This week’s theme: Clifford Brown, Early Recordings.
Featuring 10-inch Blue Note and Pacific Jazz recordings, originals and Mosaic reissues/newly discovered tracks. Featured artists include Lou Donaldson, J.J. Johnson, Horace Silver, Jimmy Heath, Art Blakey, Zoot Sims, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Percy Heath, John Lewis, and more. Also some discussion of Michael Cuscuna of Mosaic.
Today we have some random jazz vinyl from our eBay watch list, starting with a record that has already surpassed $3,000 in bidding, Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing that looks to be in M- condition for the record and cover. The bidding is at $3,156 with five days left on the auction. So far there are six bidders and 14 bids. In the past few months we’ve seen a copy of True Blue sell for $6,643 and yet another copy sell for $5,779, according to Popsike. Perhaps this one will end up in similar rarified territory. Read more
Sorry for sporadic posting schedule this week. Been crazy with work and now I am in Las Vegas, of all places. I’ll do my best. Here are some nice records that have been sold on eBay in my absence, starting with:
Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024. This was an original pressing in what was described as “fantastic” condition, which we would assume would be M-. It sold for $713.
This one got a nice price, not quite like the one last month: John Lewis and Sacha Distel, Afternoon in Paris, Versailles 12005. This was an original French pressing in VG condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $345. Clearly, this record is moving up in desirability among collectors.
This one didn’t sell yet, but it’s quite interesting: Thelonious Monk, Genius of Modern Music, Blue Note 1511. This looks to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing with a very clear autograph of Monk on the cover. Whether the signature is legitimate, we’ll leave that to our readers. Don Lucky — what do you think? Oh, yes. The price is about $2,000.
A lot of the records we were watching this past week ended up in the $1,000 bin, starting with the one that has already received a loet of comments from the Jazz Collector audience: John Lewis and Sacha Distel, Afternoon in Paris, Versailles MDEX 12005. This was an original French pressing listed in M- condition for the record and at least VG+ for the cover. It sold, to the surprise of many, for a whopping $2,415.
The Magnificent Thad Jones Volume 3, Blue Note 1546. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing that was listed in M- condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $1,784. That would be a new high price for any Thad Jones record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.
Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1543. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing with the cover design by Andy Warhol. The record and the cover were both in VG+ condition. We predicted that this one would break the $1,000 barrier and it did, selling for $1,215.
Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1543. This is an original pressing with the Andy Warhol cover design as well as the Lexington Avenue labels. This was the last of the Lexington Blue Notes. The record and cover are both listed in VG+ condition and the bidding is in the $315 range with nearly three days to go. It will fetch a hefty price.
The Magnificent Thad Jones Volume 3, Blue Note 1546. This is an original West 63rd pressing with the New York 23 labels. The record is M- and the cover is VG+. Would love to have this but, alas, I will keep searching for a copy that doesn’t cost as much. This one is already more than $400 and there are more than three days left on the auction.
Let’s catch up on some interesting jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay.
For as long as I’ve been collecting, it’s nice to know that there’s always something new to learn. Here’s a record I’ve like for a long time: John Lewis and Sacha Distel, Afternoon in Paris. I’ve only owned this as an Atlantic recording, black label, of course, and I frankly had no idea that it was originally issued in France under the Versailles label, Versailles, MDX 12 005. I just checked out the liner notes on my Atlantic pressing and it makes no mention of Versailles. It does mention that Barney Wilen was only 19 years old at the time of the recording, which is pretty incredible considering how well he plays on this record and how mature he sounds. Anyway, this copy was in VG++ condition for the record and M- for the cover, which was the soft cover that seemed to be typical of the European pressings in those days. This copy sold for $630. The highest price we’ve recorded for the Atlantic pressing in the Jazz Collector Price Guide has been $121.
So I was at a record store recently and on the shelves saw a copy of the record 3 Degrees East –3 Degrees West on World Pacific. It had a cover I hadn’t recalled seeing. Even though I was pretty sure the cover I had at home was the original, the price was cheap enough so I purchased it. It was interesting when I got home and compared the two covers. The cover on the left in the picture is the original. This is the one I had in my collection. It has a copyright date of 1956 on the back and is on Pacific Jazz Records, PJ-1217. It also has the “kakubushi” framed cover. The record I purchased at the store, with the cover on the right, is copyrighted from 1957 and is on World Pacific Records, also number PJ-1217. The liner notes and pictures on the back are the same. Not sure why the company would re-release the record with different packaging just a year later: You’d think if
That last post I wrote, Ebay versus the storefront, was inspired by my experience looking ahead on eBay today and not seeing any of the rare Blue Notes or other heavy-duty collectibles for awhile. And I thought: Will there ever come a time when you go onto eBay, and those records are no longer there, just as they are generally no longer in our local record stores? Could it happen, that we would no longer be able to count on eBay to fulfill our vinyl fantasies? Just a thought. Anyway, back to reality, I did find some records worth watching today, and here are a few:
Hank Mobley, Jazz Message #2, Savoy 12092. This is an original red label pressing that looks to be in nice VG++ condition, both record and cover. The current price is about $160.
I can’t believe it’s July 1 already. I’m definitely in summer mode. I took two days off and haven’t posted since Monday. I think that will happen fairly routinely this summer so keep checking the site to see if we’re up that day and what gems we might find for you on eBay. We’re following the market just as closely and we’ll make sure to keep the Price Guide and Latest Prices up to date regardless of whether we post new entries on the site each day. I hope this makes sense on at least some level.
In any case, we’re up on the web today and here are some of the items we’ve been watching on eBay. We start off with a nice collectible from the rare Imperial label:
Sonny Criss, Go Man!, Imperial 920. This was an original pressing in M- condition. It sold for $650. Read more
