Then again, perhaps there are some bargains left on eBay, if you consider something like this to be a bargain (I do): Gigi Gryce and the Jazz Lab Quintet, Riverside 229. This was not a first pressing, which would have had a white label. But it was an early pressing with the blue labels, reels and mic logo and deep groove. The record was listed in VG condition and the cover was VG+. The final price was $34.33. If this same record, in this, was a second pressing on Blue Note, the final price would have been quite a bit higher than $34.33 don’t you think?

Finally, I always get a kick out of seeing records I’ve never seen before. I’ve been going to record stores looking for jazz records for more than 50 years, plus I’ve been watching eBay closely for 20, so it doesn’t happen very often, but I’ve never seen this record: Curtis Counce Quintet, Exploring the Future, Dooto, 247. I assume this is an original pressing. The cover is pretty trashed and the record is graded VG. The start price is $320, the auction closes later today and so far there are no bidders. Interesting sidemen with Harold Land and Elmo Hope. Per Popsike, the top price for this record was $471, and that was for a copy still in its original loose seal. That one sold in 2021. Do you think the buyer broke the seal and listened to the record, or preserved it in its original packaging? Knowing what I know about collectors, my educated guess is that the record has never been opened or played.

Our friend Japhy sent me an email under the subject Did This Guy Just Sell the Greatest Collection Ever? Among the more recent sales was: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This was an original pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The price was $3,550. If you look at the seller’s sales over the past few months, he has made quite a bit of money. And, surprisingly (to me, at least) he only sells in the U.S., doesn’t ship overseas.

Whilst on the topic of selling the greatest collection ever, no new news on my own situation. My partner Mike and I are still negotiating with our largest client. I appreciated all of the advice and commentary on my post Back in Action.There’s a lot to consider. Once again Maarten struck a nerve with me, talking about spending time with the records and enjoying them, while also enjoying the process of thinning them out. I can also see simplifying it all and going with a consignment. I’m probably going to share to much personal information right now, but . . . .  years ago I lost a ton of money in the first Internet bubble. That’s one of the reasons I’m still working with Mike and still in the game. But one of the “advantages” of losing money is you get a tax write-off, and I still have one. So if someone out there would have the wherewithal to buy one of the world’s greatest jazz collections in one shot, you know where to find me.

Still on the topic of selling one of the greatest collections ever, we have this inquiry from one of our readers: “Does anyone know what happened to the inventory of Dayton’s when Jimmy died. Was it sold? Does it still exist?” I’m pretty sure the same reader has asked the question before and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t answered to his satisfaction. I know that I don’t know the answer. Does anyone?

Here’s another interesting set: Miles Davis, Miles His New Quintet, Esquire 32-021. This is an original UK pressing listed in M- condition for the record and Ex for the cover. Bidding is in the range of $55 with nearly three days left on the auction. From the same seller: Elmo Hope, Informal Jazz, Esquire 32-039. This is another original UK pressing listed in EX+ condition for the record and the cover. Bidding is also in the $55 range with nearly three days left. And one more: Benny Golson, Gone with Golson, Esquire 32-125. This one is somewhat of an aberration compared to the others, in that it uses a similar cover design as the U.S. original. The record is listed as EX+ and the cover is EX. Bidding is in the $90 range.

The post Potpourri From the 10-Inch and UK Vinyl Vaults first appeared on jazzcollector.com.]]> https://jazzcollector.com/blue-note/potpourri-from-the-10-inch-and-uk-vinyl-vaults/feed/ 14 8999 https://jazzcollector.com/blue-note/digging-deeper-into-the-jazz-collector-collection/ https://jazzcollector.com/blue-note/digging-deeper-into-the-jazz-collector-collection/#comments Sun, 23 May 2021 11:52:52 +0000 https://jazzcollector.com/?p=8733 I was perusing eBay this morning and came upon: Sonny Rollins Plus Four, Prestige 7038. This is an original New York yellow label pressing with [...]

I was perusing eBay this morning and came upon: Sonny Rollins Plus Four, Prestige 7038. This is an original New York yellow label pressing with the first cover. The record is listed in VG++ condition and the cover is VG. The bidding is in the $315 range with more than a day left on the auction. One of the reasons I saved this record on my watch list was to remind myself that, prior to my recent road trip, I had planned to write a post talking about records I had recently been enjoying, and this was among the foremost – or should I say, Fourmost? – on the list. So here is that record, and here is that post.

I had some time to actually listen over a period of a couple of weeks and, without a plan, I naturally settled into two modes: First, I pulled some classic records and non-classic records out of my collection that I hadn’t listened to in years (or ever), then I pulled out some of my all-time favorite records and listened with focused mindfulness. Both processes were enlightening and fun.

A few highlights from the hadn’t/never listened to list: Earl Anderza, Outa Sight, Pacific Jazz 65. I had gotten this record in the Bruce West Collection from Baltimore. Not only had I never listened to the record, I never heard of Earl Anderza. So I listened to the record and looked up Earl Anderza. The most complete info was on a site called Sax On the Web. He was a West Coast alto player who spent a lot of time in prison and recorded this album and several other tracks that were later issued on CD. It’s an interesting record. To me, he sounds very much influenced by Eric Dolphy. Jack Wilson is on piano and harpsichord. Piano is great, harpsichord is interesting. The record has sold for as much as $128, according to Popsike, and it’s certainly not one that comes up for auction very often.

