Here are some 10-inch LPs we’ve been watching, starting with Hank Mobley Quartet, Blue Note 5066. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record and cover were both listed in VG+ condition. The final price was $1,625. A merry Christmas for the buyer and the seller, I presume. Howard McGhee’s All Stars, Blue Note 5102. This was also an original Lexington Avenue pressing, listed in EX condition for the record and the cover. The final price was about $516. From the same seller, Vinyl-House-UK came this one: Illinois Jacquet, Jazz by Jacquet, Clef 167. This was an original trumpeter logo pressing, listed in VG+ condition for the record and EX for the cover. The final price was about $86.

I’m hoping to post once again in 2021, but if not, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year’s.

Here’s perhaps a case in point: Illinois Jacquet and his Orchestra, Clef 676. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter logo and David Stone Martin Cover. The record was in Ex condition (VG+ for those keeping score at home), and the cover was also VG+. The start price was $85 and there were no bidders.

I had my eye on this one because 1: It’s a record I’ve never owned; 2) It’s an original Prestige and 3) My nephew, who’s in his early 20s, has really gotten into Dorothy Ashby, which I don’t quite understand because he’s not a real jazz aficionado. He just seems to be into the jazz harp: Dorothy Ashby, Hip Harp, Prestige 7140. This was an original New York yellow label in M- condition for the record and the cover. There was just one bidder and the final price was $299.

There was an auction from the seller bobdjukic that we were watching with a few interesting items, such as Booker Ervin, The Freedom Book, Prestige 7295. This was an original yellow label with the New Jersey address. It was listed in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. The final price was $224.50, nothing out of the ordinary. And there was Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain, Columbia 8271. This was an original stereo pressing with the six-eye logo. The record and cover were also VG++ and the price was $169.16.High, but not outrageous, I would say. Finally, there was Billie Holiday, Commodore  30008. This was an original pressing, VG++ for the record, VG+ for the cover. The final price was $181.38.

Ella Fitzgerald, Sunshine of Your Love, Prestige 7685. Sealed, $274.

Illinois Jacquet, Birthday Party, JRC-11434. Sealed, promo, $251.50.

Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Fantasy 5019. Promo, $232.50.

Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Money Jungle, Solid State 18022. Reissue, promo, $231.

There are so many more, it’s hard to fathom: Sergio Mendes for more than $200; Getz-Gilberto for more than $200; JJ. Johnson, Proof Positive on Impulse for more than $200; Ella Fitzgerald on Pablo (with a cutout clip to boot) for $184.

I could go on all day. Look for yourself. I think we have ventured into a new paradigm. Perhaps the emergence of the celebrity collector. Or a world in which sealed records and shrink wrap, no matter what the record, are a thing. Beats the hell out of me.

Sal Salvador, Tribute To the Greats, Bethlehem 74. This was an original red label pressing with promo stamps. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. You don’t often see Salvador among the collectibles, even his 10-inch Blue Note doesn’t always rate with the other Blue Notes. This one did all right, selling for $154.

J.R. Monterose, The Message, Jaro 5004. This was also a promo copy, with a white label that had a nice vintage look to it. The record was in VG+ condition and the cover was VG+ as well. The price was $422.

Introducing Jimmy Cleveland, Emarcy 36066. This was an original

deep groove pressing with the blue label and the drummer logo. The record and the cover were in M- condition. The price was $75.

Jimmy Raney, Swingin’ in Sweden, Emarcy 36121. This was an original pressing in VG++ condition for the vinyl and M- for the cover. The price was $97.

Thelma Gracen, Emarcy 36096. This was also an original pressing, drummer label, and it was in VG++ condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $327.

Illinois Jacquet and his Tenor Sax, Aladdin 803. This was a 12-inch LP. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. I can tell you from personal experience that it is hard to find Aladdin LPs in this condition. The price on this was $165.

Lester Young, The President, Norgran 1005. This was an original yellow label pressing with the cover illustration by David Stone Martin. It was sold by The Jazz Record Center, so it was bound to get top dollar. This one looked to be in VG++ condition for the vinyl and M- condition for the cover. The price was $320.55.

This is a great record with a great cover: Lester Young and Teddy Wilson, Pres and Teddy, Verve 8205. This one was in VG++ condition for both the vinyl and the cover. It was sold by the seller Herschel78, who had a bunch of nice Verves/Norgrans/Clefs a few weeks ago. This one sold for $316.11. Also from the same seller was this:

Harry Carney With Strings, Clef 640. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was listed as M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $109.81. Look at that great cover from David Stone Martin.

And this nice one: Illinois Jacquet, Jazz Moods, Clef 700. This was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $148.05.

Miles Davis, Young Man With a Horn, Blue Note 5013. The vinyl on this one was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was M-. The price was $510.01. This one was sold by the seller herschel78, who has been putting some nice items up over the past few weeks, including some other 10-inch LPs we’ve been  watching.

