This week’s theme: Celebrating the New Year with jazz vinyl featuring the number 26 in the catalog number. Featured artists include Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Jack Sheldon, Herb Geller, Loraine Geller, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Tommy Flanagan, George Morrow, Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce, Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Nelson Riddle, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Drew, Lawrence Marable, Curtis Counce, Harold Land, Jack Sheldon, Billie Holiday, Benny Carter, Sweets Edison, Count Basie, Buddy DeFranco, and more.

Here’s one you don’t see often: Jack Sheldon Quintet with Zoot Sims, Jazz West JWLP-2. This looks to be an original 10-inch pressing. It’s hard to rate the condition based on the seller’s description, so it’s hard to figure what the value might be. In the past, the record has sold for as much as $560 and there are several instances of it selling for more than $300. You can have this copy for a buy-it-now price of $227.50, which seems reasonable, but then there are the questions about condition. We’ll keep an eye and see what happens. The auction price is now $175, closing in four days.

Following up on a few other records we’d been watching, there was Lester Young, The President Plans With the Oscar Peterson Trio, Norgran 1054. This was an original yellow label pressing courtesy of the Jazz Record Center. The record looked to be in M- condition for the vinyl and the cover. When we posted this on Jazz Collector the bidding was in the $165 range. The final price was $610.

From that same auction was Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet, Prestige 7029. This was an original New York yellow label pressing. The record and cover looked to be in VG++ condition. The final price was $531. Never thought of this one as particularly collectible, but I guess I was wrong: Zoot Sims in Paris, United Artists 15013. This was a sealed copy that sold for $223.

Finally, we’ll add one to the $1,000 bin: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. The record was listed in VG+ condition, but the seller warned that it played with some mild surface noise, so I would bring that grade down to VG at best. The cover looked to be VG+. The final price was $1,123.22

I’m still hooked on those cool Esquire Prestige covers, and there is this: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Esquire 32-045. This one looks to be in VG++ condition for the record and probably VG+ for the cover. The bidding is in the $180 range with less than a day left. You will know things are out of control when you can’t remember if own a certain record. I’m sure many of you have had or will eventually have this experience. Anyway, I just checked. Nope. The only Rollins Esquire I own is Tour de Force.

Here’s one that just ended as I was typing this: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. This looked to be an original West 63^rd Street pressing with both the record and the jacket originally listed in M- condition, although the record may have been downgraded a drop to VG++, after prospective bidders apparently badgered the seller into listening to it once again. The final price was $2,550.

I don’t normally look at blues records but this one caught my eye: Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lightnin’ in New York, Candid 8010. Either I never knew that Hopkins recorded for the Candid label, or I forgot. More likely forgot – sometimes I think I’ve forgotten more than I remember when it comes to records and music, because I used to feel like I knew everything. Anyway, I put this in my watch list and, in so doing, noticed that it is being sold by our friends at the Jazz Record Center. So, I looked at other listings and, lo and behold, they have a blues auction going this week. I picked up a few blues records in that collection I recently purchased but haven’t yet written about. Soon, I hope. Anyway, this record has a very cool cover. The record is probably in VG+++ condition and the cover probably M-. The start price is $100 and so far there are no bidders. I have a few dozen blues records, not an extensive collection, but I do own the URL for bluescollector.com if anyone is interested. 🙂

You may have also seen that Jack Sheldon died a few weeks ago. He was a big personality, a funny guy, a good singer and all of that, but he was also a terrific and probably underrated trumpet player. Here, we know him as a jazz guy, but based on his obituaries, I guess he was best known for Schoolhouse Rock! and his stint on the Merv Griffin show, where he was the epitome of cool in an otherwise-less-than-hip environment.

Here’s a new boxed set that caught my eye: The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection by Charlie Parker. It looks like the package includes the artwork from the original covers, as well as the familiar Savoy labels with the red logos. Very cool. As always, I am tempted to contact the record label, in this case Craft Records, for a review copy. The problem is, I get the records but I rarely actually sit down and do the reviews. I’m still sitting on a beautiful Coltrane boxed set. The Bird set is scheduled for a release date of February 28. Hmm, just in time for my birthday.

Speaking of Bird, you can now see his King Super 20 Alto sax at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. This article has been buried in my queue since October and I had forgotten all about it. Too bad, I was in Fairfax, Va., last weekend and had a couple of hours to kill. If I had remembered, I would have made the trip to DC for Bird. Next time.