Then I put on Elmo Hope and Frank Foster, Hope Meets Foster, Prestige 7021. Great record. Foster is quite underrated as a bebop and post-bop player, perhaps because he settled into the Basie band and didn’t do as much recording in this genre as other contemporaries. I saw him a bunch of times, with Elvin Jones, at Jazz Interactions in the Village, even at the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, which I wrote about last year (Another Sides). He could play and this album shows it. The other revelation: The trumpeter Freeman Lee could also play. I didn’t know much about Lee either, so I looked him up. He didn’t record much, which is too bad, but there is a biography about him called A Jazzman’s Tale. It sounded good, so I bought it. Haven’t read it yet, but will.

As for the all-time favorites. I started with John Coltrane, Soultrane, Prestige 7142. I have a really clean copy and it sounded so powerful on my system. As I was listening I was thinking this has to be on my all-time top five list. Then I put on Sonny Rollins Plus Four and Sonny Rollins Plays for Bird and Miles Davis Kind of Blue and Clifford Brown and Max Roach Study in Brown and Cannonball Adderley at the Lighthouse and suddenly there was no room anymore in the top five for the dozens of other records that should be there. So, I abandoned any idea of a top five and was simply thankful for the opportunity to go into my collection and pull out these amazing records and transport myself back in time to when these amazing artists were creating this amazing music. What a gift.

The post Digging Deeper Into the Jazz Collector Collection first appeared on jazzcollector.com.]]>

Bill Evans, Portrait in Jazz, Riverside 315. This looks to be an original blue label, deep groove pressing, although some of the pictures really look like a black label to me, which must be an optical illusion because the seller is an eBay regular and would be much more circumspect that to be deceptive. The thing I noticed about this record, and most of you have probably noted this before, is that the composition “Blue in Green” is credited as Davis-Evans. If you look at Kind of Blue, there is no mention of Evans as a co-writer, even though, it obviously sounds much more like an Evans composition than a Davis one. In any case, this copy looks to be in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. The start price is about $200 and it was just listed, so the bidding hasn’t yet begun.

This seller has some nice records on eBay now, including Elmo Hope Trio, Blue Note 5029. This is an original 10-inch LP with the Lexington Avenue address. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is VG+. The start price is $450 and so far there are no bidders with more than three days left on the auction. From the same seller is another one off of my want list: Cliff Jordan, Blue Note 1565. This is an original pressing with the West 63rd New York 23 labels. The record and cover both look to be in VG++ condition. This one has a start price of $650 and there are no bids yet.

While we’re on the subject of rare 10-inch records, there was also this one from the same seller: Elmo Hope Trio, Blue Note 5029. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $555.

And here’s one for the $3,000 bin: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New York address. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was listed as Ex, which, based on the pictures with the listing, looked like about VG+ to me, based on my grading language. The final price was $3,080.

That Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section Stereo record seems to be still out there as far as we can tell. It didn’t sell for the $1,500 start price, was relisted, and did not sell for the $1,250 start price. I seem to have misjudged the market for that one, as, apparently, did the seller. The seller did have success with two of the Blue Notes we were watching: Lee Morgan, Volume 3, Blue Note 1557. This was an original New York 23 pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The final price was $1,802. The Magnificent Thad Jones, Blue Note 1527. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in M- condition for the record and Ex+ for the cover. It sold for $1,725.

This one did sell:

Elmo Hope and Frank Foster, Hope Meets Foster, Prestige 7021. This was an original New York yellow label listed in M- condition for the record and Ex for the cover. The final price was about $494, which seems kind of low for this record in this condition, but actually isn’t, since the top price on Popsike is only $600. I have a nice copy of this one and I file mine under Foster as opposed to Hope, but I may adjust that next time I reorganize my records, which I seem to do every few months or so, just for the fun of it.

I was watching this record close as I was typing this post because it seemed as if it wasn’t going to sell: Sonny Rollins, Blue Note 1542. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing that looked to be in VG+ condition for the record and probably VG+ for the cover. The start price on this was around $750 and there were no bids until the final second, when one bidder came in and purchased it for the asking price. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Just for the record, I file this record under Rollins. But most of you probably figured that one out already.

Speaking of original Prestiges, there was also this on our watch list:Elmo Hope, Informal Jazz, Prestige 7043. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New York address. However, it was only in VG condition for the record and VG- for the cover, although the cover pictures didn’t look so bad to me. When I started collecting, and perhaps until eBay came along, you wouldn’t typically find records in this condition fetching collectible prices. This one sold for $378.

Since we started on Prestiges this evening, let’s continue the theme: Thelonious Monk Trio, Prestige 7027. This was an original New York yellow label listed in Ex+ condition for the record and cover, which I interpret to be M- for those of us who follow the Goldmine grading standard. This one sold for $512.95.

This one came from the same batch and I was quite surprised to see where the bidding ended up, since I’ve never viewed this one as particularly coveted by collectors:

The Jazz Messengers, Columbia 897. This was an original pressing with the red six-eye label. It was also listed in pristine condition, straight from storage. The final price was $255.  As they say, condition counts, right? Here’s one more: Johnny Griffin and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Tenor Scene, Prestige 7191. This was an original yellow label pressing with the New Jersey address. It was also in M- condition and sold for $172.50. I love the Griff and Lockjaw records, on Prestige, Riverside and Jazzland, but they typically don’t sell for collector’s prices. Then again, they are not typically in pristine condition.

Here’s a personal favorite of mine that didn’t sell and is back on eBay for those who may be interested: Eddie Costa, Guys and Dolls Like Vibes, Coral 57230. This was an original promotional pressing. It was listed in VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG for the cover, but based on the seller’s experience and description, I would wager that the grading is very conservative. Anyway, this did not sell and is back with a start price of $122. Oh yes, it features some great Bill Evans in addition to Costa on vibes. A really nice record.