This week’s theme: Part two of our exploration of jazz tracks that have the name of a woman in the title. Featured artists include Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Eddie Costa, Ray Charles, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Art Blakey, Eddie Jefferson, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Benny Golson, Billy Taylor, Stan Getz, Al Haig, Jimmy Raney, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, Sam Jones, Louis Hayes, Barry Harris, Jimmy Rushing, Coleman Hawkins, Jackie McLean, Freddie Redd, Tina Brooks, Nat King Cole, Sweets Edison, and more.

Today’s theme: Horace Silver, Part One. Featured musicians include Horace Silver, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Hank Mobley, Curley Russell, Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham, Doug Watkins, Jimmy Raney, Roy Haynes, Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Louis Smith, Blue Mitchell.

Certainly, there was enough in that picture to pique my interest. Gil Melle 10-inch Blue Note, Bill Evans Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Art Pepper on Tampa, Jimmy Raney, Bird, and that weird “Let’s Have a Session” 10-inch LP on Ad Lib, which is perhaps the first “Music-Minus-One” record ever, featuring, among others, Billy Bauer on guitar, with whom I had a one-degree-of-separation personal relationship. More on that later.

Digging deeper, there was a lot more. Bill Evans Waltz for Debby; the Kenny Drew 10-inch Blue Note; an Art Farmer 10-inch Prestige; The Tal Farlow 10-inch Norgran. And here is what I thought: This is a local auction, no one probably knows about it. These records are all going to sell significantly below market value. I also thought that I better not write about this on Jazz Collector. But any of you would have probably done the same if you were in my shoes. At least, it eases my conscience to think that way.

My first instinct was to see if I could just buy them all. So a sent out a blind note, asking if that was possible and ethical. Turns out it was ethical and possible, theoretically. So I asked what would be a reasonable price, from the seller’s standpoint. I was a bit surprised because it was probably pretty accurate in terms of the retail value. Which also meant that it was high. I figured I could probably get the records I wanted much cheaper on the auction, so I politely declined. I asked if it was possible to see the records and the woman running the auction replied that I wasn’t the first to make the request so she had set up a couple of viewing times. This was good news and bad: I would get to evaluate the condition, but it also proved that there were other interested parties locally. This was pre-pandemic and only about 30 minutes from my home here in The Berkshires, so at the proscribed date and time I knocked on the door.

There were two older women. Now I say “older” in a new context these days because they were probably of my generation or maybe just a little older. So I say that without judgment or prejudice. It just seemed by appearances that they wouldn’t have been jazz record enthusiasts. And they weren’t. But they were good researchers. They had discovered   Popsike and Discogs and had done their homework, looking at literally every record out of a collection of hundreds. They had a pretty good idea of what they had and what the retail value might be if they had chosen to sell the records on eBay. They also divided the records into different lots: Some consisted of three or four records; a few were much bigger; and several, such as Waltz for Debby, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Kenny Drew, Gil Melle, Art Farmer, Billy Bauer and others were single lots.

They key, of course, was condition. And the condition for most of the records was excellent. Waltz for Debby, clean as a whistle; Kenny Drew, the same; Tal Farlow, which was part of a lot, very, very nice. Obviously the owner had taken good care of the records. I made a few notes for myself, chatted a bit with the ladies about their business, discussed the records, and told them I would definitely be bidding and I would hope to see them the following week when it would be time to pick up my winnings.

Between the time that I saw the records and the time that the auctions would actually close, I would go to the site periodically to monitor the bidding. My initial feeling that everything would be a bargain turned out to be a disillusion, to say the least. As the action kept getting closer, I was watching Waltz for Debby go from $100 to $200 to $300 and beyond. The day before the auction, Kenny Drew was over $200. I already crossed those off my list, sadly. No bargains there.

However, there were other lots where the bidding was low and/or stagnant. These were primarily the 10-inch records, aside from the Drew, Melle and the Farmer. There was also one lot of about a dozen records where they clearly missed and misplaced one of the gems in the collection: Among a group of routine records by Herbie Mann and Oscar Peterson there was what appeared to be a beautiful mint copy of the Art Farmer Quintet Featuring Gigi Gryce, Prestige 7017. You had to look carefully at the picture to even see this record and the bidding was pretty low, so I figured, hmmmm, I will definitely be able to steal this one.

The auctions were closing on a Monday evening starting around 7 p.m. and staggered over a two-hour period. I wanted to place my bids close to the ends of the auctions, but not so close that I couldn’t adjust if I was outbid on an item I really wanted. Unfortunately many of the auctions closed at the same time, or within minutes of one another, so there wasn’t that much time to adjust. I must admit, it was a lot of fun sitting at the computer waiting for the auctions to end and seeing if I would win anything and what that might be. I was really focused on the 10-inch records because they were getting limited action, as opposed to the Bill Evans, Art Pepper and other 12-inch LPs. I also had my eye on that lot with the misplaced Farmer on Prestige.

Yada, yada, yada, I ended up winning about 20 10-inch LPs for a total of about $150. This included the Tal Farlow, which I really wanted for personal reasons. It did not include the misplaced Farmer. I would have liked the Billy Bauer, but it had a start price of $50, which didn’t seem worth it so I didn’t bid. Turns out, many of these records that I won are duplicates of records I already own, but now that I am self-isolating here in The Berkshires I will probably have the time to go through them all and upgrade the conditions of my personal copies wherever I can.

