Jazz Collector | For Those Who Love Jazz | eBay auction results for Classic Jazz LPs

A Jazz Potpourri for the New Year

January 3, 2016 Al 31 comments

Here’s a jazz potpourri to start the new year. This one came in from CeeDee under the subject “another for the $1k club” and it was John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This was an early (second?) pressing with the West 63rd Street able, deep grooves, RVG, ear, etc. An original original would have the New York 23 label on one side, which would make it a potential $2,000 record. This one was in M- condition for both the record and the cover and it sold for $1,000.01. It’s not a first pressing but, in that condition and given the state of the Blue Note market, the inclusion into the $1,000 club is, for me, not a big surprise. CeeDee also sent me this one, which is a surprise: Earl “Fatha” Hines, Here Comes, Contact CM-6. This was an original pressing with the gatefold cover. It was part of the Dr. Herb Wong collection being sold by Funkyousounds. The record was listed in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $192.50. I really can’t recall any Fatha Hines records attracting collectible prices, or even collector interest, so this is a surprise. It does have Richard Davis and Elvin Jones and a pretty cool cover, so perhaps that drove the interest. Any other thoughts?

High Prices (What Else is New?) & Happy New Year

December 31, 2015 Al 20 comments

I’ve been getting a lot of email and there have been a lot of comments about prices going through the roof, particularly on some of the records from the late Dr. Herb Wong. Here are some of the ones that have been sent to me, and a few of my own observations, starting with Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing from the Wong collection and it was in just VG condition for the record and VG- for the cover. Despite the condition it sold for $555.99. Then there was this one, which I had mentioned in an earlier post: Johnny Griffin, The Kerry Dancers, Riverside 420. This was an original white label promo copy. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. When we first noticed this record it was in the $300 range. It ended up selling for $915.

Later Pressings and Rising Prices: Merry Christmas

December 25, 2015 Al 13 comments

CeeDee sent a note last week with a few links, including the Red Garland Manteca we mentioned the other day. Another one from the list: Stan Getz, The Steamer, Verve 8294. This also came from the Herb Wong collection. I love this record, but this was a second pressing with the MGM logo. It was in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $97. An aberration or a shift in the market? Seed’s comment was that it “looks like even the more commonly seen LPs can bring in a haul these days.” That’s true to an extent, although it’s hard to say that even the MGM presses are commonly seen. We’ll keep an eye on this trend. I saved a lot of the MGM pressings from the Irving Kalus collection. I grew my collection on these pressings, almost all purchased from my late friend Red Carraro, who had boxes and boxes in his basement for many years. No doubt, Irving purchased them from the same place.

All I Want for Christmas

December 24, 2015 Al 6 comments

Actually, I don’t even celebrate Christmas, but that’s quite beside the point, isn’t it? I spent a couple of hours today just looking at my records and going through the shelves, one by one. It’s a pretty damn good collection, I must say. Although it is not complete. Not even close. So, when I do look at the collection, what’s missing. Or, more to the point, if I were to make a Christmas Wish List, what would I put on it? Here we go, all original pressings, of course.

1. Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. Yes, I’ve been searching for this record for years, and yes, I could just pay the price and buy a copy on eBay. But that takes out all of the fun. Now, if The Lovely Mrs. JC would be interested in a gift for my upcoming birthday, I wouldn’t complain about that at all, no matter what the price.

2. Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. No the list will not be all Blue Notes, but it could be if I wanted to go there. This happens to be another favorite. I’ve owned a Japanese pressing for years. Two, in fact. But an original on my shelf would be quite appealing.

3. Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. No I don’t have it. If I did, whenever someone would ask me what’s the most valuable record in your collection, I could point to that. Right now, when someone asks, I don’t know exactly what to say. The music is pretty good too, no?

Some Gems From a Gem of a Collection

December 23, 2015 Al 11 comments

Here’s a nice one: Johnny Griffin, The Kerry Dancers, Riverside 420. This looks do be an original promo pressing with the white label and the deep grooves. It is listed in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The bidding is in the $300 range with more than five days left on the auction. The seller notes that it is from the estate of the late Dr. Herb Wong, who was a pretty well known jazz historian, writer and radio host in the San Francisco Bay area. The seller, Funkyousounds, states in the listing that it has acquired Dr. Wong’s entire collection. I noticed a bunch of other auctions from the estate earlier this week. Funkyousounds is based in St.Louis, so I, for one, am curious how they ended up with the collection. Funkyousounds, if you are out there, perhaps you have a story to share with us here at Jazz Collector?

