Jazz Vinyl on eBay: Brilliant Brilliant Corners, et al

Here’s some interesting jazz vinyl to watch on eBay as we head into the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S.:

This seller has some nice items up now, including: Thelonious Monk, Brilliant Corners, Riverside 226. This is an original pressing with the white label, quite hard to find, and it is in M- condition for both the record and the cover. This one is a bit more than $300 and there’s another day to go and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one breaks into the $1,000 bin. This one is from the same seller: Dizzy Gillespie, Horn of Plenty, Blue Note 5017. This is an original Blue Note Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is in M- condition and the cover looks to be VG+. It hasn’t even hit the $100 mark yet. Correct me if I’m wrong — and I’m sure someone will — but I think this is the only Dizzy record on Blue Note, right?

This seller also has some beauties, including: Sonny Clark, Leapin’ and Lopin’, Blue Note 84091. This is an original stereo pressing, which means it doesn’t have the same cachet or value as a mono pressing, but it is still about $140, closing later today. It is in M- condition with the shrink wrap still on it.

Okay, I need some help figuring this one out:

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Updates: $1,000 Bin, Dizzy, Sonny, Trane

Still updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide. It can be a bit tedious, but it’s important, isn’t it? Let’s hope so. Anyway, here are a few items on the extremes: A couple more for the $1,000 bin and a few that normally don’t make the Price Guide but, for one reason or another, have broken through.

First the big ones: Walter Davis, Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,300. Also, Paul Chambers Quintet, Blue Note 1564. This was an original pressing. The record and cover looked to be in VG+ or VG++ condition. The price was $1,032.

Here are a couple that don’t often get collectible prices: Dizzy Gillespie, Afro, Norgran 1003. This was an original yellow label pressing with a cover design by David Stone Martin. It was only in VG condition and sold for $72. That may not be a Blue Note price, but it is still somewhat surprising. Few of the Dizzy record

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In the Mood for Some Vintage Jazz? Check this Out

Are you guys familiar with the Web site Wolfgang’s Vault? Among other things, they purchase the rights to older concerts and make them available for downloads (for a price) or just for a listen while you’re online. I mention them because they have acquired rights to a bunch of concerts from the Newport Jazz Festival and have posted a couple of dozen on the site already. As I type this I am listening to the Horace Silver Quintet playing Sister Sadie from July 3, 1959. The clarity of the recording is fantastic.  They also have Dizzy, Monk, The MJQ, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Oscar Peterson and others from the same concert. I’ve listened to some of the Monk and some of the Blakey (“Moanin'”) and the sound quality was equally good. This is definitely worth your time to check out.

Price Updates: Roy & Diz, Tal, Stone Martin, Drew

Time to catch up on some of the items we were watching earlier in the week. We’ll do another of these catch-ups tomorrow or Monday when some of the high-tagged Blue Notes close.

We don’t often see Dizzy Gillespie among the higher-priced LPs, but here was a nice one that was sold earlier this week by Euclid records: Dizzy Gillespie and Roy Eldridge, Roy & Diz #2. This record was in M- condition, both record an cover, and sold for $145. No doubt helping the value of the LP is the great illustration by David Stone Martin.

Also featuring a David Stone Martin illustration is The Tal Farlow Album, Norgran 1047. This was also sold by Euclid and was also in M- condition. It sold for $83, not bad for a quality record like this in today’s market. Seems that within the Norgran/Clef/Verve pantheon there are still bargains to be found. Also, please take a look at our earlier post on this album Today on eBay: Tal, Drew, Kenny Dorham, True Blue. I had mentioned that my good friend Dan Axelrod was a good friend and protege of Tal, and he shares some personal insight about the album that’s worth reading.

Speaking of Kenny Drew, that copy of The Kenny Drew Trio, Riiverside 224, that

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Bird And Diz And Downbeat, 1946, 1947

In addition to vinyl, I collect jazz books, magazines and other ephemera. Once in a while I go through my old copies of Downbeat. Here’s something I pulled a few years ago:

The Dec. 16, 1946 Downbeat offers a prime example of the divergent fortunes of the two leaders of the be-bop movement. On the front page there is a picture of Dizzy Gillespie having fun and joking around. On page six, at the top of the page, there’s a small article with the headline: “Parker Fund Does Fine at L.A. Benefit.” It was a four-paragraph item, noting that a benefit for Charlie Parker in Los Angeles raised a total of $500.86. The purpose of the money: “To assist Parker, upon his release from a sanitarium, to secure instruments, clothes and what Read more