Aside from the fun and the adrenaline rush, this latest adventure served another good purpose: It scratched the “I-need-action” itch. Since then, I’ve quelled the urge to just keep buying. I can’t say I have completely satisfied that urge –or that I ever will satisfy that urge—but now it is back to being suppressed rather an open sore.

I will have a coda to the story that will explain the Billy Bauer and Tal Farlow connections, and to follow up on some other info, such as the four-figure bid on Waltz for Debby and the fact that the Bauer record, in the end, is actually sitting here on my shelves. But that will have to wait until the next post. In the meantime, take a gander at the auctions I won:

Jimmy Raney, A, Prestige 7089. This is an original yellow label pressing with the West 50^thStreet address. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is VG+. The start price is about $100 and so far there are no bidders with the auction closing later today. Surprised there is not more interest in this record yet, since Raney was one of the top bop-inspired guitarists of the era and this is, after all, an original Prestige.

Speaking of original Prestige records, there is Mal Waldron, Mal 3, Prestige New Jazz 8201. This looks to be an original purple label deep groove pressing. The record looks to be in VG condition and the cover VG+, with the shrink wrap. Bidding is in the $125 range with several days left on the auction.

Toshiko Akiyoshi, The Toshiko Trio, Storyville 912. This looks to be an original pressing. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover VG++ with a 5-inch seam split, so that makes it VG+ in the eyes of this potential buyer. There also seems to be a stamp on the cover. This one has a start price of about $170 and so far there are no bidders.

Here are a couple of nice 10-inch LPs that may not sell at a fairly optimistic (for the seller) starting price:

Jimmy Raney, Quartet, New Jazz 1101. This is an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. I love the cover on this one:

The same seller has another Raney record of similar vintage: Jimmy Raney Ensemble, New Jazz 1103. This is also an original pressing, listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. Both records have a start price of $175 and neither one has a bid yet with a list more than three days left on the auctions.

I would expect this one to fetch a nice price: Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby, Riverside 399. This is an original white label promo copy, which seem to be highly in demand. The record is listed in VG++ condition and the cover is probably VG+. The bidding is in the $265 range and the auction closes later today. Do you think this will break $1,000? I do.

Here’s another one with camera issues: Johnny Griffin, A Blowing Session, Blue Note 1559. This looks to be an original pressing with the New York 23 labels. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is listed as VG++ or M-, although it would be hard to tell from the cover picture, which seems as if it was taken in a coffin. This bidding has topped $500 for this record, but, alas, it has also not reached the seller’s reserve price.

The same seller put up a fine picture of this record: Donald Byrd, Byrd Jazz, Transition 5. This is an original pressing

with the booklet and it looks to be perhaps M- or just a shade below for the cover, M- for the booklet and probably VG++ for the record. The bidding on this one has topped $600 but it has not yet topped the seller’s reserve price.

This one doesn’t have any reserve. It also doesn’t have any bidders: Kenny Burrell and Jimmy Raney, Two Guitars, Prestige 7119. This looks to be an original New York yellow label pressing, probably in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. The starting price is $150 and so far there are no bidders. This one would fill a nice gap in my collection and $150 isn’t too bad for an original Prestige of that era. Hmm.

Here’s another tempting one: Kenny Burrell and Jimmy Raney, Two Guitars, Prestige 7119. This is an original New York yellow label pressing listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The bidding is in the $160 range and the auction closes today. If I could get this for less than $250, hmmm . . . . .

John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic 1311. This is an original black label pressing listed in VG+ condition for the record and probably M- for the cover. The start price is about $200 and so far there are no bidders. It may come as a surprise to you — it’s certainly a surprise to me — that I, ol’ Jazz Collector himself — don’t own a black-label version of Giant Steps. I have several copies, including the bulls-eye stereo pressing, but no black label. Perhaps if this copy fails to sell, I could strike a trade with the seller, who I know is a reader of Jazz Collector.

Never figured out why there wasn’t more of a market for this one: Ray Draper Quintet Featuring John Coltrane, New Jazz 8228. This is a nice record, with Coltrane doing Sonny Rollins’ Paul’s Pal, which appears on Tenor Madness, which also features Coltrane. Perhaps it’s the idea of a tuba player as the lead artist. This one is an original pressing and it is listed in M- condition for the record and the cover. The current price is $111 and there’s only one bidder.

Kenny Burrell and Jimmy Raney, Two Guitars, Prestige 7119. This is an original New York yellow label and it looks to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the vinyl. Wouldn’t mind having a copy of this one, but the price is already out of my range at $292.

Jimmy Raney Quartet, New Jazz 1101. I like this one because of the maroon and white label, which you rarely see. There were just a few 10-inch New Jazz LPs, so they are pretty cool, and pretty rare. This one was probably in VG or VG+ condition for the record and the vinyl. It sold for $157.50.

Now a bunch of Blue Notes:

Lee Morgan, Lee-Way, Blue Note 4034. This was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $600.

Lou Donaldson, Wailing With Lou, Blue Note 1545. This was an original West 63rd pressing in M- condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $688.

Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. Also an original pressing, of course, this one in VG+ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $1,343.

Dexter Gordon, One Flight Up, Blue Note 4176. This one was in M- condition for the record and VG for the cover. It sold for $200.

Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031. Record was M- and cover was M-. Price was $1,465.

Kenny Dorham, Afro-Cuban, Blue Note 5065. This was the 10-inch record in VG condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $305.

Hank Mobley, Roll Call, Blue Note 4058. this was in VG+ condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $512.

Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. This was a Lexington Avenue pressing. It was VG+ for the record and just VG for the cover. It sold for $810.

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.