Watching (and Buying) Some Rare Blue Notes

Like many of you I’m greatly intrigued by the discussion on Why We Collect but, alas, I cannot shirk my normal obsession and obligation to keep an eye on collectible jazz vinyl on eBay. Here are some of the items I’m watching:

Lou Donaldson, Lou Takes Off, Blue Note 1591. Hard to believe, but I never had an original pressing of this record — until now. I have made a little bit of a purchase, including a bunch of Blue Notes. I will give you more details once the full purchase is complete, probably sometime next week. In the meantime, I’m watching this to see if I overpaid. This one is listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It is currently at about $215 with another day to go. I expect this to go for quite a bit more, with the added benefit of Sonny Clark on piano.

This one could set a new record, perhaps: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This is an original pressing listed in near mint for the record and what looks to be at least VG++ for the cover. The seller is reputable and has been posting some very nice items the past few weeks. This one is already more than $3,100, yet it hasn’t met the seller’s reserve. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide we’ve recorded this as selling for $5,600 in the past, the highest price we’ve ever seen for a single jazz record.

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Mobley Blue Note 1568: Looking For A Record?

As CeeDee was kind enough to point out, there is a killer record (that’s American colloquialism for our Asian and European friends — the record actually hasn’t killed anyone) on eBay now: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This looks to be an original pressing. The cover is described as “Pristine.” The record is described as “Unplayed.”  The price is now more than $1,000 and there are still six days to go on the bidding. There is also a “buy-it-now” price of $5,000 and, frankly, I think someone will pop in to get this gem off the market quickly, setting a new high price for the Jazz Collector Price Guide. The seller has a full description of how he purchased this record, and many others, from the late jazz vinyl dealer Leon Leavitt. This will be one to keep an eye on.

Also on eBay now: Curtis Fuller, The Opener, Blue Note 1567. This too looks to be an original pressing. It is listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The start price is $700 and there’s a little more than one day left to bid. So far there are no bidders.

How about some of those items we were watching yesterday?

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A Trio of Blue Notes For A Monday Morning

Back to watching records on eBay. Don-lucky send me this as a heads-up, knowing my interest, expressed many times here, in obtaining an original pressing of this record: Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. This was an original pressing that was close to M- for the record and VG+ for the cover. The price was $721.67. This was way too rich for my blood. As I’ve explained, I’m in transition now, with some records in storage, so my collection isn’t all together in one place, so it’s hard to think about buying more records when I don’t even have access to all of the ones I currently own. Still, if I came upon a nice copy of this record for a reasonable price, or if someone offered up a nice collection, I assume the old adrenaline will kick in and I’ll be peeling off $100 bills.

Here’s some jazz vinyl for the $1,000 bin: Kenny Dorham, Round Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Blue Note 1524. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing and it was listed in Ex+ condition for the record — is that better than VG++, but less than M-? — and the cover was VG++. The price was $1,259.77.

This next one didn’t quite make the $1,000 bin but it came close:

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Guest Column: The Blue Note Guide, One More Time

With apologies to the author for my tardiness, here is an excellent guest column looking once again at Fred Cohen’s guide to Blue Note records. A version of this was previously published by the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors and Bill was gracious enough to do a new version for us here at Jazz Collector. I’m sure this will provoke much food for thought.

Vinyl Coverings, by Bill Schweitzer

The Blue Note Original Record Guide

Some mention of Blue Note Records appears in almost every column I’ve written for the IAJRC,. It is the single most discussed, collectible, and expensive LP label in jazz. There are Web sites and books dedicated to the music, packaging variations, photography and history. The nature of an “original” issue, with seemingly unending anomalies, has been debated in minute detail. Not without cause. An “original” can fetch astronomical prices on Ebay and elsewhere. So, if you’rebuying or selling, it’s important to know what is or isn’t a true “original.” Help has arrived.

Fred Cohen, long time IAJRC member, has just published  “Blue Note Records: A Guide For Identifying Original Pressings”, a Jazz Record Center Publication. At $45 it’s available at Jazz Record Center, 236 west 26 Street, #804, NY, NY 10001, or on the Web at jazzrecordcenter@verizon.net.

It’s been a long time coming and worth the wait. The objective of the book is to be a guide for determining original pre-Liberty issue Blue Notes (to BST 84252). With much acknowledged help, Fred has succeeded admirably. For 90 percent of the catalog, we now have a definitive model of what is an original issue. This is a great tool for sellers and buyers alike. However, it may also bring tears to the eyes of some folks who paid big bucks for a record only to find

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If It’s Monday it Must be Blue Note

Speaking of Hank Mobley, there’s this: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This is an original pressing and the seller has it in M-condition for the vinyl and excellent for the cover, which typically translate to VG+. There’s only a little more than a day left on the bidding and it’s only $660. I guess a lot of people are lurking in ambush. We’d still expect this to sell for more than $2,000, right?

