Tag: James Moody

Miscellaneous Music and Musings

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Back from a road trip that took me from The Berkshires to Chapel Hill to DC to New York and back. Didn’t stop in a single record store along the way and returned home to find that there are now two new record stores a few hundred feet apart in the little town of Great Barrington near my home. One of the record stores opens next week, the other opened this past weekend. I stopped by the one that has opened and it has the feeling of a guy clearing out his house, basement, garage and attic of a lot of stuff. But there were definitely records to view and buy, particularly if you are into vocals. I came upon a lot of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, but I can’t vouch for the conditions. As of now, there is no organization to the store, everything seems to be thrown in at random. I did find three 10-inch records to buy: Lars Gullin on Vogue, James Moody on Emarcy and Frank Rosolino on Capital. They seemed in decent enough condition at the store, but when I took them out of the car I realized I would have to sneak them into the house because they smelled of mildew. I may go back to check out the store again, but I’ll be careful. Maybe next time I’ll take off the mask so I can make use of my sense of smell before buying anything. As for the other store, I’ll check it out when it opens and get back to you with a report.

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Another Visit to A Record Store, Pandemic Edition

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One of the things I have missed during the pandemic has been going to record stores. I love going to record stores. It’s a life-long habit, and pleasure, one which I have never wanted to give up, even in the dark days of the recent past when vinyl was an endangered species and brick-and-mortar record stores seemed to be going the way of the 8-track. Even then, I would regularly visit the surviving stores and always buy something, it seemed, because, fundamentally, I like buying records. Anyway, I couldn’t remember the last time I physically walked into a record store, even though there are several decent, recently opened stores in a reasonable driving distance from my home in The Berkshires, where The Lovely Mrs. JC and I have permanently relocated since the pandemic began. I decided this was an itch that just had to be scratched and the other day I grabbed my son’s dog, Gordon, who is visiting for a few weeks, and got in the car and took a ride over to Catskill, New York, a little more than an hour away, to visit my favorite of the record stores in the area, Spike’s Record Rack, of which I have written several times in the past. Spike and I have gotten to be quite friendly during our brief interactions, so I sent him a heads-up in advance that I would be making a visit. Read more

True Blue, Sonny’s Crib and More

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Let’s catch up on a few other rare jazz records we were watching on eBay and, without expressing inordinate surprise, we will start with Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The seller did not follow established norms in his description, basically saying “amazing sound and few imperfections.” Imperfections, it seems, would be in the eye or ears of the beholder. The beholder, in this case, is the person who bid $2,025 for this record. As a point of observation, there were definitely imperfections in the cover, including a tape repair, that would probably put it in the VG category, maybe VG+ on a good day. Read more

Two Rare Jazz LPs You Don’t Often (or Ever) Encounter

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It’s always fun to find records I’ve never seen before and, thanks to eBay, that happens more often than you would think, particularly since I’ve been scouring jazz vinyl bins for close to 50 years now (you can’t imagine how much it pains me to write that). Anyway, here’s one on eBay now: James Moody, Moody’s Mood, Vogue L.D. 018. This is an original French 10-inch pressing, with a very interesting cover. I’ve never seen a copy of this record before, although we have written about it before on Jazz Collector — actually, it was Rudolf who wrote about it in the post A Comprehensive Guide to French Vogue back in 2010. This copy looks to be in VG- condition for the record and VG for the cover. It has a start price in the $190 range and a buy-it-now in the $250 range.

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Have I Ever Mentioned That I Like Buying Jazz Records?

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Time to close the books on the latest round of stories and sprees that sprung from my first visit to Spike’s Record Rack in Castkill, NY a few weeks ago. You may recall that I purchased about 15 records, which I somehow found to be more than somewhat rejuvenating in terms of listening to music and appreciating the breadth and depth of my collection. After I got home from that first visit to Spike’s with the 15 records, I did what I typically do, which is clean the records, listen to a few and sort out which ones may be duplicates with records I already own, so as to ensure that I keep the copy in best condition for my own collection. In this case, I was surprised to see that I did not have a copy of Oscar Peterson Plays Irving Berlin on Clef. Certainly I’ve had one in the past, but I must have weeded it out based on the condition.  I gave it a quick listen and it was about what would be expected, perhaps even a bit better because the sound quality was quite good and the condition was excellent.

