Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Jackie Mclean, 4, 5 & 6

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Okay, this was a close one: Jackie McLean, 4, 5 and 6, Prestige 7048. I’ve had a copy of this in my collection forever, an original New York pressing. I probably listened to it once when I first got it. Someone had placed about 10 stamps on the back cover: “Club Soulville.” I recently saw a copy on eBay — VG on the vinyl, VG+ on the cover. For $60 or so, I was able to get it for a nice cover upgrade and get rid of Club Soulville. This morning I got up real early and took a look at both records, figuring now was the time to figure which one to sell. Quite unfortunately, they both looked  quite marked up. The one I bought on eBay was not really a VG, it was more like a VG-, with lots of marks. The one I had in my collection — the Club Soulville copy — didn’t look that much better. Could it be that I would be in a position to get rid of both copies? Alas, thank goodness for the heavy vinyl on

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Tracking Some Nice 10-Inch Jazz Vinyl

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Here are a few nice 10-inch LPs we’ve been watching.

Gigi Gryce and Clifford Brown Sextet, Blue Note 5048. This was a beautiful copy in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $579.

The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 2, Blue Note 5041. This was listed as VG for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. The price was $90.97. As someone said in one of the comments recently, the Bud Powells seem to be in less demand than some of the other Blue Notes.

Elmo Hope Quintet, Blue Note 5044. This was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and cover, which is a classic. The price was $305.

Art Blakey, A Night At Birdland Volume 2, Blue Note 5038. This one was also in nice condition — VG++ for the vinyl and M- for the cover. The price was $305. 03.

And yet another Blue Note:

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Catching Up: Kenny Drew, Rouse, Nichols

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Here’s an update on some of the jazz vinyl we’ve been watching here at Jazz Collector. We sense a slight softness in the market the past couple of weeks compared with the end of the summer, when prices seemed to be skyrocketing. This sense comes not only from what we are watching, but from what we are selling as well. These things go back and forth all the time, so we don’t see much use in trying to time the market as a seller, but for buyers, this might be a time to be active. Prices surely will go up again if past is prologue to the future.   Here are a few recent sales:

Kenny Drew, This is New, Riverside 236. This was an original white label pressing. The record was listed as VG++ and the cover was VG+. The price was $125. This one features Hank Mobley and Donald Byrd and is quite a nice collectible  — and quite a bit cheaper than comparable Blue Notes of the same era with the same artists.

Speaking of Blue Notes: Herbie Nichols Trio, Blue Note 1519. This was

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Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Serge Chaloff, Boston Blow-Up!

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This is one I had on the to-get-rid-of list for sure. I’ve owned a mint copy for 25 or so years and never listened to it. I found a second copy and put it on eBay last night. In order to list it on eBay I finally put it on the turntable. You know what? I’m selling the one on eBay and keeping the one in my collection. This is quite a nice record, Serge was some player and the bari version of Body and Soul is certainly worth the price of admission. Now I’ve got to give a second listen to Blue Serge before I get any thoughts about getting rid of that one as well. That may be harder to keep, since it is now selling for several hundred dollars in today’s market. I’m hoping that during the course of this process I’ll discover music that’s been sitting around the collection for awhile. I had the same experience with

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The Great Jazz Vinyl Countdown: John Coltrane, Settin’ The Pace, Prestige 7213

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As you may expect, the whole idea of permanently and arbitrarily shrinking my record collection, which has taken close to 40 years to accumulate, is causing quite a bit of trauma around here, around here being inside my very guts. So, if you’ll excuse me, I will ease into the process over the next few days before undertaking any gut-wrenching decisions. Therefore I shall start with one of my all-time favorite records: John Coltrane, Settin’ the Pace, Prestige 7213. This is a great record, probably my second favorite of all the Coltrane Prestiges (right behind Soultrane). The first “Arthur Schwartz” side, with the amazing ballad “I See Your Face Before Me” and the incredible “If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You” is all-time great Trane. The challenge is not deciding whether to keep this record for a collection of 1,000 — if the collection were to be shrunk to 20 records, this would probably still make the cut. The question is merely

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Today on Ebay: What to Do With A Sealed Record?

