This week’s theme. Various jazz vocals on vinyl. Artists include Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Quincy Jones, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Ben Webster, Helen Humes, Carmen McRae, Duke Ellington, Annie Ross, Gerry Mulligan, Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, Maxine Sullivan, Cannonball Adderley, Helen Merrill, Clifford Brown.
Here’s some interesting jazz vinyl we’re watching on eBay:
This one is heading for the $2,000 bin, or perhaps even the tough-to-crack $3,000 bin: Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538. his is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is described as close to mint and the cover looks to be in beautiful condition as well. The bidding has already topped $1,500 for this fine LP and there is still more than a day to go.
Here’s another nice one that will sell for quite a bit less, based on condition: Hank Mobley Quintet, Blue Note 1550. This looks to be an original pressing with the New York 23 and it is listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The current price is a bit more than $300 and there’s still another day to go.
Is it possible this next one won’t sell at all: Dinah Washington, Dinah Jams, Emarcy 36000? This is a great LP, featuring Clifford Brown, among others, and it has sold for relatively high collectible prices in this past. We’ve clocked it in at more than $130 on the Jazz Collector Price Guide. This copy is an original pressing with the blue back cover and it is listed in M- condition. The start price is $100 and there are no bidders with a few hours to go.
It was interesting to note the Helen Merrill record that sold for almost $1,800 the other day (Emarcy 36006). This is a terrific record featuring Clifford Brown and it’s highly valued by collectors. Clifford, of course, made records with other vocalists before he died so young, including the great Sarah Vaughan LP on Emarcy and this great one by Dinah Washington: Dinah Jams, Emarcy 36000. Dinah Jams not only features Clifford, it also features Clark Terry and Maynard Ferguson in a trumpet battle tour-de force. While the Helen Merrill album can be quite pricey, and the Sarah has been known to sell for more than $100, we’ve rarely seen the Dinah — or any Dinah Washington LP — sell for high-end collectible prices. So, it was nice to see that a copy of Dinah Jams sold the other day for $109.38 to someone who, obviously, has great taste in music and records.
If it’s Thursday, it must be mail day. Today we have a couple of thank-you notes, plus a request for information about Prestige 10-inch LPs. If anyone out there has the answer to the Prestige question, send a note to us. And please, keep those cards and letters coming.
“Just wanted to say thanks for the Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller LP I won a month or so back. Only got to listen to it last night and, wow, was I impressed. My orbit for jazz vocals has always had Ella at the center, with Sarah Vaughan, a little early Nancy Wilson and not much else. I’d never really heard Dinah before. Oh, what I’d been missing. Read more
