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Prestiges, a Blue Note, Baltimore Nostalgia

April 21, 2016 Al 16 comments

Sorry. I haven’t been on eBay in so long all of the auctions I was watching have already ended. Good thing I wasn’t looking to buy anything. Here are a few to share: Jackie McLean, Jackie’s Pal, Prestige 7068. This was an original pressing with the yellow labels and New York address. The record was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was VG. You can see cover wear in the picture. The record sold for $295, which still seems pretty low to me in spite of the cover. If I didn’t have a copy, I’d probably take it for that price. Of course, I do have a mint copy now, courtesy of my excursion to Baltimore two-and-a-half years years ago. There was also this one from Jackie: Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $1,125. I wish this one had been in the Baltimore collection, but, alas, my own copy is not an original and it is not in great shape. Not that I would spend $1,125 to replace it.

Milestones and More

February 6, 2016 Al 5 comments

I don’t want to interrupt the discussion on the previous post, so please keep it going. With all of the action the past few days, we’ve reached somewhat of a milestone here at Jazz Collector. According to the statistics compiled by WordPress, yesterday we went over 2 million page views since we began tracking such things back in the fall of 2008. Our first month we had 296 page views and last month we had about 40,000.We are now averaging more than 1,350 page views every day. In all we’ve had 1,557 total posts, of which I have written all but seven (although, to be fair, we’ve had several guest columns in which I have been the poster, but it’s been someone else’s words). Anyway, I feel pretty good about all this, how we’ve been able to build the community organically all these years and how we’ve been able to keep the site independent and fun and still just a hobby. No plans for any major changes from my end.

Now, back to jazz vinyl. I see that our friends at the Jazz Record Center have a new auction with a few nice items, including:

Rare Jazz Potpourri: Classic Trane, Billie’s First

January 16, 2016 Al 14 comments

Here’s a jazz vinyl potpourri for today, starting with John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse 77. This looks to be an original mono pressing with the Van Gelder stamps in the deadwax and the orange labels. The record is in VG++ condition and the cover is in Ex. The bidding is getting close to the $450 range with a little more than a day left in the auction, as of this writing. Although A Love Supreme has pretty much always been regarded as a masterpiece, I really saw it as a big collector’s item until the last few years. Sort of like Kind of Blue: Even though there may be more copies of these records than some others, there is also much greater demand for original pressings. These records not only appeal to collectors, but pretty much to anyone with a love for jazz.

I find this one really interesting:

A New Year’s Adventure in Jazz Collecting

January 6, 2016 Al 30 comments

I actually started the year with a nice record score. In fact, I filled in one of the most gaping holes in my collection. After 45 years of collecting jazz records, I finally have a black label copy of Giant Steps on my shelf. And it is in beautiful M- condition for the vinyl, and at least VG++ for the cover. I just listened to it, sitting on my sofa with a big Cheshire Cat grin on my mug. I’m sure it’s totally psychological, but it has never ever sounded better, even after hundreds of prior hearings. It’s interesting because almost to the day exactly a year ago a wrote a post expressing my desire to get a black label Giant Steps for my birthday. I even dropped a couple of hints to The Lovely Mrs. JC. And here we are a year later – Happy Birthday to me (actually it’s still a few weeks away). So, I’m sure you’re all interested in how this record came to be in my possession. I will tell you the bare bones of the story, since I’m hoping it’s not actually over yet and there are potentially more records to come. The gist is that it involves a contact in South America, a carry-on

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A Jazz Potpourri for the New Year

January 3, 2016 Al 31 comments

Here’s a jazz potpourri to start the new year. This one came in from CeeDee under the subject “another for the $1k club” and it was John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This was an early (second?) pressing with the West 63rd Street able, deep grooves, RVG, ear, etc. An original original would have the New York 23 label on one side, which would make it a potential $2,000 record. This one was in M- condition for both the record and the cover and it sold for $1,000.01. It’s not a first pressing but, in that condition and given the state of the Blue Note market, the inclusion into the $1,000 club is, for me, not a big surprise. CeeDee also sent me this one, which is a surprise: Earl “Fatha” Hines, Here Comes, Contact CM-6. This was an original pressing with the gatefold cover. It was part of the Dr. Herb Wong collection being sold by Funkyousounds. The record was listed in VG++ condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $192.50. I really can’t recall any Fatha Hines records attracting collectible prices, or even collector interest, so this is a surprise. It does have Richard Davis and Elvin Jones and a pretty cool cover, so perhaps that drove the interest. Any other thoughts?

