This Week on EBay: Some Blue Notes . . . Plus

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Got home late yesterday afternoon from Providence, where my son had directed a play (quite well done, I must say) and popped onto eBay to see what was there for my friends at Jazz Collector. As soon as I did my normal search under jazz records, the first two items that popped up were real beauties: Lee Morgan,  Volume 3, Blue Note 1557 and Cliff Jordan/John Gilmore, Blowing in From Chicago, Blue Note 1549. Both of this records are listed in near mint condition and both sellers promise that you will never see a better copy. Digging a little deeper, the seller of the Jordan LP has a bunch of other, similar, high-end beautiful condition jazz collectibles on auction this week. It promises to be an interesting week, with a few more additions to the $1,000 bin. It is my expectation that each of these records will sell for more than $1,000 — in fact,

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The $1,000 Bin Welcomes an Old Friend

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When I first became aware many years ago that there was actually a sub-culture of jazz collecting and collectible jazz records, one of the first of the “rare” jazz records I heard about was Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7132 (I was not aware of the Metronome version). In all the early years of collecting and searching for records in the bins of hundreds of record stores around the world, I never saw a copy of this record. By the time I did find a copy, by then the collectibles market had taken off and the price tag was out of reach. I’ve looked on eBay for affordable copies, but, somehow the words “eBay” and “affordable” don’t always go together. I’m content now to watch the record sell and listen, if I desire, to my very fine Japanese pressing. This is all a long way toward getting to the point, which is:

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J.R. Monterose In Action and In the $1,000 Bin

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I hadn’t updated the $1,000 bin in a while, so I went searching for interesting new items and I came upon this: J. R. Monterose In Action + The Joe Abodeely Trio, Studio 4. According to the seller, this original pressing was one of approximately 250 issued and sold from the cloak room of Abodeely’s The Tender Trap night club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was also described as an original Columbia pressing from Rock Island, Ill. The record and the cover were both listed in VG++ condition and the price was $1,703.98. In addition to the price tag, what caught my attention was the memory somewhere deep in the back of my recesses of my brain that I actually own this record. So, I ran downstairs, trailed excitedly by my dog Marty, and searched through the shelves of Part II of my collection and there it was, sitting there. I pulled out the copy, ready to bask in the glow of a $1,700 record. But, alas, to my chagrin the copy I pulled out was

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Free Record: Bird Lives! The Winner Is . . .

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It’s been a couple of weeks since we posted our latest contest for a free collectible, so it is time to announce the winner. The item is Red Rodney, Bird Lives, Muse 5371. This is a 1989 pressing of a 1973 recording and, in addition to Rodney, features Charles McPherson, Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Roy Brooks. What is interesting about this LP, in addition to the fine music and the fitting tribute to Charlie Parker, is that this is a copy that is still in its original factory seal, not bad for a record 20 years old. As always, the criteria to be considered eligible to win the contest is to comment somewhere, anywhere on the Jazz Collector site. As we’ve mentioned many times, our only goal is to encourage people to comment so we can build a nice community of people interested in the jazz collectibles market and we can share information and experiences. For this record, we have eight eligible Jazz Collector readers. They are: Michel, Rudolf, Troy Grooms, Gregorious, Jim Beattie, Jim Thornton, Steve H and Bethellodge. As always, we are having the lovely Mrs J.C. pull the names out of a hat . . . and here she is . . . and here’s the hat . . . and here are the names . . . and here she goes . . . and, finally, the winner is . . .

