Now Hear Thi$$$$$

Sorry to disappoint so many of you who sent me advice and good wishes, but I spent two days in Los Angeles and did not visit a single record store. I did go to the pier at Santa Monica, where the sights were lovely, and I did attend my first baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Perhaps next time the allure of jazz vinyl will be too compelling to pass up. I also apologize once again for the infrequency of my posts. Now that I am back home again and off the road, I will try to be more consistent in meeting my normal objective of at least one post a day. While I was gone, CeeDee was vigilantly watching eBay and sent me a note with a “did you see thi$$$$$” subject matter. The object of thi$$$$ email was: Freddie Hubbard, Hub-Tones, Blue Note 4115. This looked to be an original New York pressing in what looked to be VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $602.25 and CeeDee was obviously quite surprised. To me, this is the new normal. Watching eBay prices soar over the years and, in particular, watching the increasing prices of records in the 4100 series, it is only a matter of time before records such as this start approaching the $1,000 mark. There’s a limited number of these original pressings in nice condition and collectors want them.

A Jazz Vinyl Quartet

Very busy with real work this week, but there’s always time to take a look at eBay for interesting jazz vinyl. Here’s some of the records we’re watching, starting with: Introducing Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1523. This looks to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in VG+ condition,. The start price is around $250 and so far there are no bidders. You’d think there would be bidding for an original Lexington Avenue pressing at $250: Perhaps it’s condition. The seller mentions “minimal light surface noise” and states “No Skips!” with an exclamation point. I think it’s the NO SKIPS PLUS EXCLAMATION POINT that would have me worried as a bidder. The least you’d expect out of a VG+ record is no skips, right? This one is from the same seller, also has the NO SKIPS! in the listing and also has no bidders: Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This one is listed as VG+++ condition for the vinyl and G for the cover. The start price is around $650.

Atomic Records has some nice vinyl on eBay this week, including:

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Catching Up On Some Rare Jazz Vinyl

Here’s an update on some jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay:

Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan, Peckin’ Time, Blue Note 1574. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. Interesting, isn’t it, that we’re no longer surprised when VG+ records sell for more than $1,000. This one fetched a price of $1,009. Interesting to look at the cover of this record, given most of the covers that Blue Note was producing at the time, usually featuring some kind of picture of the artist. Simple graphic of a red suitcase and not sure what that has to do with Peckin’ Time or Mobley. There are also no pictures on the back cover. A little bit strange, no? I wonder if there is a story behind the cover?

Here’s another one that broke into the $1,000 bin: Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This looked to be an original pressing, although the seller put in the wrong catalog number. It was listed in VG++ condition for the vinyl and Ex for the cover, which I still take to mean around VG+, although it could be better. This one sold for the same price as the other, $1,009.

I seem to be a bit focused on $1,000 Blue Notes today. Here’s another:

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Rare Jazz Vinyl, Some With Autographs

Sorry for taking such a long break over the Memorial Day weekend. But we are back to our post at Jazz Collector and ready to begin posting regularly again, starting with a catch-up of items we were watching last week on eBay.

First there was that copy of Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants, Prestige 7150, that was autographed by Miles, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. It was offered by the Jazz Record Center so there was some level of credibility attached to the autographs, although the listing didn’t say anything about independent verification. The price for this was $4,305. It’s certainly a one-of-a-kind item, so there is probably no price too high to have surprised us. This seems pretty reasonable for such a rare item. Here are a couple more from the same auction: Art Pepper, Intensity, Contemporary 3607. This was not only signed by Art Pepper, he also put the date and his home address with the signature. The record and cover both looked to be in M- condition. This one sold for $150.27. This one was not signed: Johnny Hodges, In a Tender Mood, Norgran 1059. This was an original yellow label pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $161.50. I was watching this because I like to keep an eye on the original Norgrans, just to see that there is still a collector’s market for them, since they really reflect artists mostly from the pre-bop era, with a few exceptions, of course. This one also has that weird kind of cover from the era, with a picture of a white woman as the sole image on the picture of an album by a black male artists. Is it really possible that