While we’re on the subject of rare 10-inch records, there was also this one from the same seller: Elmo Hope Trio, Blue Note 5029. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $555.

And here’s one for the $3,000 bin: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New York address. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was listed as Ex, which, based on the pictures with the listing, looked like about VG+ to me, based on my grading language. The final price was $3,080.

Kamuca is a very bold and confident player in the Pres/Zoot/Getz mold and, on this record, is especially strong on the ballads and mid-tempo numbers, particularly “Nevertheless” and “What’s New.” I can’t say I was surprised at the quality of his playing, because he’s always been respected by people that I respect. I just never took the time to listen closely. I was somewhat surprised at the quality of the recording on the album, which is excellent. I need to take the time to listen to more records on the Mode label to see if this quality was consistent across the label. Or perhaps our readers will have their own experiences and observations to share. A quick search tells me this record in M- condition, as my copy is, will sell in the range of $300 o $400. Now that I’ve given it a careful listen, I can say pretty clearly that if/when I begin selling off my collection, this will likely be one that stays with me. I can also trace when I purchased this record: It was from the Bruce M. West collection in Baltimore, circa November 2013. I can tell from the distinctive date etched in the upper left hand corner on the back. Kind of a nice way to keep track of the amazing records I acquired in that collection.

Staying on the West Coast, and catching up on a previous jazz record on eBay, I was fairly shocked to see the final price on the Jack Sheldon Quartet Jazz-West record were were watching. When we wrote about the record (Listings and Musings on Rare Jazz Vinyl), it was in the $200 price range, and we kind of assumed it would end up at perhaps $400 or so. We were wrong. Jack Sheldon, welcome to the $1,000 bin. The record wound up selling for $1,111 with 13 bids and 6 bidders. Wow. I do not own an original pressing of this record, but I do own a reissue, which is in The Berkshires and which I will also put on my turntable this week. It’s definitely fun newly discovering or rediscovering old music on records that are already in your own collection, yes? Perhaps we should all go through a reorganizing exercise every once in a while.

This one is more up Clifford’s alley than mine, but I couldn’t help notice it because of the final price: M’BOOM, Percussion, Strata-East 19732. This looked to be an original pressing listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $1,913. Clifford did, indeed, write about this record back in October of 2015. At the time he noted that it went for “a whopping $1,592” — and that record was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. I guess the price has M-boomed in the past year and a half. (Sorry).

Here’s a question: What do you do with a record that has an odor of mold? I bring this up because I am watching a copy of: John Coltrane, Ballads, Impulse 32. This is an original promo pressing in Excellent condition. The start price is around $300 and so far there are no bidders. This is one of my all-time favorite records and one that I listen to quite often because it is also a favorite of The Lovely Mrs. JC. My original mono pressing of the record play well but, alas, there is the aforementioned odor of mold whenever I pull it off the shelf. It is quite off-putting and has put me in a position where I would like to replace my copy. So, I guess, I answered my own question: I need to figure out a way to replace it. For a record like this, which I listen to often, I think I would go for an M- copy rather than excellent. Trade anyone?

Here’s another one that I’ve never owned as an original pressing: George Wallington Quintet at the Bohemia, Progressive 1001. I love the tagline “Featuring the Pack,” which just happens to be Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. Not a bad “pack” to have. This copy was in VG+ condition for the record and just VG for the cover,  with a seam split and tape on the back. Still, it sold for $511. This is an example of a huge change I’ve seen in the market over the past few years: Rare records in not so great condition still selling for top dollar. I’m sure there are many reasons for this phenomena, primarily that these records are now so hard to find in mint condition that collectors just want to own a copy and will be less discerning about the condition. Yes?

Here’s another nice Prestige:

Phil Woods, Sahib Shihab, Gene Quill and Hal Stein, Four Altos, Prestige 7116. This is an original New York yellow label pressing with the deep grooves. The record and cover are both listed in VG++ condition. The bidding is in the $120 range with five days left.

And one more: Jack Sheldon, The Quartet and the Quintet, Jazz West 6. I would love to have an original pressing of this record, but not in this condition. The record and the cover are both listed as VG-. And the start price is $200. Given the condition, methinks the seller is being quite optimistic, but we shall see. We’ve seen many Blue Notes in worse condition sell for higher prices, but those are Blue Notes and this is not.