Back in Business

 

.......Dizzy on Blue Note

....Dizzy on Blue Note

Jazz Collector is finally back on eBay and, apparently, so are the collectible records. Without further ado, here are some of the items worth watching: The seller XLG has a bunch of nice 10-inch LPs for sale, closing in the next few hours. Here are a few examples: Bob Gordon, Meet Mr. Gordon, Pacific Jazz 12. This one is in nice condition and is currently at $86. This one is interesting: Dizzy Gillespie, Horn of Plenty, Blue Note 5017. To my knowledge, this is the only Blue Note LP on which Dizzy was the leader, and I always expect it to sell for a lot of money. Here’s a copy in great shape and, when I looked at it about a half hour ago, there were no bidders at $20. Now, when I looked at it again, there were six bids and the item is now at $71. Finally, here’s a 10-incher that has a hefty price tag already: Lee Konitz in Harvard Square, Storyville 323. This is in VG++/VG++ condition, and is priced at $152.50. When you check out these records, click View Seller’s Other Items for a bunch more nice 10-inch LPS. I’ll be posting more items later today. Sorry for being away for so long.

Latest Additions to Price Guide

Here are updates on some of the records we’ve mentioned here in the past few days. We’re not using links with these, since there are links on these elsewhere on the site. You can just do a search if you want to look at the original. Nothing too crazy here as far as prices, but nothing at all that would lead you to believe there’s any kind of slowdown. These will also be added to the Price Guide, as soon as I finish this post. Here goes: 

Ben Webster, The Consummate Artistry, Norgran 1001. When we first spotted this, it was at about $30 with just a few hours to go. It sold for $203.51. It was an original pressing in M-/VG++ condition.

Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Atlantic 1317. This was with the bulls-eye label in VG++/VG++ condition. It sold for $72.60

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Today on EBAY, October 14, 2008

Another slow day on EBAY. Is there a holiday somewhere? Are sellers afraid to put up their records because of the economy? Is it just the ebb and flow of the market? Whatever the reason, there are not a great deal of high-end items on Ebay today, but there are certainly a few to make things interesting. And here they are:

Sonny Side Up, Dizzy Gillespie with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt, Verve 8262. This is in nice condition and is currently at only $24.50. A nice Verve collectible, which will probably go for a reasonable price. It’s strange: I’ve had this record for maybe 30 years, and I just realized that it’s Sonny, with an “O” and not Sunny with a “U.” Definitely works better with the “O.”

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From the Archives: A $38,000 Bill Evans Letter: A $129,000 Trane Manuscript

Here at Jazz Collector, we usually focus on jazz records, mostly what’s bought and sold on eBay. There are lots of reasons for that but, fundamentally, the reason is that we believe eBay sets the market’s prices. What’s more it’s a public market, so everyone can see it and monitor it and decide if he or she wants to participate. And finally, it’s a true worldwide market. Check out The Great eBay Debate for other opinions. But there are, we recognize, other places for jazz collectibles, and other objects d’jazz than vinyl. We were reminded of this as we were going through our archives and came across this article from 2005 referencing a huge sale of jazz collectibles by the auction house Guernsey’s. I’ll repost the whole item below, but note just a couple of items: The Bill Evans letter to John Coltrane that sold for more than $38,000 and the original manuscript and text for Trane’s A Love Supreme, which sold for more than $129,000.   Read more

The Bird and Diz Discovery

Three friends called on Monday to ask if I’d seen the article in Sunday’s New York Times about the discovery of the concert by Bird and Diz at Town Hall in New York from June 22, 1945.  Check it out here: Bird Lives! The Birth of Bebop, Captured on Disc. So I get the calls on Monday, rush home, read the article and then head out to my local Tower Records to pick up the CD. Alas, no CD. Also, no CD at Borders, Barnes & Noble or Best Buy.  So I ordered on Amazon. Still waiting for delivery. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I’m delaying the next newsletter a week, till I get back from vacation and have a chance to listen to this CD so I can share my thoughts with you.  I’ve got plenty of other stuff to write about, plus an updated Price Guide, so stay tuned on August 15. I’ll be offline till then, traveling in Europe. Have fun and happy record hunting.  – Al

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