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Tracking Some Rare Beauties on eBay

Couple of interesting jazz vinyl auctions taking place now from sellers who would be quite familiar to the Jazz Collector audience. First up is collossus3: He’s the one who had access to the Leon Leavitt vault and was, he says, able to pick and choose the best copy of each of the rare records. Among those rare records now available on eBay are: Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This is an original pressing and it is described as being in pristine condition, M- all the way fro the record and the cover.  There is a reserve price, which of course is undisclosed, as well as a buy-it-now price of $2,500. So far the bidding has not yet hit the reserve price and is in the $250 range. We’ve seen this record sell for as much as $1,500 in the Jazz Collector Price Guide, so we’d certainly expect the bidding to top $1,000 at some point. Whether that will be enough to hit the reserve price, we’ll see, assuming no one gobbles it up at $2,500. From the same seller comes Horace Silver, Six Pieces of Silver, Blue Note 1539. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing with the flat edge. It is not only described as being in extraordinary immaculate condition, the vinyl even has  a”jewel-like” finish. Gotta love it. In any case, this one is still under $200 with a couple of days left on the bidding and it hasn’t reached the reserve price either.

The other interesting auction we’re watching is from the seller Sweedeedee from Stockholm, who often has nice pieces for sale on eBay. This week some of his listings include:

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Updating the $1,000 Bin, Thanks To JRC

As I’m catching up on the eBay action I’ve been missing the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that the Jazz Record Center recently made quite a large contribution to the $1,000 bin. Here are some of the choice items, all Blue Notes:

Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This was an original pressing that looked to be in new, pristine condition. It sold for $2,905.55.

Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. This was an original pressing. The vinyl appeared to be in new near-mint condition, while the cover had a few minor issues, perhaps VG++. The price was $1,954.49.

Hank Mobley, Peckin’ Time, Blue Note 1574. This was an original pressing that also looked to be in near mint condition. The price was $1,580. Where does he find these records in such immaculate condition?

There was also this: Paul Chambers Quintet, Blue Note 1564. This was

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For the $1,000 Bin: Griffin, JJ, Hubbard

It’s been a while since we’ve updated the $1,000, and there are, as expected, a few new entries. Here goes:

Introducing Johnny Griffin, Blue Note 1533. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing and it was listed in M-, pristine condition. The price: $2,651.01.

Also from the same seller were these: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volume 1, Blue Note 1505. This was also an original Lexington Avenue pressing and it was also in pristine condition. It sold for $1,507, which is way more than we’ve ever recorded in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. In fact, our previous high price for any JJ Johnson record was less than $400. There there was: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2, Blue Note 1506. This was

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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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A Few More Blue Notes For the $1,000 Bin

The $1,000 jazz vinyl bin got a little bit more crowded over the weekend. Here are some of the additions: Clifford Jordan, Cliff Craft, Blue Note 1582. This was an original pressing that was listed in EX+ condition, which we translate into what we would describe as VG++. This one was among the nice batch sold by the seller JazzRecordRevival, which did quite nicely with its bit auction. This one sold for $1,273.

Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588, enters the $1,000 bin once again. This was a copy in VG+ condition for both the record and the vinyl. It sold for $1,548. For a

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Catching Up: Mal, Mobley, McLean, Hubbard

Here’s some more jazz vinyl we’ve been watching. Some high prices, but none for the $1,000 bin:

Mal Waldron, Left Alone, Bethlehem 6045. This is an original pressing, which, like many jazz records on the West Coast, passed through the hands of the late Leon Leavitt at one point. The seller listed this as M- for both the record and the cover and he tells us in this listing that he will be putting more of these types of records on ebay. So, take a look at this one and mark the seller and come back to look for more. This one sold for $759.

Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1550. This was an original pressing. The record was listed in VG+ condition and the cover was just VG. The price

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