Tag: Giant Steps

Jazz Vinyl Catchup And Confusion Over Grading

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Let’s catch up on some more rare jazz vinyl that sold recently on eBay.

John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This looked to be an original black label pressing. There were some questions about the deep grooves, since the picture wasn’t clear, but the seller confirmed that there were, indeed, deep grooves on both sides. This one was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $622.70. In the Jazz Collector  Price Guide we’ve seen Giant Steps sell for more than $1,000 several times, so perhaps it’s a bargain, perhaps it’s just market changes, perhaps it’s unfamiliarity with the seller.

Jutta Hipp, New Faces, New Sounds from Germany, Blue Note 5056. This was the original 10-inch pressing. It’s one of those listings that confuses me a little on labeling of conditioning. The seller says it looks VG+, but it plays more like Ex and therefore it was graded as Ex. In my thinking I’ve always correlated VG+ with Ex, but it sounds like Ex is more like VG, based on this listing, which I assumed to be a downgrade, but perhaps I’m wrong and it’s an upgrade based on the next item below. The cover was listed in just G condition, which is never very good. The price was $247.50.

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Catching Up on Rare and “Megarare” Jazz Vinyl

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Here are some other items we were watching before we got distracted.

Remember that nice batch of 10-inch LPs? They did quite well. Kenny Dorham Quintet, Debut 9. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was near mint. The price was $430.55. Sonny Rollins Quintet, Prestige 186. This one was also VG++ for the record and near mint for the cover. It sold for $510. Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Prestige 187. This was in near mint condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $305. I’d take it at that price if, indeed, I was buying records these days.

Even though this was was described as “megarare” — shades of BobD — it didn’t sell at a start price of about $300: John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This was a stereo pressing with the bullseye label. The record was VG++ and the cover was VG+.

Five For the $1,000 Bin

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Haven’t updated the $1,000 bin lately, so here goes:

Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro 606. This was an original pressing in M- condition, sold by our friend Steve at Round Again Records in Providence, RI. The price was $1,978. And if you happen to be in Providence, check out A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep, directed by Young JC, otherwise known as my son Michael.

Lorraine Geller at the Piano, Dot 3174. This looked to be in M- condition and sold for $1,580. I haven’t seen this record, but I had no idea it was such a valuable collectible. Is it any good, or is it just rare?

The next one is good and it’s rare, although it does seem to pop on eBay quite often for an extremely rare record, wouldn’t you say:

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Catching Up: A Little Trane, A Little JJ

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Sorry for taking such a long and totally unexpected hiatus. I got caught up in things and just never put aside time to post. I won’t do that again. Anyway, I have not forgotten Rudolf’s question about the status of my Great Jazz Vinyl Countdown and I will address that soon, but first let me catch up on other stuff. I had noted the small John Coltrane autograph from the Jazz Record Center when I last posted and I had expectations it would go for a fairly high price, which it did: $491.85. And no, I was not the bidder, although that is certainly something I wouldn’t mind having. I was also watching this one: Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2, Blue Note 1506. This looked to be an original Lexington Avenue flat edge pressing. It was only in VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG- for the cover. Many of the flat-edge Lexington Avenue  Blue Notes have been

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Sealed Giant Steps? $2,025? Huh?

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I know this is going to give some of you a heart attack: That sealed copy of Giant Steps of unknown provenance sold for $2,025.55. What happens with something like that? Does the buyer even open it? If he does, what if it’s just a standard red and green label? What happens? I think it’s amazing that this seller is able to get these prices for some of his offerings. But I do wonder if there’s an alternate reality going on that we’re not aware of, like whether there is one set of buyers that are completely rapt by his marketing wizardry and only bid on his stuff and are not bidding on any other records. Here are a couple of other auctions we were watching from him: Louis Armstrong at the Crescendo Volume 2, Decca 8169. This is a pretty routine record that you could probably find pretty regularly for $10 or $20 at a weekend record show. This one sold for $103.50. How about: Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin, Columbia 8048? This was a 6-eye stereo pressing. Nothing special, right? This one sold for $157.55. As I was copying the picture of Giant Steps, I took another look at the listing. Someone asked about the label and this was the seller’s reply:

