Tag: Barney Wilen

Jazz Vinyl From Europe, U.S., and a Wish List

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Another day, another batch of rare jazz vinyl from eBay. Let’s start in Europe with Barney Wilen, Tilt, Swing LDM 30.058. This looks to be an original pressing in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. The bidding is in the $300 range and there are four days left on the auction. This has been a high-end collectible since I began watching eBay many years ago and has sold for more than $1,000 several times, including a high of $2,700, according to Popsike. I’ve never owned this record, nor have I heard the music. In fact, if it weren’t for eBay, I probably wouldn’t know about it. I’ve always been impressed whenever I’ve listened to Wilen, so I imagine it is collectible not just because it is rare, but because the music is also first rate. Oui? Read more

A Cross Section of Collectible Jazz Vinyl

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We’re watching a few auctions from the seller bullsite2000, including Billy Taylor, Cross Section, Prestige 7071. This is an original New York yellow label pressing. It looks like the record is in about VG++ condition and the cover is M-. The bidding is in the $90 range and the auction closes later today. Typically, you don’t see any Billy Taylor records selling for high prices. This particular record seems to be somewhat of an exception, selling for more than $200 several times on Popsike. We’ll see what this one goes for. I like the picture on the cover, which is one of the reasons I’m mentioning here at Jazz Collector: It’s not often that I get to use a Billy Taylor Prestige cover with one of my posts, and this one has the old record player, the tube amp and the old records. Wouldn’t you like to own the records on THAT shelf. This is another one with a great cover: Jay Jay Johnson Sextet, Blue Note 5028. This is an original 10-inch Lexington Avenue pressing. The record looks to be in VG+ condition and the cover VG++. It is also closing today. The bidding is in the $250 range.

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Wilen, Sonny Red (and a Story Goes With It)

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Clifford had mentioned this in a comment on one of the posts from earlier this week: Barney Wilen Quintet, Guilde Du Jazz J-1239. This is an original pressing that looks to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The bidding is close to $400 with two days left, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price. We’ve seen some very high prices for this record in the past, including one that approached $3,000, although that seemed to be an aberration. Still, we expect to see a fairly high price tag on this one, given the condition. If you miss out on that one there’s another original copy of the same record closing a couple of days later. This one isn’t quite in the same condition. The record is graded Ex and the cover is VG. The start price is about $700 and so far there are no bidders.

What was I thinking when I traded away a copy of the following record more than 30 years ago?

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Now These Are Some Heavy Hitters

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Art Pepper Jazz VinylI missed this one last week: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $4,054. You don’t find many records breaking into the $4,000 bin, but certainly more than there used to be. Then again, there was that copy of John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577, that sold for $4,717.89 a couple of weeks ago. Amazing. Then there was The Return of Art Pepper, East West JWLP 10. We were watching this one the other day and there were no bids at a start price of about $500 with just a couple of days left on the auction. I predicted it would sell, which was not that hard to do. But I would not have predicted that the price would have been $2,026.01. Amazing. It was also noteworthy that there were only three bidders and three bids, and they all came during the auction’s closing seconds, the winner and second place finisher presumably using some kind of sniping software.

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Finding Jazz Vinyl “Bargains?”

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JR copySince I’ve been offline for a bit, let’s catch up on some of the items we were watching when we left, and then we’ll move on to some new items in the next post. Lots of Blue Notes today, starting with J.R. Montrose, Blue Note 1536. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing that was listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for just $667. I say “just” because we’ve seen this record sell for quite a bit more, in even worse condition than this one. I imagine the buyer is quite happy with this purchase.

Lee Morgan, City Lights, Blue Note 1575. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing that was listed inn M- condition for both the record and the cover. This one sold for $775 and that’s another “just” because this record has surpassed the $1,000 mark several times in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Are we seeing a temporary dip in the market as we head into the summer? I don’t follow exchange rates closely — is that an issue that would drive prices down?

