Digging Deeper Into the Jazz Collector Collection

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I was perusing eBay this morning and came upon: Sonny Rollins Plus Four, Prestige 7038. This is an original New York yellow label pressing with the first cover. The record is listed in VG++ condition and the cover is VG. The bidding is in the $315 range with more than a day left on the auction. One of the reasons I saved this record on my watch list was to remind myself that, prior to my recent road trip, I had planned to write a post talking about records I had recently been enjoying, and this was among the foremost – or should I say, Fourmost? – on the list. So here is that record, and here is that post. Read more

Miscellaneous Music and Musings

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Back from a road trip that took me from The Berkshires to Chapel Hill to DC to New York and back. Didn’t stop in a single record store along the way and returned home to find that there are now two new record stores a few hundred feet apart in the little town of Great Barrington near my home. One of the record stores opens next week, the other opened this past weekend. I stopped by the one that has opened and it has the feeling of a guy clearing out his house, basement, garage and attic of a lot of stuff. But there were definitely records to view and buy, particularly if you are into vocals. I came upon a lot of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, but I can’t vouch for the conditions. As of now, there is no organization to the store, everything seems to be thrown in at random. I did find three 10-inch records to buy: Lars Gullin on Vogue, James Moody on Emarcy and Frank Rosolino on Capital. They seemed in decent enough condition at the store, but when I took them out of the car I realized I would have to sneak them into the house because they smelled of mildew. I may go back to check out the store again, but I’ll be careful. Maybe next time I’ll take off the mask so I can make use of my sense of smell before buying anything. As for the other store, I’ll check it out when it opens and get back to you with a report.

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Really, McCoy!

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I realize it’s a long gap between posts when readers send me links to records that have sold  recently on eBay. It’s like a gentle reminder that you are still out there, which I appreciate. This link came to my in box yesterday from Aaron: McCoy Tyner, The Real McCoy, Blue Note 4264. This was an original mono Liberty pressing from the seller Carolina Soul. It was listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. I’ve never purchased from them, but based on the prices they get and their descriptions of the records, I have a sense that they are pretty conservative with the grading. Is that true? In any case, this record sold for $336, with the following note from Aaron: “Hi Al, Not sure if you saw the latest auction for an original mono McCoy Tyner The Real McCoy but it brought back memories of your post from 2014 (Really, McCoy?) when it ‘sold for $171.05, quite a high price for a later Liberty.’” To Aaron and all: In hindsight, I probably misjudged the rarity of and interest in this record back in 2014, particularly the original mono version. According to Popsike, there have been many instances of The Real McCoy selling for more than $200, with a top price of $406. Read more

Random Rare (And Not So Rare) Jazz Vinyl

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Back on eBay and here are a few that caught my eye: Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights Volume 1, Blue Note 1596. This is an original West 63rd Street, deep-groove pressing and, of course, it has the Andy Warhol cover. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover is VG++.  The bidding closes in about a day and the price is at $405. The seller is one of my favorite record stores, Round Again Records in Providence, RI. My son went to undergraduate and grad school at Brown, so I used to visit the store quite often and always had a nice conversation with the owner Steve, and always walked away with a few nice records. It’s been a while – Michael finished grad school in 2010 – so it’s nice to see that Steve is still buying and selling records and finding those occasional lovely Blue Note scores. Makes me think about taking a drive over there. Hey, it’s only a couple of hours. One of these days. Read more

Catching Up: Blue Notes and Prestige

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Sorry for the long gap between posts. I spent a week in New York and when I got back I began a major record reorganization project to clear space in the house, which has resulted in me moving 2,000 records and my entire Downbeat collection into storage for potential sale and/or donation. I imagine that sentence may pique some interest, so feel free to email me if you have questions. The time is ripe: I’m in a purging frame of mind, and who knows how long that will last? Anyway, I’m back on eBay once again and, as always, watching jazz vinyl for sale, starting with: Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk, Prestige 190. This is an original 10-inch LP, listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG for the cover (and what a great cover it is). The bidding is in the $240 range. Seeing this record, which I don’t own, I am wondering why Prestige chose to issue this on 12-inch in Monk’s name and not Sonny’s. Anyone venture a guess or opinion? Rudolf, our Prestige expert, any insight? Read more

