Tracking Some Blue Note Test Pressings

I’ll soon post an item looking ahead to some of the nice items on eBay the next couple of days. Before that, I wanted to point you out to a couple of very interesting items from this past weekend. The seller Orto had two test pressings of nice Blue Note LPs. One was Sonny Clark, Leapin’ and Lopin’, Blue Note 4091. This one was dated 12/04/ 1961, about a month after the session was recorded. Very cool item. It sold for $1,950.  The other was Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This was also dated one month after the recording session, and it has a stamp on it and it’s in near mint condition. The top bid on this was $830, and it did not meet the seller’s reserve price. The Hubbard LP was listed first, and I get the feeling when it did not meet the seller’s reserve, the bidding on the Sonny Clark LP increased. If you didn’t see these items, they’re worth a look.

Some Nice Records, Some High Prices

If you check on eBay now, there’s a seller from New York who has dozens of interesting jazz records at really, really, really high prices. Here are a few examples: Charlie Mariano, New Sounds from Boston, Prestige 130. This 10-inch LP is in VG/G condition. The buy-it-now price is $149. The Gigi Gryce/Clifford Brown Sextet, Blue Note 5048. This 10-inch LP is in VG+/VG+ condition. The asking price is $899.  Jazz at Massey Hall Volume 1, Debut 2. This 10-inch LP is in VG+/VG+ condition. It has an asking price of $799. And what do you make of this one: Lester Young, Pres  Is Blue, Charlie Parker Records 405. This is in m-/VG+ condition and has an asking price of $159. Did this record become a collectible while we weren’t looking here at Jazz Collector?

New Items For the Price Guide

 

Hank

Hank

Just to follow up on some of the records we were watching earlier this week, and some that will be going into the Jazz Collector Price Guide this weekend.  Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in what looked like VG++/VG++ condition. Price: $935. Thelonious Monk, French Swing, 33342. This is a 10-inch LP in near mint condition. Price: $570

Nobody bid more than $15 for this record, and it didn’t sell because it didn’t meet the dealer’s reserve price: Gil Melle, New Faces . . . New Sounds, Blue Note 5020. 

Moondog, Prestige 7042. This was an original pressing in VG++/VG++ condition. Price $89.98 Read more

Today on EBAY, October 16, 2008

I continue to look ahead on eBay and I continue to not find much. Here’s what I could scrape up today — just a few, but a couple of prime cuts.

Look at this one: Thelonious Monk on French Swing 33342. This is a 10-inch LP that looks to be in fantastic condition. This is another rarity where we could use someone from the audience to give us a little background. The current price is $375. I haven’t seen one of these, so it’s not in the Price Guide, but it will be once this one closes. 

Another beauty: Hank Mobley, Hank, Blue Note 1560. This is an original pressing in very nice condition and the current price is $620. 

Pepper Adams Plays The Compositions of Charles Mingus, Workshop 219. This is an original mono pressing in M-/M- condition. A stereo copy sold recently for $95. This one is already at $127.50.

The same seller offering the Monk LP also has this one:  Gil Melle, New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5020. This has a start price of $15 and has no bids. But there’s also a reserve price.

Looking For Info On Sahib Shihab LP

One of the things we’re hoping to do with Jazz Collector is to create a place where readers can ask questions about jazz collectibles and others readers can respond. Toward that end, we are going to pose a question about this album that recently sold on eBay for $338: Sahib Shihab, Seeds. This was on German Vogue LDVS 17165. We are definitely less familiar with some of the European pressings and don’t know much about this LP, so if anyone has any insight, please feel free to share it. Thanks.

A Sinatra 10-Inch LP for $200????

I’ve been saving this one for a couple of weeks because I can’t quite figure it out. It’s a 10-inch LP by Frank Sinatra: Songs by Sinatra, Volume 1, Columbia 6087. It was in nice condition and it’s a nice record, but it sold for $202.50, which is way more than these records usually get. I looked at the bidding and it looks like there were two bidders who got into a bidding war. So, perhaps it was a clash of egos. Can anyone think of any other reason why this record would sell for such a high price? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Latest Additions to Price Guide

Here are updates on some of the records we’ve mentioned here in the past few days. We’re not using links with these, since there are links on these elsewhere on the site. You can just do a search if you want to look at the original. Nothing too crazy here as far as prices, but nothing at all that would lead you to believe there’s any kind of slowdown. These will also be added to the Price Guide, as soon as I finish this post. Here goes: 

Ben Webster, The Consummate Artistry, Norgran 1001. When we first spotted this, it was at about $30 with just a few hours to go. It sold for $203.51. It was an original pressing in M-/VG++ condition.

Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Atlantic 1317. This was with the bulls-eye label in VG++/VG++ condition. It sold for $72.60

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Today on EBAY, October 15, 2008

I asked the other day why things are slow on eBay. Nobody replied, so I assume it’s just one of those things. Today is still slow although, as always, there are some interesting items to watch. Here goes:

Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz To Come, Atlantic 1317. This pressing has the bulls-eye label. It’s closing soon and is at $73. One of the reasons I’m watching this is because I’ve seen this record often and rarely have I seen it fetch collectible prices. But, even at $73, that’s already evidence that it is becoming more of a collectible, at least the version with this label. 

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A Tribute to William Claxton

Claxography


I opened up my New York Times this morning to the news that the great jazz photographer William Claxton had died at age 80. Claxton was one of the great jazz photographers, mainly on the West Coast, and he was most noted for his great, almost obsessive, work in shooting the young Chet Baker. His first jazz photography was in album covers, and he was something of a house photographer for Pacific Jazz Records. In some cases, the value of some of the top collectible records are, in part, a tribute to his innovative and interesting covers. One that comes to mind, in addition to the Baker LPs on Pacific Jazz, is Sonny Rollins’ Way Out West on Contemporary, with Sonny notably dressed in a 10-gallon hat and holster with his tenor slung at his side like a weapon, which it was in Sonny’s hands. Read more

Today on EBAY, October 14, 2008

Another slow day on EBAY. Is there a holiday somewhere? Are sellers afraid to put up their records because of the economy? Is it just the ebb and flow of the market? Whatever the reason, there are not a great deal of high-end items on Ebay today, but there are certainly a few to make things interesting. And here they are:

Sonny Side Up, Dizzy Gillespie with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt, Verve 8262. This is in nice condition and is currently at only $24.50. A nice Verve collectible, which will probably go for a reasonable price. It’s strange: I’ve had this record for maybe 30 years, and I just realized that it’s Sonny, with an “O” and not Sunny with a “U.” Definitely works better with the “O.”

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