Another Mini Adventure At the Central Berkshire Record Show

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Speaking of buying records . . . there was a record show in my neck of the woods this weekend. It was advertised as the first ever Central Berkshire Record Show and it was in a little town called Dalton in Western Massachusetts. I arrived early and paid the additional VIP fee to get first crack at the records, just in case there were any rare Blue Notes to be had. But I was not among the first to arrive and I was pleased to see that the show was pretty crowded. There were more than 20 dealers and the aisles and tables were pretty full during the whole time I was there. I kept a low profile, as is my natural tendency. I found a few decent records at fair prices, as you can see in the photo. The Jaki Byard was a pretty pleasant find because (1) I don’t have a copy of the record and (2) it was an original pressing and (3) the price was about $50 and (4) the seller had it marked as VG which was extremely conservative. To me, record looks M- and the cover is VG+. Checking Popsike, I see that the record, Jaki Byard, Here’s Jaki, New Jazz 8256,  has sold for more than $200 several times, so I feel like I got a good deal. Hey, that’s what it’s all about. Read more

A Mini Adventure in Jazz Collecting

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I think, and hope, I will never get over my passion for buying records. A couple of years ago, I decided I had too many records in the house. I was spending too much time looking at them and organizing them, and less time playing them. Plus, they were taking up more space than we had originally planned, of course, because that’s what record collections do when they multiply. So I took about 2,000 records out of the house and put them into storage with the idea that these will eventually be sold. I wrote about it here at Jazz Collector and have had many inquiries, but so far I’m not ready to do anything with these records. The point of retelling this story is this: Even though I have more records than I want, and certainly more than I will ever need, I am still buying more records and bringing them into the house. Because that is what I do and what I like to do. Buy records. The other day, I had a chance to go into a good record store where I had not been for a long time. I was, as has often been the case for many years, dragging The Lovely Mrs. JC along for the adventure. Before we got to the town and to the store, I told her “you know I’m going to buy records. I don’t know what, I don’t know why, but I do know that, yes, I will be buying records.” Read more

Hot and Heavy

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Here are some jazz vinyl auctions we are watching this week, starting with a couple of heavy hitters: Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This is an original pressing listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The bidding is in the $800 range with more than six days left on the auction. Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record looks to be in VG++ condition and the cover is probably VG+. The current price is $2,995. There is one bidder and five-plus days left on the auction as of this writing. Last week we saw a copy sell for more than $8,000 (WOW). Read more

From the InBox: Sun Ra, Sonny Stitt, Swiftly Flow The Bucks

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Let’s start by looking in the Jazz Collector inbox to see what treasures and wisdom might be awaiting us. I see that our old friend CeeDee has a few links for us, starting with another WOW: Sonny Stitt Plays, Royal Roost 2208. This was an original deep groove mono pressing listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The cover pictures could indicate some optimistic grading. The final price was $760. It went from $219, which is pretty high for this record, to the final price in the last few seconds of the auction. There were 12 bidders altogether. This has to be the highest price ever for a Stitt on Roost record. So, let’s swing over to Popsike and . . . . Indeed, it is not just the highest price for a Stitt on Roost, it is the highest price for any Stitt. Hey, it’s a great record and he was a great player. Read more

Wow

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The comments on the previous post were intriguing, to say the least, so I jumped over to eBay to see this auction in particular: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address from the seller vinyl-house-uk. The record was listed in Ex+ condition, which I translate into M-, and the cover was Ex/Ex+, which I translate to VG++. The final price was approximately 6,200 British pounds, which I translate to $8,132.92. By my calculation that’s the top price I’ve seen for True Blue, which seems to be confirmed by Popsike. For those who keep an eye on these sorts of things, is this the highest legitimate price we’ve seen for any 12-inch jazz LP? If not, what is? Looking at some of the other items from this auction, my eyes are popping out of my head. Read more