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We’re watching a few interesting items on eBay today, including several of our own records for sale. This one is interesting: Jimmy Heath, Really Big, Riverside 333. This is one of ours. What was interesting was the choice we made. This was a sealed copy: To open or not to open? That was the question. We chose to open, to make sure this was an original pressing that we were selling. However, based on what we’re seeing with prices of sealed records, perhaps we made a mistake. So far there is just one bidder for this LP and the price is around $50. We have a feeling if the record were listed as “still sealed” there’d be a lot more activity. As it is, it is quite a nice record, featuring Cannonball Adderley as well. So, perhaps someone will get a truly mint original LP for a bargain.

Also, Miles Davis, Cookin’ Prestige 7094. This was one of those that we

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The Great Jazz Vinyl Countdown

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I counted my records the other day. At least I counted most of them. I didn’t count the 78s and I didn’t count the ones in storage. The ones in storage are all to be sold and the 78s are, well, 78s. No matter. The point is this. I have more records than I want. I have them in four separate rooms in two separate homes. I have records I have owned for more than 25 years and have never put on a turntable. I have records by artists I don’t especially like. I have collected them because I am a collector. It is what I do. That is why my site is called Jazz Collector.

I counted the records because I have made a fairly momentous decision, and that decision is this: I am going to get rid of many of them. This is heresy, is it not? These are my friends, all hand selected personally by me. I have invited them into my home, to share my space, to give me comfort and joy in times of stress or sorrow. And they have served me well, all of them, in whatever way they could.

But the time has come to part ways with many of them. Why?

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Win A Free Record: Billie Holiday at Carnegie Hall

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Okay, it is time for our next Jazz Collector free collectible give-away contest. We always try to find interesting items for you, and this time we are offering up this: The Essential Billie Holiday Carnegie Hall Concert, Verve 8410. This is an original pressing with the MGM label and the gatefold cover. The record is in nice condition, although there are some marks at the end of side two. It’s an interesting record in that it was recorded in 1956 and issued here in 1961 as part of Verve’s Essentials series, which were tributes to jazz greats on the Verve labels, several of whom, unfortunately, had died. These included Lester Young and Charlie Parker. This LP was recorded live at Carnegie Hall as part of a concert in which Holiday sang and in which she also  had several sections of her autobiography, Lady Sings The Blues, read aloud to highlight various aspects of her life and to

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Catching Up: Dex & A Few For the $1,000 Bin

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Time to catch up on a few more jazz vinyl collectibles, including a few more for the $1,000 bin:

Dexter Gordon Quintet, Dial 204. This was an original 10-inch pressing. The record and the cover were both listed in VG+ condition. The price was about $240. I love these original 10-inch Dials, and the price on this one seemed pretty fair. But, alas, I was not a bidder.  Also from Dexter was this: Dexter Gordon, Dexter Rides Again, Savoy 12130. This was an original pressing with the deep groove and the red labels. The seller listed it in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $69.

For the $1,000 bin there were these:

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For the $2,000 Bin: Dexter Gordon, True Blue (Again)

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A few of the items we’ve been watching have broken the $1,000 barrier, and a few of those have broken the $2,000 barrier.

Dexter Gordon, Dexter Blows Hot and Cool, Dootone 207. This was an original pressing with the red vinyl. The record was listed as M- and the cover was VG++. It was sold by the seller herschel78, who’s been selling quite a bit of rare jazz vinyl and scoring some nice prices with them. This one sold for $2,886. Our previous high for this in the Jazz Collector Price Guide was more than $3,000, so that’s not even a record. We were also watching a later pressing of this record on the Authentic label (which, unfortunately, is the version we own in our collection). Even this one did fairly well, selling for $70, although we’ll never know if the buyer thought he was getting an original.

Also for the $2,000 bin was this one:

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