Miles Davis Volume 3, Blue Note 5040. The vinyl on this one was listed as VG+ and the cover was VG++. The price was $385.

Stan Getz Plays, Clef 137. This was an original pressing with a nice cover by David Stone Martin. The price was $68. This is a great record, one of Getz’s best.

Leo Parker, New Trends of Jazz Volume 5, Savoy 9018. This one was

listed in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. The price was $99.

Sonny Stitt, New Trends of Jazz Volume 1, Savoy 9014. This was also VG++ for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. The price was $41.99.

Max Roach With Clifford Brown in Concert, GNP Volume 7. This was in VG+ condition for both the record and cover, although it could have been higher since the listing was a bit ambiguous. Anyway, the price was $105.49.

Here’s one that’s new to us: Serge Chaloff and Oscar Pettiford, New Stars, New Sounds, Mercer 1003. We’re not familiar with the label — it looks like Prestige but, with the “New Stars, New Sounds” moniker it sounds like Blue Note. Anyway, this record was also one of those that was either VG+ or VG++. It sold for $73.90.

Finally, there is Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet, Battle of the Saxes, Aladdin 701. This 10-inch LP was listed in VG+ condition for both the vinyl and the cover. The price was $626.

Steve Lacy, Soprano Sax, Prestige 7125. This was an original pressing with the New York label. The record was VG+ and the cover was VG++. The price was $130.50.

Illinois Jacquet, Jazz Moods, Clef 662. This was an original pressing and it was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $89.50.

Lester Young, Lester’s Here, Norgran 1071. This was an original yellow label. The record was listed as VG+ and the cover was VG++. The price was $121.

Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter, Imperial 9024. This was an original pressing that

looked to be in about VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $131.02, quite a bit lower than the $1,125 Sonny Criss LP we saw yesterday.

Finally, a Blue Note: Sheila Jordan, Portrait of Sheila, Blue Note 9002. This was an original pressing with the New York USA label and it was in M- condition, for both the record and the cover. The price was $122.70.

It’s kind of nice putting some great records on the site in decent condition that are not selling for four figures, or even high triple figures. It’s impossible to define what is a “bargain” or a good buy in this market, but there are nice records out there that can be had without taking out a second mortgage.

Here’s another item we found of interest from our Downbeat collection. It’s a review by D. Leon Wolf in the Nov. 18, 1946 issue of Downbeat. The headline: Granz Bash a Caricature on Jazz: Everything Bad in Jazz Found Here.” Here’s how the article starts off: “Of all the wretched music ever inflicted upon this earnest devotee of le jazz hot, nothing, I regret to say, has yet to equal Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic concert the night of Oct. 24. Everything that is rotten in contemporary hazz was to be found in this musical catastrophe.” 

Wolf’s view of some of the musicians:  Illinois Jacquet: “The lousiest tenor in the country making over $50 a week, barring none.” Rex Stewart: “Granz, if he had the guts, should have yanked him off the stage during his second number, the most sickening and obscene demonstration ever perpetrated before a mixed audience.” Another The Bean sounded like a little sewing machine, playing everything at top speed and buzzing along with scarcely a trace of his old feeling . . . more than a trace of re-bop has crept into his playing.” Here Wolf sums it up: “I’m no alarmist, no musical reactionary, but where the heck is jazz going anyway, when Jazz at the Philharmonic is supposed to be It?”

Elmo Hope, New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5029. This was an original pressing in M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $620.

Jon Eardley in Hollywood, New Jazz 1105. This was also in M- condition. It sold for $232.44.

Zoot Sims, Zoot in Hollywood, New Jazz 1102. The record was in VG+ condition and the cover was VG. The price was $204.50.

Illinois Jacquet, Collates, Mercury 112. The record and cover were M-. The price was $125.

Gil Melle, Impressions of Color, Blue Note 5063. The record was VG++ and the cover was VG+. The price was $89.80.

 After a few days off, I finally got to catch up a bit on eBay this week. Here are some of the items worth looking at today. If you check out the first item, from Atomic_records, you should also look at “View Seller’s Other Items.” As is often the case, this seller has a lot of nice records for auction this week.

Jackie McLean, New Soil, Blue Note 4013

 This is a new seller that has some interesting items at fairly high starting prices. This one, for example, is in nice condition, but it’s not an original pressing: Miles Davis, Cookin’, Prestige 7094.

 Here’s one that might be a bargain: Sonny Rollins, Sonny Boy, Prestige 7207. This is an original pressing. For some reason, this LP doesn’t command a high price. Some of the material was issued earlier, but some of it is new, including a beautiful version of “The House I Live In.” Does anyone know of  any other jazz version of this song?

Illinois Jacquet and his Tenor Sax, Aladdin 708.