Yet Another Adventure in Jazz Collecting

I have another story for you.
As many of you may recall, I have this oddball penchant for occasional wild gambles on eBay: Purchasing records that are not well described or, more often, buying batches of records that might contain one or two gems without having any sense of whether the listing is accurate or even feasible. I have done this maybe a couple of dozen times and it has almost always worked out to my advantage.I tried it again recently and thought I had finally met my Waterloo.
Here it is: I was recently up the country for a couple of weeks, doing work, doing fishing, some writing, a little Jazz Collector and occasionally looking at eBay. One day I was perusing the eBay listings and came upon a listing that was as follows:
Jazz Record Albums – 118 Albums from collector.
The seller had zero feedback: A complete eBay novice. In the description he noted that these records were the collection from his late stepfather, who was a CPA and accountant for musicians. It was a really strange list with a lot of non-jazz, such as Al Green and

soundtracks and classical and even a 3-LP set of Rigoletto. Most of the jazz on the list wasn’t very appealing: A lot of Errol Garner (spelled Gardner) and Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws. There were a few collectible possibilities, but for the most part it was an unimpressive list. Still, my eyes were immediately transfixed on the few collectible possibilities: Bill Evans Waltz for Debby; Cannonball Adderley Somethin’ Else; a whole bunch of Miles Davis, including Relaxin’ and Steamin’ and Kind of Blue. Based on the rest of the list, I assumed the “possible collectibles” were most likely to be reissues, OJCs and perhaps a blue-label Blue Note.
There was one bid at $150 and I thought to myself, “Who’s the chump?”
And then the chump was me. Something inside me made me bid. I don’t know why. I’m a gambler and something in the listing appealed to me. I had just won the first poker tournament I had ever entered and I had $1,000 and figured I would press the bet. Who knows the reason: I guess I just needed the action, which is the plight of all gamblers, is it not?
Anyway, I put in a snipe for about $190 and forgot all about it, figuring there was probably a bigger sucker than me out there anyway. Well, a couple of days later the email arrived: Congratulations, you’ve won. For $152.50 I was going to be purchasing another 118 crap records. Lovely. One more thing to try to hide from the lovely Mrs. JC. Then came the invoice and they charged me another $150 for shipping. Ugh. I didn’t want to argue. I paid and figured here’s another one I’ll chalk up to experience.
Well, the records arrived yesterday and you have probably figured out the rest:

Cannonball Adderley, Somethin’ Else, original DG West 63^rd pressing in VG++ condition

Miles Davis Relaxin’, original New York Yellow label, unplayed

Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby, original stereo pressing, VG+ condition

Bill Evans, Explorations, original pressing

Miles Davis, Steamin’, Kind of Blue, Milestones, Miles Ahead, Birth of the Cool, all original pressings, all in nice condition

There’s even more: A few nice Hampton Hawes LPs, a little Cannonball, Monk and Mulligan on Riverside, some Gil Evans, more Bill Evans, a Red Garland original Prestige yellow label.

A nice deal for $152.50 plus another $150 in shipping? You had better believe it. Of course, I’m not encouraging the rest of you to gamble as I do on these. I’d rather not have the competition, thank you.