In my absence, there has also been a stockpile of email and other items that will be of interest to many of you, starting with a note last week from our friend Fredrik, under the subject line “Two classic collectibles – more record-breaking prices?” The note said “Hi, Al, hope everything’s alright. You’ve probably already seen these two albums for sale, but I thought I’d highlight them if you haven’t. I’m curious to see what two classic top collectibles such as these will go for at this moment (the Dorham is already at $4,300 with three days to go).” Then there were links to two records, which I had not seen because I was hard at work on my term paper.

Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This was an original pressing with the New York 23 on side two and West 63^rd on side one. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was VG+. The picture also showed some wear on the labels. I didn’t see where the bidding was when Fredrik sent me the note, but the action went from $3,950 to a final price of $6,800 in the final minutes. I guess there’s a symmetry in 1568 and 6,800, but I’m sure the final price is not surprising to anyone who follows the market closely. I still don’t have an original pressing after all of these years.

Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This one closes in about two hours from the time I am writing/posting this and is still in the $4,300 range. There are already 60 bids from 19 bidders and 375 watchers, which is quite a lot. This copy, from the reliable seller Carolina Soul, is listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. According to Popsike, the previous high price for Quiet Kenny has been $4,500 for a copy listed in M- condition. Looks like there will be a new high price for Quiet Kenny by the time most of you read this.

My friend Dan sent me this link under the subject line “Sonny subbing for Trane.”  This is an audio clip from July 27, 1957. “The controversial trumpet player that the whole country listens to.” Dan mentioned that he thought Sonny was kind of trying to be a bit Trane-like, but to me he sounds most like the Sonny from the Contemporary Leaders album. In any case, it’s a great clip, probably on a bootleg LP somewhere, although I don’t know which one (which is weird, because I probably own it and never listened to it). Any help out there? We speculated that Sonny was playing in the Miles Quintet at a time when Miles may have fired Coltrane for being high and unreliable. Make sense? Accurate?

Here’s a note from Japhy, under the subject “jazz collector note.” It reads: “Hello Al, I was trying to submit this via the blog, but the submission keeps getting hung up, so I dug up an old email and thought I’d send it direct. I know the gang likes to ruminate over these alleged ‘autographed’ items from time to time, and here’s one of interest. The double grail of a Coltrane-signed Blue Train? It was a BIN for $800 from an otherwise seemingly reputable seller in Paris who states, ‘Coltrane played in Paris, especially at the Olympia Hall in Nov. 17^th 1962 and it was probably signed there according to my info. I used to work for the famous jazz magazine during 15 years, for your info.’ Not sure how that qualifies him to attest to the legitimacy of the signature, but I guess he thinks it does. Curiously, most of his recent sales are photos of Michael Jackson. Don’t know about you, but if I had a signed ‘Blue Train’ I’d start the bidding at $800 and see where it goes. Cheers, Japhy.”

Here’s the link, with a picture below: John Coltrane Blue Train – Original US LP Blue Note BST 1577 SIGNED by JOHN! To me, it looks legitimate, but I’d welcome a comment from Don Lucky as to his opinion. As far as what I would do if I had a signed Blue Train? I think we all know the answer to that. I would NEVER sell it, even if I sold everything else in my collection.

Speaking of which, finally and appropriately, we save the last word for our friend Lenni B, who sent this under the subject line “Something from Florida.” Here ‘tis: “Good day to you. Trust you and the Mrs. are doing well. Since you allowed me to write two columns and you were kind enough to expose them to other eyes via your website, you do have some skin in the game. So, I wanted to let you know that I have no more Jazz records, LPs or 45’s or eps. And just one 78, a Bird Dial, 1056, which used to be sought after. Anyway, I did it and it is a wonderful feeling to have them all gone. Peace, blessings and abundance to you and yours. lenni”

We had two experts weigh in on the John Coltrane autograph from the album Coltrane Live at Birdland, Impulse A-50. The sense from both experts was that the authenticity was questionable at best. I was persuaded by the argument from d_notes about the Sharpie pens and what would have happened to those signatures if they had really been signed in 1966, so I came down on the “probably not original” side. Not that I would have bid anyway without some level of authentication. Anyway, as you may have seen, there were 11 bidders, 33 bids and a ton of action from snipers at the end of the auction. The final price was $2,038.

Which leads me to another question. Back when I was doing eBay regularly and buying records I used BidNip as a service to snipe my bids. I haven’t used it in a while because I haven’t bought records in a while. Is that still a viable service? For those of you who bid regularly, is there a different sniping service that you would recommend? Is sniping still considered legal and ethical? Have the rules changed in the past couple of years? One of the reasons I ask these questions has to do with Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This is another record I had mentioned in my previous post, in the context that the record was VG- and the cover was VG+ and I have a nice VG+ copy of the vinyl with no cover. I figured I could perhaps upgrade, but when the bidding got into the $800 range, it become beyond what I thought would be reasonable, for me. Anyway, the final price was $1,590.55, which, even in this market, seems a lot for a VG- record. I mean, I don’t even put VG- records on my turntable. But, the market is the market.

