Watching & Ruminating on Some Buddy DeFranco LPs
I’m watching some records that are closing soon from Buddy DeFranco. These are original Norgrans in pretty nice condition. They are all being offered from the same seller: Odalisque, Norgran 1094; The Artistry of Buddy DeFranco, Norgran 1012; and In a Mellow Mood, Norgran 1079. When I started watching these records last night they were all in the $9 range. Now they are in the $20s. Still, not very much at all. Two of these records — The Artistry and In a Mellow Mood — feature Sonny Clark on piano, which usually means some enhanced collector interest, and some higher prices. I guess what I’m wondering is what happens to an artist like Buddy DeFranco. He was great for his time and he put out some beautiful records, but as time goes on does there continue to be interest in his music, or does he fall by the wayside the way interest in some of the traditional players has fallen? I’ll be interested
to see what these records wind up selling for, but I bet it will be quite reasonable, and I’ll also bet there won’t be that many page views for any of them. It seems while original Blue Notes and Prestiges are commanding higher prices than ever, records such as these have probably fallen fairly dramatically in value. Less interest in the music, the artist and even the label would be my guess. Which, to me, is a bit of a shame since I’ve always prized my Norgrans and Verves as much as any of the other labels.
I agree with you : Prestige and Blue Note are growing in value, plus a bunch of highly sought after records, and many are getting lesser interest. I recently purchased a Teddy Edwards on contemoprary record that was always around 180 – 200 in NM condition 5 years ago – i got it for 85. Obvously same for Buddy de Franco, or some Savoys
so we are growing to a 2-tier market and isn’t the market always right? sorry for the lovers of good and honest music by the likes of Tal Farlow, Stan Getz, Dizzy, Mulligan, Teddy Charles etc
I’m for this emerging 2 tier market. It will actually make some great labels/artists affordable as oposed to Blue Note, Prestige, etc. One question – have you noticed an increase in prices for subsidiary labels as well? – i.e. in the case of Prestige: New Jazz, Swingville, etc.
New Jazz increase, Swingville decrease, I would say.
Absolutely agree with Rudolf. New Jazz has more edge and more of the later artists, while Swingville is comprised much more of the traditional artists. As we get further away from people actually remembering Coleman Hawkins or Buddy Tate — remembering as in seeing them, or at least being aware of them within their lifetimes — you would expect that the value of their records would not hold up. Unless, something happens to revive interest in the entire genre, which would be nice. Personally, I love many of the Swingville records, even though my taste usually runs to bop and post-bop.
Euclid has the rarely seen Jerome Richardson “Midnight Oil” in their auction. New Jazz 8205, now at $ 126. This might be one to follow.
I recently sold a copy of Midnight Oil on eBay. It was in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The winning bid was $344.78.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110416414845&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT#ht_500wt_828
interesting, so we can compare the outcomes.
Re Swingille. Extra features of SV (over the Granz output) are: engineering by RvG and pianists like Tommy Flanagan and Red Garland instead of the eternal Oscar Peterson. Granz’ advantage is his catalogue of Ellingtonians, a real treat.
I never would have plucked The Artistry Of Buddy DeFranco MGN 1012 from the bins but it looked familiar (from this post on Jazz Collector!) and I saw Sonny Clark played on it so I thought for $15 what the heck. No wonder it’s been reissued time and time again (on MGN 1096 and MGV 8183 “Autum Leaves”) what a great session! Thanks Al!