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Le Jazz Vinyl Et Plus

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Barney Wilen Jazz VinylI thought I’d have more to say about the death or Ornette Coleman, but I really don’t. I am not an expert on his music and was never really a fan, although I typically liked what I heard, at least from his early years. So I’m going to go back to what I normally do here, which is watch records on eBay, starting with a pair of French records from a French seller: Barney Wilen, Tilt, Swing 30.058. This is an original pressing from 1957. It is listed in VG+ condition for the record and M- for the cover. The price is in the $400 range with less than two days left, but it has not yet reached the seller’s reserve price. Nice cover, but don’t know the record. Readers? Another one that is quite rare, but unfamiliar to my ears:

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A Rare One, A New One & A Work of Art

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barney WilenLots of interesting jazz vinyl on our watch list today, so let’s get right to it, starting with Barney Wilen, Tilt, Swing LDM 30.058. This is an original French pressing is in Ex- condition, which may be VG or VG+, and the cover is probably VG, with very visible ring wear. This is one of the real rare ones and has sold for as much as $2,700 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Given the condition, this one won’t  fetch nearly as much, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it hit the $1,000 bin, just based on it’s rarity.

I always like to find records I’ve never seen before, and here is another: Jimmy Forrest’s Night Train, United Record Company 002. This looks to be an original 12-inch LP in VG condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. I have a bunch of 78s on the United label, but no LPs. Apparently the label was in existence from 1951 to 1957, out of Chicago. According to Wikipedia it never issued 12-inch LPs, but this would seem to prove Wikipedia wrong? Unless the seller is mistaken? Somebody out there should know this, right? Anyway, the start price for this record, whatever the format, is about $150 and so far there are no takers. Looks like a nice piece of history to me.

I’ll be curious to see if this record sells:

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An Afternoon Soul Stirrin’ in Paris

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Let’s catch up on some interesting jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay.

For as long as I’ve been collecting, it’s nice to know that there’s always something new to learn. Here’s a record I’ve like for a long time: John Lewis and Sacha Distel, Afternoon in Paris. I’ve only owned this as an Atlantic recording, black label, of course, and I frankly had no idea that it was originally issued in France under the Versailles label, Versailles, MDX 12 005. I just checked out the liner notes on my Atlantic pressing and it makes no mention of Versailles. It does mention that Barney Wilen was only 19 years old at the time of the recording, which is pretty incredible considering how well he plays on this record and how mature he sounds. Anyway, this copy was in VG++ condition for the record and M- for the cover, which was the soft cover that seemed to be typical of the European pressings in those days. This copy sold for $630. The highest price we’ve recorded for the Atlantic pressing in the Jazz Collector Price Guide has been $121.

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Lee, Newk, Pepper For the $1,000 Bin

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Here are a few recent eBay sales we missed:

Lee Morgan, Volume 3, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd pressing that looked to be in VG+ condition, perhaps a little better, but not nearly mint. It sold for $1,704.

Here’s another copy of Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original pressing in VG+ condition. It sold for $1,425.

Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro 606. Based on the description it sounds like this record was VG+, although it was listed as VG++. The price was $1,300.

Pretty cool so far: Three records for the $1,000 bin and none of them

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A Pair for the $2,000 Bin & A Pair of Surprises

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As we mentioned the other day, there has been an overflow of $1,000 records. Here are a few more, including a couple for the $2,000 bin:

Lee Morgan, City Lights, Blue Note 1575. This one was pointed out earlier by one of our readers.  It was in M- condition by a credible seller and it was an original pressing. It sold for $2,655.

Barney Wilen, Tilt, Swing Vogue LDM 30.058. This was an original French pressing. The record ws what we would call VG++ and the cover was M-. This one sold for $2,250.  This one is not new to the $2,000 club: It has previously sold for $2,700 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Sonny Criss, Jazz-USA, Imperial 9006. This was a surprise to see in this category, simply because

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