Watching Jazz Vinyl From the Jazz Record Center

Our friends at the Jazz Record Center have a new auction this week and we always like to keep an eye on their stuff because it gives a pretty good indication of the overall market, which still seems to be down these days, right? Here are a few of their listings:

Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot Volume 1, New Jazz 8260. This is an original pressing with the purple label and deep grooves. The record looks to be in M- condition, and the cover probably VG+ with some seam splitting. The start price is $75, there are no bidders and there are eight days to go. We’ve seen this record sell for as much as $966 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, so we’d expect that this will fetch a much higher price than the start price. We’ll see.

Horace Parlan, On the Spur of the Moment, Blue Note 4074. This is a weird one, with a Review stamp on one label with the New York USA address, and the other address the West 63rd Street label. As noted by Fred Cohen, proprietor of the Jazz Record Center, the original pressing on this one should have the West 63rd address on both labels. So what does that make this? Here’s where we get into that whole debate again about original and first pressings. This one has a start price of $200 and no bids as of yet.

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eBaying: Miles Test Pressing, Dolphy, Roy Haynes

Here’s an interesting one: Miles Davis Volume 1, Blue Note 1501. This was a test pressing, no cover. What’s makes it cool, in my view, is the original Plastylite logo and the date, which looks to be  12-5-55. Seems pretty original, no? This one was listed in excellent plus condition and sold for $1,025. In the past I’ve owned several test pressings and, while they’re nice to have, I’ve always missed having the covers. This, I think, would have been an exception, but not at that price. Speaking of prices, that copy of Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024, sold for $495 the other day and, no, I was not the winning bidder. As Mrs. JC and I are starting to explore downsizing once again and moving to Manhattan, I am much more of a mind to be selling rather than buying these days.

This one got a high price, all things considered: Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, New Jazz 8260. If you click on the link you’ll see what I mean: The record and cover were both listed as VG+, but there seems to be a pretty nice amount of ringwear on the cover, so I guess I’d be a bit skeptical. The winning bidder apparently was not. It sold for $535.

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Updating the $1,000 Bin, Plus a Few More

Let’s catch up on some of the high-end jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay:

Here are a few from the Jazz Record Center auction: Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This one was in beautiful condition, M- all the way around. It sold for $2,380.99. Sonny Clark, Dial S For Sonny, Blue Note 1570. This was another beauty that was M- for the record and probably VG++ for the cover, depending upon how you view things such as small splits and slight wear. It sold for $2,039. Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 1535. This was in M- condition for the record and somewhat less for the cover. The price was $1,613.88. And the big one: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This was an original pressing in M- condition for the record and between VG++ and M- for the cover, depending upon how you grade such things. The price was $3,618.

Here’s a $1,000 record that was not sold by the Jazz Record Center:

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Watching Some New Jazz Vinyl

Can you stand a day without Blue Note? Let’s look at some Prestige jazz vinyl we’ve been watching on eBay (actually, it’s all New Jazz):

This was part of the recent batch sold by our old friend bobdjukic: Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was an original pressing. It was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover, but from the pictures it was clear that the cover was not anywhere close to VG++ condition. Perhaps that affected the bidding, because this sold for the surprisingly low price of $740. If potential buyers were confident that the condition of the vinyl and cover were really VG++, it would presumably have sold for quite a bit more. The last one we had in the Jazz Collector Price Guide in VG++/VG++ condition sold for $1,225.

This one looked to be in beautiful condition and the price certainly reflected it: Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, New Jazz 8260. This was an original purple label pressing with the deep grooves, which were not described by the seller but were apparent if you blew up the pictures. It was in M- condition all the way around and sold for $687.

This one got a nice top bid, but failed to meet the seller’s reserve:

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New Jazz, New Heights

We promised some Prestige stuff today.  We’ll start with a couple of recent eBay sales and then later we’ll be posting an interesting question. First, to eBay:

Ken McIntyre, Looking Ahead, New Jazz 8247. This was an original pressing with the purple label and the deep grooves. It was in beautiful M- condition. The record features Eric Dolphy as well and the seller listed Dolphy first. That was probably a wise decision. This one sold for $260.