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Heavy Hitters, Day Two

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Let’s get right to it: The Hank Mobley Blue Note 1568 from the Jazz Record Center sold for $7,600. Is that a record for a jazz vinyl record? I think it is. There was an earlier copy of Blue Note 1568 that sold for $11,000, but we later ascertained that was a bogus bid and the sale didn’t actually go through as described. Unless I get better information from someone in the Jazz Collector universe, I’ll assume this is now our apex. Not a surprise, although I had the record pegged more in the $6,000 range. I actually placed a rare bid on the auction, not for the Mobley record, since I knew that would be WAY out of my price range, and it was. No, after seeing Joe L’s comment on the previous post I became somewhat enamored with the idea of owning that test pressing of Horace Silver, Finger Poppin’, Blue Note 4008. Test pressings have never been my thing, but

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Moody’s Mood For A Jazz Collector

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One of the advantages of having a large and diverse collection, as I have, is sometimes finding hidden gems buried somewhere in the collection. Of course, the disadvantage is sometimes not knowing what you have at all and buying things in duplicate, triplicate or worse. In any case, I had a pleasant discovery the other day. I was chatting with my sister and she had her iPod on the background. The song that came up was “Moody’s Mood for Love.” I didn’t care for the version – George Benson – but I told her about the history of the song, the James Moody recording of “I’m In the Mood For Love,” the Eddie Jefferson lyrics, the King Pleasure recording, etc. Anyway, when I got home I happened to be looking through some of my 78s. Hmm, I thought, do I have the original King Pleasure 78? Indeed, I did and I put it on and it sounded great. Hmm, I thought again, what about the original James Moody “I’m in the Mood for Love?” And that’s when I was pleasantly surprised . . .

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Jazz Vinyl From The Jazz Record Center

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The folks at Jazz Record Center have a new eBay auction up now. It’s always interesting to watch their stuff because their strong brand name ensures top market value. Here are a few of the records we’ll be watching from this auction:

Art Pepper, Modern Art, Intro 606. This is an original deep groove pressing that is in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It has a start price of $750 and already has a bidder, so you can expect that this one may be headed for the $1,000 bin.

Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note 1518. This is a West 63rd Street pressing, whereas the original first pressing would have been Lexington Avenue. I’m curious about this second press Blue Notes, which many of our readers think of as originals, because their prices have gone up quite a bit recently. I just bought a West 63rd copy of the first Miles Davis Blue Note, which I’ll be selling at some point, either on eBay or from my basement. This one is in “near-new” condition and already has a bidder at $100.

I’ve always liked this record and I do, fortunately, have an original pressing: Lou Donaldson, Swing and Soul, Blue Note 1566. This one is also in very nice M- condition and has a bidder at a $350 start price.

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Moody’s Mood Is A Sad One For Jazz Lovers

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Philadelphia Record Exchange had a bunch of nice 10-inch Prestige LPs up this week and someone sent me a link. I took a look and there were several nice James Moody records that looked to be in nice condition and were not getting much action. I’ve never quite understood why the Moody Prestiges and Blue Notes never have much cachet among collectors, but the reality is they don’t. So I bid on the first two that came up and I won them both, under a nom de plume you may not recognize, and I’m hoping to win the third. The prices, in my view, were quite fair. I shared my good fortune with a friend, who sent me a link to this article: Jazz legend James Moody battling cancer. Sounds like we will soon be losing another great one and one of the last remaining links to the dawn of the bebop era.

Watching eBay: Jackie, Farmer & Moody

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Here are some items worth watching on eBay:

Jackie McLean, The New Tradition, Ad Lib 6601. This is the original, quite rare. The seller lists it in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The price is a little over $200 but there are a few more days to go before it closes.

This one is already more than $100 with several days to go. Perhaps it will set a new high for this LP: Art Farmer Quintet, Prestige 7017. This one appears to be in M- condition, although the seller does make it complicated in his listing. We’ve watched this record several times in the Jazz Collector Price Guide and the previous high price was $204. We’ll see if that changes.

My experience with James Moody LPs is that they sometimes don’t get the prices of other original Blue Notes and Prestiges by other artists. Anyway, this one may buck that trend:

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