping my total was $1,228.62. And another Adventure in Jazz Collecting to show to my wife and children and friends and family to give further evidence, yet again, why it is much easier for me to add to my collection rather than subtract from my collection.