Ruminations On The First $11,191.63 Jazz Record

Mobley copyI can’t quite leave that $11,191.63 Hank Mobley Blue Note quite yet. It’s still pretty mind boggling. I spent some time looking at the seller’s site and reading their blog. They do a very good job of presenting information and marketing themselves as more than just dealers but as preservationists and aficionados. They also had a blog entry explaining the provenance of the NY 23 and why collectors shouldn’t consider one label as more original than the other. Of course, collectors are not necessarily a fully sane bunch, and I include myself in that category, so no offense intended. So, kudos to the sellers for doing a great packaging job, including the pictures, descriptions and overall presentation I then looked at the bidding on the record and the big surprise was that the two bidders who pushed the record into the stratosphere

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Jazz Vinyl Record Price? Hank Mobley Blue Note Sells For More Than $11,000 on Ebay

Mobley copyI feel like Rip Van Winkle. My computer goes down for four days, I come back to eBay and the world has changed. First there was the $1,600 record from The 3 Sounds and then, of course, was this: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. I know you’re all writing about this on the earlier post, but I have to have this in a headline and in a separate post so that it will live on for posterity, as well as Google searches. This is a big event in the Jazz Collector world, seeing this record — or any jazz record — selling for the whopping price of $11,191.63. Now, admittedly, we haven’t been keeping up with the Jazz Collector Price Guide, but that price is just about DOUBLE the previous highest price we’ve recorded for any other record, ever.

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“Wow” Just about sums it Up

3 Sounds Vinyl copySorry for the lack of posts. My computer crashed last week. I was working in the country and it was a beautiful day and I had the windows open. Then I stopped working, did a few other chores and a thunderstorm came passing through. I hadn’t closed the windows in my office. Everything got soaked, including the computer. Yada, yada, yada, I now have a new computer. And when I finally logged back on, I was greeted by this quite amazing note from our friend CeeDee, with the subject line: “r u kiddin’ me?” Among other comments, was a listing with the statement: “‘Wow’ just about sums it up.” The listing in question? Blue Note Presents The 3 Sounds, Blue Note 1600. This was an original West 63rd pressing with the deep grooves, RVG, ear. It was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price? Pardon me while I take a deep pause . . . .

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Blue Note Vinyl and A Blue Note Loss

Fuller2 copyLet’s begin the day with some Blue Notes on my own personal want list, starting with Curtis Fuller, The Opener, Blue Note 1567. This looks to be an original pressing with the West 63rd address, deep grooves, RVG and ear. The record is listed as M- and the cover is VG++. The price is currently around $450 with more than three days to go. This record, in this condition, I fully expect to sell for more than $1,000. This is another one of those records that I owned and sold about 35 years ago to buy a boat. You know the story: The boat sank and I’ve still never replaced the record.

Lee Morgan Sextet, Blue Note 1541. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG++. This one is in the $460 range and I also expect it to sell for more than $1,000. This was

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Four Listings: Two That Are New To Us, One On Our Want List and One That Doesn’t Make a Lot of Sense

Cliff copyWe’ve got some interesting jazz vinyl in the Jazz Collector watch list on eBay, including a couple we’ve never seen before. Let’s start with one we’ve seen many times, but still don’t own: Cliff Jordan and John Gilmore, Blowing in From Chicago, Blue Note 1549. This is an interesting listing because the seller was able to post really clear pictures of the record and the label. It also raises an interesting question for the Blue Note diehards out there: One side of this record has the New York 23 address, the other just has West 63rd. Is it an original pressing. In my book it would be, but I didn’t write the book on Blue Notes. In any case, this one is listed in VG+ or VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG for the cover and the price is in the $225 range. The auction closes later today and the bidding has not yet reached the seller’s reserve.