Four Updates For the $1,000-Plus Bin

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This one comes to us via Clifford, with the comment “Basra into the big boy bin” followed by the pithy commentary “OOF!” Pete LaRoca, Basra, Blue Note 4205. This was an original New York USA mono pressing listed in M- condition for the record. As for the cover, the seller grades it as Ex. From the pictures it is no better than VG+ and probably  on the low end of the VG+ scale at best. The final price was $1,575. Prior to this year, the top price for Basra was $820. But this is the second copy this year to sell for more than $1,000, following a $1,350 sale in February, according to Popsike. OOF! Indeed. Read more

Highlights from a (sold) Estate Sale

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A reader sent me a link to this estate sale with a note that it was being sold as a complete collection: The Estate of Alan J. Javorcky: Noted Trombone and Jazz Musician.  I received the note around 3 p.m. yesterday and went immediately to the site.  First thing I saw was a note that the jazz collection had been sold and was no longer available. I decided to look anyway, and I suggest that you do the same before they take the pictures away.Go all the way down to lot #212. First you’ll see a batch of EPs. At first blush, I thought these were 10-inch LPs erroneously listed as EPs, but I’m pretty sure they are EPs. Maybe someone can confirm. The picture is from that group of EPs It’s a challenge because the EPs and 10-inch LPs often used the same covers. Move down to 310 and you start with LPs of the 10- and 12-inch kind. Read more

Jazz Collector In Box: Time Traveling in Jazz

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Time to catch up with the old Jazz Collector in box. My friend Dan sends me cool pictures that he finds somewhere on the internet. This one came in the other day from March 20, 1963, the opportunity to see John Coltrane in New Orleans for an admission charge of $2. Ah, if we could go back in time. What would be your first choice? Bird on 52nd Street; Sonny, Max and Clifford; Blakey with Horace Silver and Clifford Brown; Blakey with Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard; Lester with Basie; Billie Holiday; Miles with Trane, Bill Evans and Cannonball; Evans and LaFaro; Monk with Newk or Trane? Those would be some of my choices, off the top of my head, and certainly Coltrane with McCoy, Garrison and Elvin in 1963 would  be somewhere near the top of the list. If I had to choose one, it would be easy: Bird. Read more

The New Abnormal?

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Interesting article in The New York Times yesterday about how the pandemic has created a spike in the market for collectibles (Here’s How Bored Rich People Are Spending Their Extra Cash). While I think the headline is not quite accurate and designed to attract eyeballs rather than inform (hey, I am still a journalist/editor at heart), the premise of prices going up for collectibles certainly pertains to our jazz vinyl market here at Jazz Collector. Although records are not one of the collectibles mentioned in the article, a lot of our recent posts have been about skyrocketing prices. Perhaps it’s a phenomenon of the pandemic and will wither a bit when the world goes back to some kind of new normal, or maybe it’s indicative of a market that seems to know no ceiling. Whatever it is, it’s becoming more and more tempting to get back in the game and start selling records again. Let’s see why, starting with J. R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in Ex condition for the cover and record. Based on the pictures of the cover that Ex would translate into VG (at best) if I was looking to buy. The final price was $2,650. Read more

The First Blue Note, Anyone?

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Perusing eBay this morning and came upon this listing: “Ridiculously RARE Blue Note Number 1 Meade “Lux” Lewis Pink and Black label.” It stopped me in my browsing tracks because this is a record I have never had the opportunity to own or even to see in person, only as random and rare listings on eBay. It would be nice to own, the first Blue Note release, but the price tag is quite steep. This copy is listed in E+ condition, which is great for a 78. The start price is at $700 and so far there are no bidders, but I’m sure that will change over the course of the next six days until the auction closes. The seller says there were 200 copies pressed with this label. I don’t doubt him, just wondering where the information came from. Just a couple of weeks ago there was this article about this record on Discover Music, The First Blue Note Record is Released: Meade “Lux” Lewis ‘Melancholy Blues.’ Looking on Popsike, the high water mark for this record in the past was about $2,000, and there have been at least four other recorded instances of the record selling for more than $1,000. Pretty cool. Read more

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