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A Surprise Price For Bechet 10-Inch on Dial

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We try to watch for interesting items at trends at Jazz Collector, and not always on the highest price tags or the Blue Notes. Here’s one we were watching a few weeks ago that we found interesting. The record was: Sidney Bechet with Kenny Clarke, Black Stick, Dial 301. This was an original 10-inch LP and it was listed in VG+ condition, for both the record and the cover. It caught our attention because of the selling price, which was $103.50. Normally even the Bechet’s on Blue Note don’t sell for this price, unless they are original Lexington Avenues in near mint condition. Not sure if this is because of the Dial label, or because of the presence of Kenny Clarke, but it was definitely surprising to see this in the $100-plus range. We had a discussion on the site a few months back about the dearth of demand for some of the earlier artists, so perhaps this is a signal

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WFMU Record Fair Coming To NY in October

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Mark your calendars for October 23, 24 and 25. Those are the dates for the WFMU Record Fair in New York. This is probably the top record show in the New York Metropolitan area, attracting dealers from all over the country. We’ve been known to occasionally take a table: Actually we’ve done it twice, including last year for just one day. We haven’t decided about this year as a seller, but we’ll probably be there in some capacity and will keep you posted. If you’re a seller and want to reserve a table, our advice is to do so fairly soon, since the room has a tendency to fill to capacity, particularly on the second day of the event. If you want more information, or are interested in signing up, you can just click here for a link to the WFMU web site.

Sonny’s Crib, No DG, At What Price (Redux)?

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The other day we were watching a copy of Sonny Clark, Sonny’s Crib, Blue Note 1576. This is a copy in very nice condition, with the West 63rd Street address, but no deep groove. The seller had a buy-it-now price of $1,000 and we didn’t think it would sell for that, but we wondered what kind of value collectors would place on it. Well, we’ll get another chance to find out: The seller has just re-listed it with a buy-it-now price of $500. Tempted?

For The Price Guide: Riversides, Blue Notes

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In addition to the Dinah Washington LP mentioned below, we are adding a few more records to the Jazz Collector Price Guide today. At some point, we surpassed more than 4,000 entries in the price guide. We find it quite valuable to use in buying and selling records, and also to help establish values for insurance and estate-planning purposes. We hope you all find it valuable as well. Here are a few more additions:

Kenny Drew Trio, Riverside 224. This was an original white label pressing. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. The price was $898.88.

Here’s another nice Riverside: Zoot Sims, Zoot!, Riverside 228. This was also a white label pressing, in VG+ condition for both the record and cover. It sold for $158.50.

And what would the Price Guide be without Blue Notes. Here are a few new ones:

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Of Dinah, Sarah, Helen Merrill and Clifford Brown

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It was interesting to note the Helen Merrill record that sold for almost $1,800 the other day (Emarcy 36006). This is a terrific record featuring Clifford Brown and it’s highly valued by collectors. Clifford, of course, made records with other vocalists before he died so young, including the great Sarah Vaughan LP on Emarcy and this great one by Dinah Washington: Dinah Jams, Emarcy 36000. Dinah Jams not only features Clifford, it also features Clark Terry and Maynard Ferguson in a trumpet battle tour-de force. While the Helen Merrill album can be quite pricey, and the Sarah has been known to sell for more than $100, we’ve rarely seen the Dinah — or any Dinah Washington LP — sell for high-end collectible prices. So, it was nice to see that a copy of Dinah Jams sold the other day for $109.38 to someone who, obviously, has great taste in music and records.

Sonnys Crib, No Deep Groove, At What Price?

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Lots of focus on Blue Note this week. Sometimes, that’s just the way things break. Here’s one of interest, closing soon: Sonny Clark, Sonny’s Crib, Blue Note 1576. This, of course, is one of the hot ones, featuring John Coltrane. This one has the West 63rd Street address, is mono and seems to be in pristine condition. Yet . . . it is not a deep-groove pressing. So, what’s it worth? The seller has a buy-it-now price of $1,000 — or you can make an offer — and there are two hours to go, so it seems unlikely that he will get his asking price. If this was a deep-groove copy in this condition, at $1,000 it would have been gobbled up long ago. Without the deep groove, all bets are off. Isn’t it interesting how specific the market has become. One of our loyal readers commented on another post about a John Jenkins Blue Note he purchased from us, probably for around $15 o $20. It was a United Artists mono pressing and he is quite pleased and getting a lot of joy out of it. And he didn’t need to get a second mortgage on his home.

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