One of the other ones I had noticed from the collection was this:

Outward Bound, I Wish I Was

December 22, 2015 Al 8 comments

Here’s one of my favorite covers: Eric Dolphy, Outward Bound, New Jazz 8236. This is an original pressing with the deep grooves and the purple label. The record and cover both look to be in about VG++ condition. The seller has placed a high opening price of more than $700 and so far there are no bidders. We’ll see. I don’t recall this record ever selling for more than $500. I tried doing a Google search for information about the cover, but there was scant detail. Anyone? At the same time, there is also this for sale on eBay: Eric Dolphy, Outward Bound, Esquire 32-123. This is a first press from the U.K. The condition is not nearly so good as the American original, I would guess VG for both the record and the cover, based on the seller’s description. There are three days left on the auction and there is a single bid at about $66.

Here’s another nice Prestige:

Prestige

Clearing the Dex in an LA Dumpster

December 19, 2015 Al 14 comments

And now we have a very interesting item in the Jazz Collector in-box. A few days ago we received an email with the intriguing subject line: “Dexter Gordon record found dumpster diving in LA.” It’s not something you see very often. And here were the contents of the note: “Hello, I was dumpster diving in LA today outside a house they cleaned out. The bottom on the dumpster was thousands of jazz records of someone’s collection. The owner of the house was old and I think the just threw out all his stuff. It was a shame it was such a huge collection. I grab two crates that I could get to. One record that made me think was a Dexter Gordon record, looks like maybe a tear press as it was just hand written on. I have a pic. Is this something that might be worth something?” I asked him to send me a picture, and he did, as follows:

Now immediately recognized the two tracks as coming from the Dexter Gordon album, Doin’ All Right, Blue Note 4077. But on the original album these two songs are on different sides. Read more

Blue Note

Propheting and Profiting From Jazz Vinyl and Memorabilia

December 17, 2015 Al 12 comments

Had my eye on this one: Kenny Dorham and the Jazz Prophets, ABC Paramount 122. This was an original deep groove pressing listed in Ex condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $343. I’d recently had an email exchange with a reader who said he’s been watching this record and, in a period of just a few weeks, he’d seen the price range from $28 to $1,000. I saw I thought of it as as $400-$500 record, but more in pristine condition. So, from my perspective, this seems to be around the market value. At least it was the market value for this particular copy. I once had an opportunity to buy a beautiful copy of this record at the Jazz Record Center in New York for $100. I wasn’t particularly flush at the time, so I passed. Then I went home and changed my mind. Came back a few days later and the record was gone. I asked Fred about it. He said he had made a mistake in pricing it at just $100 and I should have jumped at the opportunity. That was probably 25 years ago. I finally got a copy of this record in the Baltimore collection almost exactly two years ago. Have yet to listen to it. Perhaps I will correct that oversight later this evening.

Here’s some stuff from my email inbox:

A Price Supreme. A Price Supreme

December 8, 2015 Al 23 comments

This one comes from CeeDee in an email with the above headline and all I can say is “WOW!” John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse 77. This was an original white label promo copy. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was Ex. The final price was $1,225, which is the most we’ve seen for A Love Supreme. It is certainly a classic record, and there is definitely a limited supply of promo copies, so I guess if you want to own one you have to pay the price. The same seller also sold this: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing listed in VG+ (or slightly better) condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $2,550.

Jazz Vinyl From Some of Our Favorite Cats

December 3, 2015 Al 3 comments

I’m cleaning out my eBay watch list so here are various odds and ends from the past six weeks or so, starting with Tommy Flanagan, The Cats, New Jazz 8217. This was an original pressing with the deep grooves and the purple labels. The record and cover both looked to be in M- condition, very nice indeed. Of course, one of the attractions of this record is that it features John Coltrane. When I acquired this record I filed it with my Coltranes because I was just building my Trane collection and every collectible record with Coltrane was a treasure to me. I hate to tell you when this was, but it was more than 40 years ago. I can’t believe I’m that old. Anyway, now that my Coltrane collection is more robust, this is properly filed with the Flanagans. This copy sold for a very nice $600. Nice for the seller and I’m sure very nice for the buyer, who will have a lovely record for his turntable and collection.

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