Now for the two that are new to us:

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Two for The $1,000 Bin, Plus Two More

Mobley copyBack in business, back on eBay, back to posting more regularly. First let’s catch up on some of the items we had been watching, starting with Hank Mobley Sextet, Blue Note 1560. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The seller had described the record as Ex and the cover as VG++, but it was clear from the pictures that the condition was less than VG++. At the time we first posted this record, the start price was around $500 and there were no bids. In the end there were four bidders, six bids and a final price of $1,075. I’m sure the seller was quite pleased. Hopefully, the buyer was as well.

Bill Evans, Explorations, Riverside 351. This was an original mono pressing with the blue label, deep grooves and reels/microphone logo. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG+ and the final price was $504.90. It looks like this record, and a few others we were watching, were purchased by one of our readers, so congratulations. Here’s another one of his scores: Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This was an original yellow label pressing with the New York address. The record and cover were both listed in M- condition, and the pictures accompanying the listing certainly made it look quite pristine. The final price on this one was $1,037.99. Welcome to the $1,000 bin.

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A Stroll Down Miles Davis Way (And More)

Miles copyI think my work workload is slowing down so, not making major promises, but I think I’ll be back to posting more regularly. At least I certainly hope so. In the meantime, it’s nice to see everyone commenting and keeping the action alive. I was able to swing over to eBay and add some items to my watch list. This is a great record, and one that has certainly gone up in value in the past few years: Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Prestige 7129. This is an original pressing in M- condition for the record and the cover. The seller was able to get some great pictures, which aways helps. The bidding is now in the $440 range and the auction closes later today. I had Miles on my mind because I was just taking a walk in my neighborhood and passed a street called “Miles Davis Way.” Yes, I live near Miles Davis Way. Nice, huh? 🙂 It is a single block — 77th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Miles had an apartment there at 312 West 77th Street. Apparently there was something of a battle to get the street named after Miles, who lived there for about 25 years and enjoyed hanging out on the stoop and chatting with neighbors. Miles? Man, I would have loved to have seen that. Next time I pass the sign, I’ll take a picture and post it here.

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And, Now, From the U.K. . . .

Miles Jazz Vinyl copyAs I’m cleaning out my watch list, I’ve come across several more of those Esquire Prestige pressings with the very interesting covers that are new to me. Here are a few:

Miles, His New Quintet, Esquire 32-021. This is the U.K. pressing of the first of the Miles Davis Quintet records featuring John Coltrane. This copy was in VG+ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $145.44.

Miles Davis, Relaxin’, Esquire 32-068. This was also an original U.K. pressing in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. This one sold for $77.44. I will say that the cover on this one is slightly less appealing, for whatever reason.

Then there was this one, from a different seller:

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Catching Up on Jazz Vinyl Auctions

Paul Chambers Jazz Vinyl copyI’m actually cleaning out my eBay watch list in preparation for finally doing a modest updating of the Jazz Collector Price Guide. So, as I clear out records, I will just post some random results for the next couple of days, starting with one for the $1,000 bin: Paul Chambers Quintet, Blue Note 1564. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record looked to be in VG++ condition and the cover was probably VG. It sold for $1,203. This came from the same seller: Kenny Burrell at the Five Spot, Blue Note 4021. This was an original West. 63rd Street pressing that looked to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $334.

Another Blue Note: Horace Parlan, Headin’ South, Blue Note 4062. This was

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The $1,000 Bin is Getting Crowded

Kenny Dorham copyWow, looks at the prices on these two:

Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 5065. This was an original Lexington Avenue 10-inch pressing listed as Ex condition for both the record and the cover. The seller hyped up the condition, suggesting that the record was only played once or twice. It sold for $1,684.

Roland Kirk, Triple Threat, King 539. This was an original pressing that was probably in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It had been listed previously at about $2,000, didn’t sell and was listed again. This time it sold for $1,259.56.

Well, while we’ re filling the $1,000 bin, let’s add a few more: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This was an original pressing listed in Ex condition for both the record and the cover. There were 17 bidders and 79 bids, which is a pretty high amount. The record sold for $2,604.54.

This came from the same seller:

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