Some Gems From a Gem of a Collection

December 23, 2015 Al 11 comments

Here’s a nice one: Johnny Griffin, The Kerry Dancers, Riverside 420. This looks do be an original promo pressing with the white label and the deep grooves. It is listed in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The bidding is in the $300 range with more than five days left on the auction. The seller notes that it is from the estate of the late Dr. Herb Wong, who was a pretty well known jazz historian, writer and radio host in the San Francisco Bay area. The seller, Funkyousounds, states in the listing that it has acquired Dr. Wong’s entire collection. I noticed a bunch of other auctions from the estate earlier this week. Funkyousounds is based in St.Louis, so I, for one, am curious how they ended up with the collection. Funkyousounds, if you are out there, perhaps you have a story to share with us here at Jazz Collector?

One of the other ones I had noticed from the collection was this:

A Price Supreme. A Price Supreme

December 8, 2015 Al 23 comments

This one comes from CeeDee in an email with the above headline and all I can say is “WOW!” John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse 77. This was an original white label promo copy. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was Ex. The final price was $1,225, which is the most we’ve seen for A Love Supreme. It is certainly a classic record, and there is definitely a limited supply of promo copies, so I guess if you want to own one you have to pay the price. The same seller also sold this: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing listed in VG+ (or slightly better) condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $2,550.

Jazz Vinyl From Some of Our Favorite Cats

December 3, 2015 Al 3 comments

I’m cleaning out my eBay watch list so here are various odds and ends from the past six weeks or so, starting with Tommy Flanagan, The Cats, New Jazz 8217. This was an original pressing with the deep grooves and the purple labels. The record and cover both looked to be in M- condition, very nice indeed. Of course, one of the attractions of this record is that it features John Coltrane. When I acquired this record I filed it with my Coltranes because I was just building my Trane collection and every collectible record with Coltrane was a treasure to me. I hate to tell you when this was, but it was more than 40 years ago. I can’t believe I’m that old. Anyway, now that my Coltrane collection is more robust, this is properly filed with the Flanagans. This copy sold for a very nice $600. Nice for the seller and I’m sure very nice for the buyer, who will have a lovely record for his turntable and collection.

Guest Column: Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Atlanta Variety

November 10, 2015 Al 27 comments

By Dave S.

“Honey, how much money do we have in our bank account? I want to buy some jazz records.” That was what I asked my wife, the darling Mrs. JC-A, two weeks ago.

There was a rumor circulating around town that there was a pretty nice collection of records up for sale by a private seller. Seems he had spoken to all the record stores in the area. A few of them had been out to his house to inspect the collection, but no one was willing to either commit to what he was looking to get for the records or had turned him off. Imagine that. A record store employee with an attitude. A friend of a friend who worked at a local record store finally squeezed a phone number for the seller out of his boss at the store, when they also decided to pass. Over a thousand records in the collection, but no way for a record store to quickly get in and out of the transaction was the explanation. Atlanta is a mediocre jazz record town, with rock and southern blues (think the Allman Brothers) being the local taste. People like you and me are certainly the exception.

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High Priced Vinyl? ‘Tis in the Eye of the Beholder

November 9, 2015 Al 7 comments

Just checked my eBay watch list and came right up with a pair of high-priced items that we had mentioned here before, starting with Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This was an original deep groove New York yellow label listed in M- condition for the record and Ex for the cover. When we first saw this record, the bidding was more than $1,000 and it hadn’t reached its reserve price. The record eventually surpassed the reserve price and beyond, selling for $3,938.

This one sold for more than $2,000 but, frankly, I thought it would sell for more, given it’s rarity: Kenny Dorham, Harlem Youth Unlimited, Jazz at P.S. 175. This was an original pressing listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. I asked in the previous post: Is this the rarest of them all? No one seemed to say no, so I’m assuming perhaps it is. It did not get the highest price of them all, although the price was quite high, $2,225, in fact. I would LOVE a copy of this record, but not at $2,225, thank you.

Let’s check out the e-mail bag:

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