Here’s a beauty from a seller with zero feedback who is selling his father’s collection, apparently one at a time starting with Kenny Dorham, Afro Cuban, Blue-Note 5065. He describes the record as VG++ and the cover as VG, but his experience is clearly limited so who knows? Pictures look pretty good to me, but the start price is a little rich for my blood: $350. There are no bidders, but I have a feeling it will sell.

And here would be the 12-inch version: Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 1535. This one is M- for the record and VG++ for the cover. It is more than $300 already. Which begs the question: Which would you rather have, the 10-inch LP or the 12-inch LP? Of course, most of you will be inclined to say “both” but what if it were only one?

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Guest Column: Review of Hank Mobley Bio

Thanks to Mike Falcon for the following excellent book review.

Workout: The Music of Hank Mobley By Derek Ansell

A Review by Mike Falcon

Hank Mobley’s music is well documented.  Hank recorded a wealth of material that fans are still enjoying a half-century later, perhaps more than ever.  But, for a very long time, any fan wanting to know more about Hank’s life had a hard time finding anything.  Searching the Internet yields little.  Searching back issues of jazz periodicals looking for any interviews wouldn’t yield much.  Derek Ansell explains in Workout: The Music of Hank Mobley that Hank only gave one substantial interview throughout his career. The interview occurred in 1973 when his career was in a steep decline.  Other than this, Ansell was forced to piece together a picture of Hank from what little others had to say about him.

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Jazz Vinyl Update: Blue Notes, The $1,000 Bin (& More)

Okay, back in the saddle. Let’s look at some of the interesting jazz vinyl we’ve missed on eBay, starting with the $1,000 bin and a few others that came close:

This one has been mentioned several times in the comments, so here it is with picture for the record: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This was in VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover and it was sold by Euclid Records. The price was $1,944. This one also came from Euclid Records: Lawrence Marable, Tenorman, Jazz West 8. This was an original pressing. The record was M- and the cover was VG+. The price was $1,711.11.

Lee Morgan Volume 3, Blue Note 1557. This was an original pressing. The record looked to be VG++ and the cover looked to be somewhere between VG and VG+. The price was $1,075.

These next few seemed to reach new heights while we were absent:

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Blue Notes on A Summer’s Day

On this warm, sticky, hot, sweltering summery day in New York, let us take a moment to catch up on some collectible jazz vinyl from the recent annals of eBay:

Here’s a nice Blue Note for what seemed to be a pretty reasonable price: Lou Donaldson, Swing and Soul, Blue Note 1566. This was an original pressing from a reputable seller. The vinyl was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $460.75, and this is quite a fine record, indeed. There was a second copy of this record for sale. The record and cover were VG++ and the

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Mobley 10-Inch For The $2,000 Bin

I’ve been updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide and noticed that I somehow missed writing about the final price of this one: Hank Mobley Quartet, Blue Note 5066. This is a nice 10-inch LP and it was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. When I first wrote about it the price was in the $340 range and there were a few days left on the auction and I kind of put it aside and assumed it would sell for somewhere near $1,000, as did a copy of Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 5065, its direct predecessor in the Blue Note catalogue. So now I am adding new items to the Price Guide and came back to the Mobley and was kind of surprised to see the final price, which was $2,251. Surprised, but not shocked, since all the Mobley Blue Notes are selling for top dollar these days. Still, this was the highest price we’ve seen so far for any 10-inch Blue Note. Congratulations to the seller, and to the buyer as well. As I said, I’ve been loading

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Here’s Blue Note 1540 . . . I Mean 1568

Here’s an interesting one. Remember that Mobley record that sold for more than $5,000 last week? Well, there’s another copy on eBay now, sort of. It’s there and it’s definitely Blue Note 1568, by the picture of the cover and the label. Yet  . . . . the seller, the same one who sold the copy of True Blue the other day for $2,800 seems to have mislabeled the record in the listing. If you just go by the headline, it would be Blue Note 1540. But the picture is clearly 1568 and the label is clearly 1568. Check it out. This is one of those Jazz Collector dilemmas — by calling attention to this I ruin any chance of getting it for a bargain price but, to be honest, this isn’t going for a bargain price under any circumstance. Perhaps the seller will even realize his error and pull the listing. I wouldn’t be surprised, would you?

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