So I finally got home on Monday after my trip to Trenton and massive traffic on the Belt Parkway through Brooklyn and Queens. I started unloading the records, My nosy neighbor was watching. I smiled. “Records,” I said. I’m not sure she knew what I was talking about. The records filled the front foyer of my house. There were seven crates altogether. I had decided to just take everything that Rob had. This included Christmas records, and Aretha Franklin, and some pretty well damaged jazz records. The first two crates I looked through had nothing. Was it all an illusion? In my rush of adrenaline and musk and mold and dust, did I imagine that there were collectible jazz records in this batch? I went searching for the Tina Brooks record. This I knew was a collectible. I grabbed it. The moldy flakes from the cover fell off in my hands. I grabbed the vinyl, went upstairs and put it on my VPI record cleaner. The dust and dirt and grime and mold came off, but the record was in only VG condition. And the cover? It was pretty bad, and it reeked of mold and musk. I threw it in the garbage. Not a good start.
Tag: Clifford Brown
Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Part 3
OK, so I let the nice collection in Hartford slip through my fingers. But I knew there was another option: Trenton, New Jersey. For the past couple of weeks I’d been dealing on line and on the phone with a guy named Rob in Trenton. Rob said his father had a friend who passed away and left his records to Rob’s dad, who had also passed away. Rob had been holding on to the records for years and was now ready to get rid of them. He’d come across Jazz Collector on line and saw some of the prices in the Price Guide and figured maybe they were worth something. We chatted and he sent me a bunch of pictures of records. There were definitely some nice ones in there, but there was no way for me to tell if they were originals or if they were in good condition. So I didn’t get too excited. Besides, I wasn’t sure what Rob wanted to do. At first I thought he might be interested in selling the records himself on eBay, and I told him that, in my opinion, that would be the way to get the best value for the records.
Dodo, Kenney, Wallington For the Price Guide
Here are a few more for the Jazz Collector Price Guide:
George Wallington, Jazz For the Carriage Trade, Prestige 7032. This was an original pressing with the New York label. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $343.89.
Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Study in Brown, Emarcy 36037. This was an original pressing with the drummer logo. The record and cover were both VG++. The price was $123.62.
Artie Shaw and His Grammercy Five, Volume 4, Clef 645. This was an original pressing with the David Stone Martin cover. The price was $56.
Serge Chaloff, Fable of Mabel, Storyville 317. This was an original 10-inch pressing in VG++ condition, both record and cover. he price was $91.
Chet Baker and Art Pepper, Playboys, Pacific Jazz 1234. This was an
This Week on Ebay: Miles, Clifford, Trane
We haven’t been very active selling on eBay lately: Just life getting in the way. However, this week we found some time to clean and post a bunch of items. It’s a mixed bag, but there are a few nice ones, including:
Miles Davis, Blue Haze, Prestige 7054. This is an original New York yellow label Prestige. It’s in VG+ condition, and sounds quite nice. We put a start price of $30 and it’s already received a bid, so we expect there to be some action.
We also put up a nice-sounding original copy of Clifford Brown, Jam Session, Emarcy 36002. This also has a start price of $30. It’s a great record, with a lot of positive energy.
As you may have noticed on the Jazz Collector site, we’ve been going through some old Downbeat Magazines, looking for collectibles (we’re even giving one away). We’ve put a few up for sale in our eBay story, and we put a very interesting one up for auction yesterday. It is:
Price Updates: Thad, Clifford, Bird, Evans
Here are a few more for the Price Guide:
Chet Baker and Art Pepper, Playboys, World Pacific 1234. This was an original pressing. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $318.
The Magnificent Thad Jones, Blue Note 1527. This was a Lexington Avenue pressing in VG++ condition, record and cover. Price: $565.