Volumes of Jazz Vinyl

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I’ve been back in New York for the past week or so, but haven’t had a chance to visit any record stores. If you had a few days in New York, where would you shop these days? If you were shopping on eBay, here are some of the items you may have considered, starting with Pete LaRoca, Basra, Blue Note 4205. This was an original New York USA pressing that looked to be in VG+ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover, although the seller listed it as VG++ (it wasn’t). When we wrote about it last week, the bidding was in the $750 range. The final price was around $1,190. I kind of assumed this would have been the highest price ever for this record, but according to Popsike a copy last summer sold for $2,375. There were also a few others that ended up in the $1,000 bin, so my assumption was not quite accurate. Read more

The $3,000 Bin and More

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Here we have Lee Morgan Volume 3, Blue Note 1557. This was another one of those records from the recent and ongoing auctions from the seller Carolina Soul. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing that was in VG+ condition for the record and VG- for the cover. The front and back of the cover were signed by Benny Golson, who plays tenor on the record and wrote the compositions and arrangements. I’m not sure if the presence of the signature adds or detracts from the interest in the record from collectors. This copy sold for $1,259.56. The Benny Golson signature reminded me of the Steven Spielberg “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks, in which a Benny Golson autograph plays a prominent role, believe it or not. If the record had been signed by Lee Morgan, it would have gotten a lot more interest, right? Perhaps even in the $3,000 bin like this one. Tubby Hayes Quintet, After Lights Out, Tempo TAP 6. This was an original British pressing that looked to be in M- condition for the record and VG++ or VG+ for the cover. The final price was about $3,210. Read more

Blue Notes, Millennials, Autographs

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Back to eBay. Closing the files on some of those auctions from Carolina Soul, we start with The Magnificent Thad Jones, Blue Note 1527. This was an original pressing. The record was listed in VG condition with a slight warp. The cover was listed in VG- condition with a 6-inch seam split. The final price was $1,911.56. Thad Jones, Detroit-New York Junction, Blue Note 1513. This was another original Lexington Avenue pressing. This one was in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. The final price was $1,525. Read more

A Modern Jazz Quintet

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Let’s go back to the eBay watch list and catch up on some jazz vinyl auctions that may be of interest to the Jazz Collector masses, starting with Chet Baker, Chet, Riverside 299. This looked to be an original blue label deep groove pressing featuring, among others, Bill Evans on piano, which usually seems to generate added interest from collectors. This looked to be graded in EX condition for the record and the cover. The final price was $1,187.  Per Popsike, this is the second highest price ever recorded for this record. In 2018 a mintier copy sold for $1,225.

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Another Pretty Nice Batch of Sides

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As I’ve been perusing eBay since my return from vacation, I’ve been randomly filling my watch list with items to write about for Jazz Collector. And as I’ve been doing that, I am finding that most of the records I’m saving this week have a common seller, which would be Carolina Soul.  I’m a little bit in awe, and a little bit in envy, of the huge collection of Blue Notes, Prestiges and others they have up for auction this week. Not sure if the awe/envy is about the money that will be coming their way in just one week’s worth of auctions, or if it’s the fact that they seem to have a virtually endless supply of interesting/collectible jazz records. Anyway, here are some of the items in my queue, starting with Thad Jones, After Hours With the Prestige All-Stars, Prestige 7118. This one caught my eye because of the cover: I have a copy of this record with the New York yellow label and a different cover. My cover has a generic picture of a city nightscape. This cover, as you see, has a picture of Thad and (I think) Frank Wess. With Prestige it’s challenging to figure out which cover came out first and why they would change it so quickly after the initial release of the record. If I were to guess, I would say the cover I have would be the first cover, but that is just a guess. The reason is that the orange cover has The Prestige All-Starts underlined and that strikes me as an idea that a marketing person would come up with as a way to boost sales by making a slight adjustment to an existing product. In my real job, I spend way too much time talking to marketing people, so I could be completely wrong. Rudolf will know for sure which was first, as will others out there in Jazz Collector World. Anyway, this copy is probably in VG condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. Bidding is in the $125 range, with four days left on the auction. Read more

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