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More Today on Ebay: Jutta, Jazz West, Trane

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Here are a few more nice items to watch today on eBay:

Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House, Blue Note 1515. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG+. The current price is $630. I’m keeping an eye on this because I have a copy in my collection in similar condition and I’m thinking about selling it. Perhaps I’ll offer it first on Jazz Collector before going to eBay.

Lawrence Marable, Tenorman, Jazz West 8. The record is listed as VG+ and the cover is VG. The current price is $360.

To this listing we say “ugh.” It’s another copy of John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. It’s quite reputable seller, but somehow this myth of the bulls-eye label is being perpetuated. The seller lists this as

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Today at Jazz Collector: Trane Reigns

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This is a busy day here at Jazz Collector, with a particular emphasis on John Coltrane collectibles. Some of the heavy-ticket items we’ve been watching are closing today, including that copy of Giant Steps, which is now more than $200; later today we will be announcing the winner of our contest to win a copy of My Favorite Things; and we are closing our last auctions for a couple of weeks, as we head off for a brief holiday. Have no fear, during the holiday we will still be doing our daily posts, and more, on Jazz Collector. Meanwhile, some of the items closing today.

Art Taylor, Taylor’s Wailers, Prestige 7117. This is an original pressing and the record features an all star lineup of John Coltrane, Jackie McLean and Charlie Rouse, among others. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG++. The price is now about $450. This is one of those records in the batch being sold by Bobdjukic, which also includes the Giant Steps LP. What I find incredible is

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New To the $1,000 Bin: Giant Steps

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We’ve been watching a bunch of records to add to the Jazz Collector Price Guide and one of them is a newcomer to the $1,000 bin: John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This was a black label original mono pressing. The record was listed in M- condition — hardly played — and the cover was listed as VG++. It sold for $1,125 and had about 230 page views, which is quite a bit. This record may have sold for more than $1,000 previously on eBay, but, if it did, we weren’t watching. Our previous high for this item in the Price Guide was $690. By they way, as I was doing a search in the Price Guide for this record, I noticed that not everything is being listed in alphabetical order. I guess the database is structured so that when new items are entered, they automatically go in at the end. So if you’re searching for a record like Giant Steps, or anything else by Coltrane — who has three pages in the Price Guide — you should make sure to look at all of the Coltrane pages because after the first couple of dozen items, everything else is entered kind of randomly. I hope this is clear. I will talk to my Web and database associate to see if this is fixable. In the meantime, just do a lot of searching.

Today on eBay, January 30, 2009

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Here are some of the records we at Jazz Collector are watching today:Lucky Thompson, Lucky Strikes, Transition 21. This is an original pressing, with the booklet. The record is listed as M-, the cover as VG and the booklet as M-. The current price is about $160. Art Blakey, A Night At Birdland Volume 2, Blue Note 5038. This is an original 10-inch LP. The record is M- and the cover is VG. The current price is about $150.

This seller, Sweedeedee, has a bunch of nice items closing in the next 24 hours. Here are a few: Gene Ammons, Jammin’ With Gene, Prestige 7060. This is an original New York pressing. Both the record and cover are listed in M- condition. It is currently priced at a bit over $100. Here’s a black-label copy of John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. The record is listed as VG++ and the cover as M-. The current price is about $210. And here’s one, frankly, we’ve never seen before: Eric Dolphy in Europe,  Debut 136. This is the original Danish pressing. The record and cover look to be in M- condition. The current price is $360, but we’d expect this to go for quite a bit more. 

We posted a little late today, so we missed a few items, which we’ll be plugging into the Jazz Collector Price Guide later this weekend. Among them are: 

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