Tag: Andrew Hill

Alive and Well (And Live on the Radio)

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It’s been a looooooooong time between posts, so let me catch you up on what’s been going on around here. Overall, I’ve been extremely pleased with the way things have gone in my dealings with Carolina Soul. They have been professional in every respect. Very communicative, clear, consistent. They have been prompt with payments, and have answered any questions I’ve had with clear explanations. As for differences of opinion that we may have had on grading: I respect what they do and how they do it. I heard from several winners of the auctions that they agreed with me that some of the records were undergraded. Yet, Carolina Soul also experienced a number of returns. In fact, about 20 of my records that were returned are on eBay right now. For example: Andrew Hill, Black Fire, Blue Note 4151. I’ll provide a more complete list at the end of this post.

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A Period Piece and More

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As a collector, I have always tended to focus more on musicians than on labels. So, for example, it was more interesting to me to have original Coltrane, Miles or Cannonball records, than to focus on the Blue Note, Prestige or Riverside catalogues. Anyway, the key artists for me have been the key artists for many of you – Miles, Trane, Clifford Brown, Monk, Dexter, Sonny Rollins, and a few more. One of the records that has somehow slipped my grasp after all of these years of jazz collecting is this one: Sonny Rollins Plays, Period 1204. This is an original pressing listed in VG condition for the record and the cover. The start price is $500 and so far there are no bidders. I haven’t been buying in a while, but a record like this would be of interest for sure and would fill in that one Newk hole in my collection. And I always liked that cover.
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Classic Jazz Vinyl — But Will Anything Sell

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Rollins copyFinally back from a long break, and the first thing I’m going to do is take a look at what I left behind on my eBay watch list and catch up. This seller has several nice items for sale, including Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This is an original New York yellow label pressing listed in VG++ or M- condition for the record and M- for the cover. You don’t run across too many in this shape. There are two days left on this auction, the bidding is in the $1,350 range and so far it has not reached the seller’s reserve price. This one comes from the same seller and also has not yet reached its reserve price: Johnny Griffin, A Blowing Session, Blue Note 1559. This is an original pressing with the New York 23 labels. The bidding is in the $650 range. Surely, the bidding will move into the four figures, but whether that meets the seller’s price won’t be known until the auction actually closes.

Speaking of records not selling:

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Tracking Later Blue Note Pressings From the ’60s

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As noted in the comments on the previous post, the seller of the questionable Duke Pearson LP has a large number of jazz vinyl listings closing this weekend. In watching the auctions, I’m noting a surging interest in a lot of later Blue Notes, such as these:

Bobby Hutcherson, Components, Blue Note 4213. This looks to be an original mono pressing with the NY USA label. It looks to be in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The price is in the $150 range with more than a day left before the auction closes.

Andrew Hill, Compulsion, Blue Note 4217. This also looks to be an original mono pressing in similar condition as the Hutcherson LP, M- for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover. The bidding on this one is also in the $150 range.

Sam Rivers, A New Conception, Blue Note 4249. This is an original Liberty pressing. It is in VG++ condition. The price is more than $100.

Here are a few more that may surprise you:

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Updating Some Later Pre-Liberty Blue Notes

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Here are some “later” Blue Notes we’ve been watching.

Larry Young, Unity, Blue Note 4221. This was an original New York USA pressing with the ear and the Van Gelder stamp. It was in M- condition for the record and probably VG++ for the cover. It sold for $231.38.

Pete La Roca, Basra, Blue Note 4205. This is also an original New York USA pressing with the ear and the Van Gelder stamp. It is still in its original shrink wrap and in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was a whopping $494.99, quite a bit higher than the $1.59 Special on the shrink wrap. The way things are going, someday records such as these will be destined for the $1,000 bin, no?

This listing is lacking in information: Grachan Moncur III, Some Other Stuff, Blue Note 84177. This is a stereo pressing, which would seem to diminish the interest and value right off the bat. However, the seller doesn’t mention whether there is an ear or Van Gelder stamp in the deadwax. It is a New York USA pressing. It sold for $61 in what looked to be VG+ condition. Have to believe if buyers knew it was an original it would sell for more: Then again, if it’s not original, would it have sold for this much?

This is another stereo pressing without full information:

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More Blue Note Favorites, Courtesy of Downbeat

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I did that post earlier today and mentioned that Downbeat had done a whole feature asking various artists about their favorite Blue Note records. I was able to dig up my copy of the magazine — I don’t have a subscription anymore, but I had purchased this one on the newsstand because of the cover. It was from March of 2009. The cover, as you can see, has Joe Lovano with his favorite Blue Note: Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Free For All, Blue Note 4170. It’s quite gratifying to see his picture with a vinyl pressing, and a mono vinyl pressing at that and perhaps even an original mono pressing. Inside, the magazine asked a variety of other jazz artists to name their favorite Blue Notes as well. Here are their replies:

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Today on EBay: Miles, Monk, Warhol and More

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We’re back after taking the weekend off. The week on eBay gets off to a decent start today, with a few nice items to watch for the Jazz Collector Price Guide. We have a few items of our own closing today, including: Andrew Hill, Compulsion, Blue Note 4217. This is a mono pressing with the New York USA label and is in V++/VG+ condition. It’s only $25, so it might end up being a bargain for someone. We’re also watching these items, from other sellers:

Miles Davis, The Musings of Miles, Prestige 7007. This is an original mono pressing with the New York label from Euclid Records. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG++. The current price is about $130. I’m not sure how many of you ever go through the archives at Jazz Collector, but there are a lot of interesting items from the past that are worth finding. For instance, back in May 2004, I did a small birthday tribute to Miles (he would have been 78) and at the end I listed my Top Five Miles Davis records. I mention this, because this record, The Musings of Miles, was on that list. Click here to check it out. Read more

Catching up on Some Nice Collectibles

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Here’s a long list of records we’ve been watching:

Hank Mobley, Mobley’s Message, Prestige 7061. This was an original pressing in VG+/VG+ condition. Price: $679.58. That’s a pretty steep price for a VG+ record.

Speaking of steep prices for records in VG+ condition: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original New York pressing in VG+/VG+ condition. Price: $1,475

And yet another in VG+ condition: Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record was VG+ and the cover was VG+. The price was $749.99 Read more

This Weekend on eBay, Part 2

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We promised to show you a few more interesting items on sale this weekend on eBay, so here we go. We’ll also follow-up on all of these items during the week to see what happened with them. And, we’ll also include them on our Price Guide, which now includes more than 3,500 entries. 

The seller bluenotesound, which I’m pretty sure is affiliated with Mosaic Records, has several interesting Mosaics on sale, including: Andrew Hill, the Complete Andrew Hill Blue Note Sessions 1963-1966, Mosaic MQ10-161. This is number 0006 of a limited edition of 5,000. This seller has several other nice Mosaics, so be sure to look at his other items. Read more

Ebay Today, Oct. 2, 2008

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Ready for another day on eBay? Here we go:

Yesterday there were a couple of comments on the Norgran label. Here’s one for sale today: Lester Young, Pres and Sweets, Norgran 1043. Not my favorite of the Pres records, but it has a great cover by David Stone Martin. And if you like Sweets, try this: Sweets, Verve 8097. 

Here’s a heavyweight: Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. If you take a look at our Price Guide, you can see that it’s sold for as much as $1,600 on our watch. We’ll see how it goes here. This one is an original in very nice condition, but not mint. Read more