This one was from the same era, with a very similar framed cover: Benny Golson, Gone With Golson, New Jazz 8235. This was

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Tracking Rare Jazz Vinyl on Prestige

Not everything is Blue Note, right? Here are some Prestiges that we’ve just entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Dorothy Ashby, Hip Harp, Prestige 7140. This was an original New York yellow label pressing and it looked to be in nice M- condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $193.

Miles Davis Plus Horns, Prestige 7025. This was a New York pressing. The record was VG++ and the cover was M-. The listing lacked a little bit of detail — such as whether it was a kakubushi cover — and the price was $170.17. Just a few weeks ago we saw an M- version of this LP sell for $799.

Ray Bryant Trio, Prestige 7099. This was an original New York yellow label pressing

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Tracking Rare Jazz Vinyl That Didn’t Sell

Let’s catch up on a few odds and ends in the world of collectible jazz vinyl:

The Blue Notes continue to be getting top dollar, but there seems to be a drop-off in prices in the middle of the market, records that would normally sell in the $30-$150 range. I’ve noticed it with my own sales on eBay and I was talking with Steve at Round Again Records in Providence yesterday and he said he believes the market has fallen off by as much as 40 percent in the past couple of years. I was thinking about that when I looked at some of the records I’ve been watching on eBay that failed to get bids, despite what seemed to be reasonable starting prices. Here are a few:

Kenny Drew and his Progressive Piano, Norgran 1066. This was an original pressing from a reputable seller. The record was in nice condition, M-/VG++ and the cover seemed nice as well with a partial seam split. The start price was $74.99 and there were no bidders. The picture accompanying the listing wasn’t great and perhaps that dampened the enthusiasm.

Ken McIntyre, Looking Ahead, New Jazz 8247. This was an original pressing with the purple labels and the deep grooves. The record and cover were in VG+ condition and the start price was $99.99. This record, which prominently features Eric

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More Blue Note Favorites, Courtesy of Downbeat

I did that post earlier today and mentioned that Downbeat had done a whole feature asking various artists about their favorite Blue Note records. I was able to dig up my copy of the magazine — I don’t have a subscription anymore, but I had purchased this one on the newsstand because of the cover. It was from March of 2009. The cover, as you can see, has Joe Lovano with his favorite Blue Note: Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Free For All, Blue Note 4170. It’s quite gratifying to see his picture with a vinyl pressing, and a mono vinyl pressing at that and perhaps even an original mono pressing. Inside, the magazine asked a variety of other jazz artists to name their favorite Blue Notes as well. Here are their replies:

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More Price Updates: Ernie Henry, Clifford Brown, Etc.

We updated Blue Note and Prestige earlier this week. Here’s an update on some other labels we’ve just entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide:

Ernie Henry, Seven Standards and a Blues, Riverside 248. This was an original pressing with the blue label, deep grooves, etc. It was sold by a reputable seller and was in M- condition, for both the record and the cover. And it got quite a hefty price: $564.32.

Brew Moore Quintet, Fantasy 3-222. This was an original pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $304.

Mal Waldron, Left Alone, Bethlehem 6045. This was an original red label pressing. The vinyl

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For the Price Guide: A Blue Note Bonanza

We’ve been quite busy updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide, so we will do a few posts over the next few days highlighting some of the new entries, starting with some Blue Notes, of course. There are no links to these, FYI.

Kenny Drew, Undercurrent, Blue Note 4059. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address and just one side deep groove. The record was listed in VG+ condition for both the vinyl and the cover and it sold for $285.

Baby Face Willette, Stop and Listen, Blue Note 4084. This was an original pressing with the NY USA label. the record looked to be in VG++ condition for both the vinyl and the cover. It sold for $200.

This one sold for a big price, but it didn’t seem to be an original pressing:

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