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers at the Bohemia Volume 2, Blue Note 1508. This was also a Lexington Avenue pressing in VG++ condition. Price: $162.50
Tommy Flanagan, The Cats, New Jazz 8217. This was an original purple label pressing
Today on eBay: Tracking Some 10-Inch LPs
I was watching the discussion about 10-inch LPs elsewhere on the site (click here) when I started doing my daily perusal of eBay and came upon a nice batch of 10-inch LPs being sold today by Euclid Records. We’ll see what this records eventually sell for but, if current price is any indication, maybe there’s something to the theory that interest in 10-inch LPs is declining. Of course, these things often run in cycles as well. Here are some of the items worth watching today:
Jay Jay Johnson, Blue Note 5028. This is a 10-inch LP featuring Clifford Brown being sold by Euclid Records. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG+. The current price is just $67, which doesn’t mean it won’t sell for a lot more. Also from Euclid on the 10-inch front: Dexter Gordon, New Sounds in Modern Music, Savoy 9003. This is an original pressing. The record is VG+ and the cover is VG++. The current price is about $30.
Also for sale today is a nice copy of a record we expect to sell for more than $1,000:
Bye, Bye Freddie, and Other EBAY UPdates
Just to catch up on a few items we’ve been watching at Jazz Collector, before we head into Manhattan for the WFMU Record Fair later today. That test pressing of Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040, is no longer available. After being on auction and failing to meet the seller’s reserve price, it sold for $1,500 as a buy-it-now item. Two of the other items we were watching from that seller are still available: Sonny Rollins Quartet, Prestige 137. This 10-inch LP can be had for $99.99; and The Julius Watkins Sextet, Volume 2, Blue Note 5064. This can also be had for $99.99.
Some Nice Records, Some High Prices
If you check on eBay now, there’s a seller from New York who has dozens of interesting jazz records at really, really, really high prices. Here are a few examples: Charlie Mariano, New Sounds from Boston, Prestige 130. This 10-inch LP is in VG/G condition. The buy-it-now price is $149. The Gigi Gryce/Clifford Brown Sextet, Blue Note 5048. This 10-inch LP is in VG+/VG+ condition. The asking price is $899. Jazz at Massey Hall Volume 1, Debut 2. This 10-inch LP is in VG+/VG+ condition. It has an asking price of $799. And what do you make of this one: Lester Young, Pres Is Blue, Charlie Parker Records 405. This is in m-/VG+ condition and has an asking price of $159. Did this record become a collectible while we weren’t looking here at Jazz Collector?
Ebay Today, October 7, 2008
Another fairly light day on eBay today, as far as high-end collectibles, but there are several worth watching. We also have a few of our own items closing today, so we’ll start with a couple of those:
Herbie Hancock, Takin’ Off, Blue Note 4109. This is a New York USA pressing in decent, but not great shape, although it’s one of those records that sounds better than it looks. You don’t often find Dexter Gordon as a sideman, but he is on this LP, which also includes the “hit” Watermelon Man.
This is another record we like a lot: Charles Mingus, Mingus Oh Yeah!, Atlantic 1377. When you listen to this record, you get a real sense that they were having a blast making it, and that energy is infectious. I think Roland Kirk never really came off as well in records as he did in person, but he certainly plays well on this LP. Definitely worth owning (the one I’m selling is a duplicate, as are most of the records I sell on eBay). If you want to see some of my other items, you can go to Items For Sale on the Web site, or you can just click this item and click View Seller’s Other Items. Read more
Autographs Redux
Since I wrote about collecting autographs recently, I’ve been keeping a watch on eBay for autographed LPs and other items. Generally, my theory holds that, with some notable exceptions, autographs don’t dramatically increase the worth of a collectible. Here’s a case in point: A few weeks ago an autographed copy of the Barry Galbraith LP Guitar in the Wind, Decca 9200, sold on eBay for $41 in VG condition, not much more than what a non-autographed copy might sell for.
But, then again, there are the exceptions. How about this one: An original copy of the Clifford Brown and Max Roach LP Study in Brown, Emarcy 36037, autographed by Clifford. Read more
April is Jazz Month
