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Watching Some Nice Jazz Collectibles

November 6, 2012 Al 15 comments

Catching up on life and on eBay, so here are some jazz records I am watching and have been watching.

Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing, still in some kind of shrink wrap with a $1.79 price sticker. Wouldn’t that be great, $1.79 for an original pressing of True Blue. This one was in VG+ condition for the record and M- for the cover. It did not sell for $1.79. It sold for $1,414. Not a bad price, all in all. So, when you get this home do you take off the shrink wrap or do you leave it on? If it’s me, I’m pretty sure I take it off and put the record in a nice plastic sleeve.

This one also ended up in the $1,000 bin: Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This was an original West 63rd pressing. The record was in VG+ condition and the cover was VG++. The price was $1,280.55

This one closes later today. Price is still out my range: Clifford Jordan Sextet, Blue Note 1565. This is an original pressing. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG+. The picture in the listing could be better, but that doesn’t seem to be effecting the bidding, which is now up to $800.

And let’s throw in a couple of non-Blue Notes:

No Economic Crisis In Collectible Jazz Vinyl Market

June 3, 2012 Al 14 comments

Now that I have that Bird article out of my system, it’s time to get back to the task at hand, watching rare jazz vinyl on eBay. Here are some of the items we’ve been watching:

Phil Woods, Woodlore, Prestige 7018. As you may recall, this one was sitting at $200 with no bids and I was considering taking the plunge myself. Glad I didn’t. The record wound up selling for $527 — way beyond my comfort level — and, to make it worse, there is now a dispute about the sale, as you can see on the Jazz Collector site under the earlier post. From the same seller was: Charlie Rouse, Yeah!, Epic 16012. If you look at the listing, you’ll have a hard time figuring out the record’s condition. It says both ex+ and ex- and it talks about light scratches that will sound on both sides. Hmm. Someone paid $538 for this record. We’ll see if there’s a dispute about this one as well.

Wow — didn’t expect this record to reach the $1,000 bin: Hank Mobley, Workout, Blue Note 4080. This was an original New York USA pressing, with the RVG and ear in the deadwax. It was in beautiful M- condition for the record and cover and sold for $1,009.99.

This one also entered the $1,000 bin, but not all that suprisingly:

Price Updates: Lights Out, Zoot, Kenny Drew

December 21, 2009 Al 2 comments

Here are some of the items we’ve been watching on eBay:

Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was an original New York pressing with the deep groove and heavy vinyl. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG+. It did not have a flat edge, according to an answer to a questioner, but I’m not sure that doesn’t mean it wasn’t original. Anyway, the price was $639.49.

Phil Woods, Warm Woods, Epic 3436. This was an original pressing and it was listed in M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $495.

Zoot Sims, Zoot, Riverside 228. This was an original white label pressing and it was listed in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. The price was $413.

Here are a few we were watching the other day:

On eBay: Johnny C, Seldon Powell, Clifford Brown

November 3, 2009 Al 3 comments

There’s quite a lot of nice jazz vinyl to watch on eBay this week. So many records, so little money.

I’m always pleased to find a record I’ve never seen before. I’ve been collecting jazz records for nearly 40 years, I’ve been to hundreds of record stores in the U.S. and Europe, I’ve been on eBay quite consistently for at least six or seven years. And even still, there are records that are new to me. Here’s one, on eBay now: Johnny Coles, The Warm Sound, Epic 16015. This is an original mono pressing with the yellow label. It looks to be in M- condition, based on the seller’s description. The current price is $200 and there’s more than two days to go.

We also have a few records for sale this week, including a few of the ones that passed through our Jazz Vinyl Countdown, such as: Seldon Powell Sextet, Roost 2220. This one is in nice VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG++ condition for the cover. Michel warned us not to sell this one and perhaps he was right. The current price is

Catching Up: Kenny Drew, Rouse, Nichols

October 1, 2009 Al Leave a comment

Here’s an update on some of the jazz vinyl we’ve been watching here at Jazz Collector. We sense a slight softness in the market the past couple of weeks compared with the end of the summer, when prices seemed to be skyrocketing. This sense comes not only from what we are watching, but from what we are selling as well. These things go back and forth all the time, so we don’t see much use in trying to time the market as a seller, but for buyers, this might be a time to be active. Prices surely will go up again if past is prologue to the future. Here are a few recent sales:

Kenny Drew, This is New, Riverside 236. This was an original white label pressing. The record was listed as VG++ and the cover was VG+. The price was $125. This one features Hank Mobley and Donald Byrd and is quite a nice collectible — and quite a bit cheaper than comparable Blue Notes of the same era with the same artists.

