A Bird in Hand?

BirdHere are some jazz vinyl auctions to watch and record (for Jazz Collector) on eBay:

Charlie Parker, The Bird Blows the Blues, Dial 901. This is quite a rare find. I’m pretty sure we’ve established here on Jazz Collector that this was the first 12-inch jazz LP ever released, by Ross Russell at Dial as a promo with no cover. This particular copy is on red vinyl and is listed in VG condition with lots of scratches and no skips. The auction closes in less than two days and the bidding is in the $100 range.

Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House, Volume 1, Blue Note 1515. This looks to be an original pressing with the Lexington Avenue address and deep grooves. The seller lists the record and cover in VG+ condition, but if you look at the description in the listing it really reads a lot more like VG, with visible wear and audible noise. There are more than four days left in the auction and the bidding is in the $250 range.

Seldon Powell, Roost 2205. This is an original deep groove pressing. The record is VG+ and the cover is VG. The seller has a start price of around $350 and so far there are no takers. Think it will sell? I don’t. We haven’t seen it sell for more than around $220 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, and that was in better condition.

 

 

 

Realistic Pricing. Not

gerryI still have a few records and comments left over from the other day, so here goes.

What are some people thinking? Here’s a listing I decided to watch: Gerry Mulligan, Night Lights, Phillips 600-108. This was a stereo pressing with a promo label. The record was in M- condition and the cover was VG+. If you walked into a store and saw this record for $10 and you didn’t have it, you might buy it. The seller had a start price of $126. Seriously. Not only were there no bids, but only six people looked at the listing and I think three of them were me because I was so incredulous. At least there was free shipping.

Spend 24 hours on eBay and you’ll find dozens of similar examples. The seller of this record have had more than 80 all by himself: Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh, Atlantic 1217. This was an original black label pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. A a nice record, to be sure, but a start price of $320? From a seller who calls himself “vinyl realist?” Give him credit, though. He did manage to sell a few records and get top dollar for them.

 

24 Hours on Ebay

TatumI spent 24 hours on eBay. Well, not really. What I did was I looked at 24 consecutive hours worth of jazz records listed on eBay. I used to do this every single day, particularly when I was active buying and selling. But it’s not the way I look anymore. It was kind of fun. I put a few records in my watch list, which I will share momentarily, and I even bid on a couple of records, which will be the subject of another post. The thing that was most striking was the staggering percentage of records listed on eBay that just will not sell. This is primarily because there is no market for them, but there are others priced so ridiculously out of sync with the market that the seller is just wasting his time and money listing them. What is it, 90% of the records won’t get any bids? That’s my guess. It would be interesting if someone spent some time and did a study.

Anyway, here are a few that either closed earlier or are closing soon, starting with Art Tatum. Benny Carter, Louis Bellson, Clef 55. This was an original pressing with a nice cover by David Stone Martin. There’s really very little interest in Tatum these days, which I will never understand, so I wanted to watch this and see if it would sell. It did, for $42.12 in Ex condition for the record and the cover, VG+ in my language.

These next two surprised me. They are not records I normally watch because they don’t typically fetch collectible prices. They didn’t here, but they also sold for more money than I would have expected:

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Looking at Some Non-Auction eBay Jazz Vinyl

helenWhen I search on eBay, I typically set my filter to look only at auctions and not at records with buy-it-now prices. This has been particularly true when doing searches for records to post on Jazz Collector. For some reason, today I decided to look at buy-it-now auctions and was surprised to see how many nice collectible jazz records are available for a set price, even compared to those available by auction. This is somewhat of a trend on eBay: According to a recent survey less than 15 percent of listings on eBay are auction-only (Are eBay Auctions A Thing of the Past?). Anyway, here are some of the collectible jazz records you could buy today at a set price on eBay:

Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This is an original pressing in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The price is $1,000.

I thought this one my be reasonable, until I looked more closely at the listing: Helen Merrill, Emarcy 36006. The seller has it listed as a “first edition” in Ex+ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. We’ve seen this record in the $1,000 bin many times, so the $599 price seemed all right. But the back cover does not have the blue writing, so it is not a first press.

And here’s a beauty that I can’t imagine will sell at the asking price:

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Five For the Watch List

I just spent some time perusing jazz vinyl listings on eBay and, my, I was able to fill up my watch list quickly. Here are some of the items, starting with: Pepper Adams, Donald Byrd, et al, Motor City Scene, Bethlehem 6056.  This is a rare one you don’t see very often. In fact, I don’t recall ever seeing a copy of this record in any store or any collection. This one is in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. It closes in a couple of hours and the bidding is at $450.

 The Return of Art Pepper, Jazz West JWLP 10. This looks to be an original pressing in VG+ condition for the record and probably VG or a little better for the cover, based on the seller’s description. It also closes today and the bidding is in the low $200 range.

Temptation is back: Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. This looks to be an original pressing listed in Ex condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. There are two days to go and the bidding is in the $250 range. Father’s Day is in a few weeks. Hmmm.