Finally, there was a seller who had some nice 10-inch LPs at what I thought were reasonable prices. For example, Thelonious Monk, Genius of Modern Music, Volume 2, Blue Note 5009. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The start price was $259 and there were no bids. The record is now listed for $255 as a Buy-it-Now price. There was also The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 2, Blue Note 5041. The record was VG+ and the cover was VG. Love the cover on this one. The original price was $295 and there were no takers. The item has been relisted for a Buy-it-Now price of $275. Perhaps we are seeing something happening to the market for 10-inch LPs? I choose not to speculate, having been wrong consistently pretty much every time I try to gauge the market.

J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This looked to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing as well. The record and cover were in VG condition, and the seller mentioned the word “scratches” so that would definitely be a red flag. This one sold for $323.80, reasonable, I would say, but still $2,000 less than the Morgan record.

While we’re on Blue Notes, here’s another that fetched quite a nice price:

Dexter Gordon, One Flight Up, Blue Note 4176. This looked to be an original New York USA pressing with the ear and the Van Gelder and it was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $421.

Finally, what do you make of this one: John Coltrane, Coltrane Jazz, Atlantic 1354. This one purports to have original signatures of John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, signed during a tour of Milan in 1963. There are two other signatures, but the names are not clear to me or to the seller. You would think Jimmy Garrison would be one, but it’s not obvious. That’s if the signatures are even legitimate. Don Lucky — are you out there? Buyers seem to be dubious so far: The start price is around $250 and so far there are no bidders. The auction closes in two days.

First there was that copy of Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants, Prestige 7150, that was autographed by Miles, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. It was offered by the Jazz Record Center so there was some level of credibility attached to the autographs, although the listing didn’t say anything about independent verification. The price for this was $4,305. It’s certainly a one-of-a-kind item, so there is probably no price too high to have surprised us. This seems pretty reasonable for such a rare item. Here are a couple more from the same auction: Art Pepper, Intensity, Contemporary 3607. This was not only signed by Art Pepper, he also put the date and his home address with the signature. The record and cover both looked to be in M- condition. This one sold for $150.27. This one was not signed: Johnny Hodges, In a Tender Mood, Norgran 1059. This was an original yellow label pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $161.50. I was watching this because I like to keep an eye on the original Norgrans, just to see that there is still a collector’s market for them, since they really reflect artists mostly from the pre-bop era, with a few exceptions, of course. This one also has that weird kind of cover from the era, with a picture of a white woman as the sole image on the picture of an album by a black male artists. Is it really possible that

these records with the white women on the cover — this one has a certain Marilyn Monroe vibe, wouldn’t you say — sold better than the records with the artist’s picture, or with a beautiful drawing by David Stone Martin. As a collector, a record such as this has less appeal to me because of the cover, compared to some of the other Norgrans. What do you think?

Here are three for the $1,000 bin:

George Wallington Quintet at the Bohemia,Progressive 1001. This was an original pressing offered by Euclid Records, another of the most credible dealers, and it was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover.  It also had a promo stamp. It sold for $1,213.89.

Hank Mobley, Roll Call, Blue Note 4058. This was an original pressing with the West. 63rd Street address. It was listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,081.

Finally, there was Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This was an original pressing also in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $1036.

Here we go again: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This is an original original pressing, based on all of our feedbacks and comments last week, and it has the New York 23 on the B Side. This one is in M- condition for both the record and the cover and, based on the seller’s description, it sounds like it’s in amazing shape. The auction closes later today, in about four hours, and the bidding is in the $2,000 range. My guess is that it goes in the $4,000 range. If it was from a seller with more history and more of a reputation using this description it would probably break the $5,000 barrier. Maybe even more. And maybe it will with this seller. We’ll see soon.

John Coltrane and Milt Jackson, Bags and Trane, Atlantic 1368. This one, which me mentioned the other day, was signed by Coltrane, Jackson and Hank Jones. It sold for $758. Others: Miles Davis, Early Miles, Prestige 7168. This record is an early reissue, with a yellow label. This also has autographs By Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. It sold for $377. 89. This is not a record we track often in the Jazz Collector Price Guide because it is not an original but, suffice to say, it would not normally  sell for that amount sans autographs. One more: Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder, Columbia 1033. This was an original pressing signed by Ellington. It sold for $191.38. Under normal circumstances, no autograph, this is really like a $10 or $20 record.

How much would you like a John Coltrane autograph? I know I would. This is from the Jazz Record Center: John Coltrane, Bags and Trane, Atlantic 1368. This is listed as an original mono pressing with the red and purple labels — although, for the live of me, I still can’t get the original Atlantics straight once they are past the black labels — but the key to this record is that it is signed by Coltrane, Milt Jackson and Hank Jones. The record and cover appear to be in about VG++ condition. The price is around $750 with more than two days to go. From the same auction is a Jazz at the Philharmonic program from 1956 with a bunch of cool autographs, including Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Connie Kay, Milt Jackson, Roy Eldridge and Flip Phillips. There’s one bidder for this one, so far, and the price is $100.

I was browsing through jazz vinyl eBay listings and saw the words “insanely rare” and figured the controversial (at least here at Jazz Collector) seller bobdjukic was back in action, and he is. This insanely rare record happens to actually be insanely rare, if rarity can be coupled with insanity: Jutta Hipp, New Faces, New Sounds From Germany, Blue Note 5056. This is the original 10-inch Blue Note that looks to be in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. The current price is $528 and there are still five days to go. Perhaps we’ll get an insanely rare price for this insanely rare record.