Speaking of Blue Notes: Herbie Nichols Trio, Blue Note 1519. This was

Today on Ebay: What to Do With A Sealed Record?

September 30, 2009 Al 9 comments

We’re watching a few interesting items on eBay today, including several of our own records for sale. This one is interesting: Jimmy Heath, Really Big, Riverside 333. This is one of ours. What was interesting was the choice we made. This was a sealed copy: To open or not to open? That was the question. We chose to open, to make sure this was an original pressing that we were selling. However, based on what we’re seeing with prices of sealed records, perhaps we made a mistake. So far there is just one bidder for this LP and the price is around $50. We have a feeling if the record were listed as “still sealed” there’d be a lot more activity. As it is, it is quite a nice record, featuring Cannonball Adderley as well. So, perhaps someone will get a truly mint original LP for a bargain.

Also, Miles Davis, Cookin’ Prestige 7094. This was one of those that we

A $1,000 Bill Evans & a Few More For The Price Guide

May 29, 2009 Al Leave a comment

We’ve been quite busy selling some nice records on eBay and posting a few more, but we’ve still made time to keep an eye on some of the interesting collectibles that other people are selling. Here’s an update, all of which will be entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide sometime over the weekend:

Bill Evans, New Jazz Conceptions, Riverside 223. This was an original white label pressing with the original cover. The cover is one of the things that makes this so collectible, since subsequent versions were released with another cover. For this copy, the record was in M- condition and the cover was listed as VG/VG+. The price was $1,136.

Phil Woods, Warm Woods, Epic 3436. This was an original pressing with the yellow label. The record and the cover were both in M- condition. The price was $555.

Helen Merrill, Emarcy 36006. This was the original pressing of this LP, which features

Bargains? It’s All The Eyes of the Beholder

February 12, 2009 Al 2 comments

Based on a suggestion from one of our readers, we tried to point out a few potential bargains on eBay this week, as we always do. How’d we do? Mixed, I would say. The first one was Phil Woods, Warm Woods, Epic 3436 (you can find the link if you just do a search on the site, which is that little gray bar at the top right). When we spotted this record it was priced at just $30 with only a few hours left in the auction. But, clearly, there were some major bidders waiting in the weeds. The record eventually sold for $434.77. The vinyl was in M- condition and the cover was VG++. Yesterday we pointed out a copy of Count Basie, RCA 1112. This one has a cover by Andy Warhol and has sold for more than $160 in the past. When we spotted this one, it was at $1.99 and sold a few hours later for just $20, so that seems like a bargain in our book. It’s always dangerous for us to go bargain-hunting on the Jazz Collector site: Once we point out the record, it’s no longer a hidden gem but out there for the world to see. So we’ll try our best to be fairly discrete in our pronouncements.

Today on Ebay, February 10, 2009

February 10, 2009 Al Leave a comment

Pretty quiet on eBay today, although there are a few nice items, as always. We at Jazz Collector have a few auctions closing today, including: Art Farmer with Sonny Rollins, Prestige 177. This is a 10-inch LP. It’s in VG/VG+ condition and is currently in the $30 price range. We’re also selling this nice jazz guitar LP: Johnny Pisano and Billy Bean, Take Your Pick, Decca 9212. This is an original pressing that’s in VG+/VG++ condition and it’s also in the $30 range as of now. We’re also selling LPs with autographs by Woody Herman, plus George Barnes and Bucky Pizzarelli, so please, take a look.

Among other items, there’s an original pressing of Sonny Clark, Sonny’s Crib, Blue Note 1576. This one looks to be in VG++ condition. the current price is $282, but it has yet to meet the seller’s reserve. As a buyer, I’m not a big fan of reserve-price auctions. I’d rather the seller set a high base price if he