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The Girls on the Vinyl

Saw this interesting movie yesterday called “The Girls in the Band.” It’s a documentary about female jazz musicians, not vocalists, from early jazz through today. So naturally, my reaction on walking out of the theater is that I wanted to write something about it for Jazz Collector and, of course, my focus would be on collectible records by female jazz artists.  I was taxing my brain to come up with the most valuable jazz record by female artists and all I could come up with were the Toshiko Akiyoshi records on Storyville and Norgran. So I got up this morning, did a search by price on the Jazz Collector Price Guide and the obvious records came up right away: The Jutta Hipp records on Blue Note, particularly Blue Note 1530 with Zoot Sims. Duh. I didn’t think of these immediately because, surprisingly, Jutta Hipp was not one of the artists mentioned in the film. After the Jutta Hipp records, what’s the next highest priced record by a female artist in the Jazz Collector Price Guide? Take a guess. Hint: It’s not one that I thought of.

The “Infamous” Junkie Cover?

Once again we will travel to France for today’s post thanks to our friend CeeDee, who seems to be inspiring a few of our reports lately. This one concerns this record: Miles Davis Group, Barclay 84.018. This was an original 10-inch French pressing that looked to be in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It consists of music from the Prestige “Dig” date, featuring Sonny Rollins and Jackie McLean. In his note to me, CeeDee described this as “the infamous junkie cover.” I had to confess my ignorance. I had never seen this cover before, nor had I ever heard of the picture and the reference to a junkie cover. I asked CeeDee what he knew. Apparently, he doesn’t know much in terms of details but said he’s always heard that’s how this particular cover was usually referenced by collectors and the image has rarely been produced in any format. He suggests that some of our European readers will have what he describes as the “grim details.” So let’s put it out there and see what comes back. The record sold for $577.89, by the way. I have a feeling after this post and subsequent comments, the value may go up even higher. I will say I, for one, am newly intrigued by this record.
Separately, CeeDee sent me these followup excerpts to set the mood of the times:

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Of Original Blue Notes and Shrink Wrap

Here’s some more jazz vinyl auctions we are watching on eBay, starting with: Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing, although there’s no New York 23 so perhaps not — where’s Fred’s book when I need it. This one is listed in VG condition for the record and the cover. The price is at $275 with more than four days to go. I find a couple of things interesting about this listing. One is the presence of some kind of plastic wrap around the record that the seller is claiming to be “original shrink” but I would be skeptical of that. Perhaps someone who was around in those days when these were new on the shelves would have more insight whether there was, indeed, any kind of shrink wrap and, if there was, whether it was this kind of loose shrink wrap as seen in the picture. The second interesting thing about this listing is in the questions, where there seems to a quite open discussion about selling the record before the auction is completed, even though there is no buy-it-now price listed with the record. That has always struck me as a bit of a breach of eBay etiquette. Or am I just being old-fashioned, having been a relatively early e-Bayer.

Whilst we’re looking Blue Notes, take a gander at these:

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Sing a Song of 78s

One of our readers has been in a 78-RPM frame of mind recently and has sent me a couple of interesting 78 auctions on eBay, specifically boxed sets. Here’s the latest: Billie Holiday Sings, Mercury C-118. We all recognize this cover from the 10-inch LP of the same title and packaging with the iconic David Stone Martin illustration, but this is a boxed set that includes four 78s. Everything seems to be in about VG+ condition. This is definitely a cool item, particularly if you are into 78s. The price is already more than $200 and the auction closes later today. I do have an issue purchasing 78s on eBay, however, and it has to do with shipping. I’ve purchased 78s on eBay and I’ve sold 78s on eBay and shipping these fragile items in the mail is a challenge. I’ve sent some that I though were packaged perfectly, using recommended packaging material from the industry leader, yet they still broke in the mail. For an item like this, I’d be a little nervous. By the way, I play my 78s on a portable Califone record player, the type they used to use in public schools. The 78s sound really good on them, they are convenient and you can easily buy one for less than $100 on eBay. We haven’t asked this in a while, but are their 78s collectors out there, and how do you handle purchasing/playing your records? Also, what do you collect, and why?

A Day For Rare Blue Notes

Here are a few rare jazz records we’re watching this week on eBay. Today’s version will focus on Blue Notes, starting with: Kenny Drew, Undercurrent, Blue Note 4059. This has the West 63rd address but no deep grooves. This one is always confusing and I don’t have the Fred Cohen book in front of me. It’s an original with either one side DG or no sides DG, right? Anyway, this one is in excellent minus condition, which is, what, VG+ in our terms. The price is nearly $300 and there are still four days to go.

Wayne Shorter, JuJu, Blue Note 4182. This looks like an original mono pressing with the New York USA address, as well as the ear and Van Gelder in the dead wax. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover is VG++. The record closes within a day and so far there are no bidders at a $189 start price.

Here’s a 10-inch Blue Note with a very cool insert:

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