This week’s theme. More ballads. Featured artists include Jackie McLean, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Nancy Lamont.
This week’s theme continues the random playlist from the Clef, Norgran and Verve catalogues. Some of the featured artists are Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Art Tatum, Johnny Hodges, Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz and many, many more.
Ella and Louis, Verve 4003. This was an original pressing with the orange and yellow label. It was listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The seller was Carolina Soul. The final price was $465, the highest we’ve ever seen for Ella and Louis. Music doesn’t get any better than this, IMHO. Pretty good cover too, wouldn’t you say? I didn’t realize this had become this highly valued as a collectible but, hey, if I didn’t have a copy of this record I’d be fine to pay the going rate. Maybe even sell one Blue Note and get two or three copies of Ella and Louis, just in case.
Readers continue to express shock and awe at the prices on the funkyousounds auction of the Dr. Herb Wong collection. One missive comes in from Dylan concerning this record: Duke Pearson, The Right Touch, Blue Note 84267. This is a Liberty pressing. An original Liberty, but a Liberty nonetheless. And it is a stereo pressing. This one had a promo stamp. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $560. And then there was Gerry Mulligan, Night Lights, Phillips 600-108. This is the one we mentioned the other day. Stereo pressing, promo stamp, VG++ condition. We were surprised when the bidding had reached $60. The final price was $434. If anyone has a viable explanation for this one, I’d love to hear it: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges, Blues Summit Verve 8822. This is a reissue — the type that is very hard to sell on eBay for even $10 or $15. This was a sealed copy and it sold for $349.67. Or this one: Miles Davis, Milestones, Columbia 40837. This is just a plain old reissue. I remember seeing these all the time in $2 or $5 bins. This one sold for $278. I’m going to do a few more, just because I’m sitting here absolutely stunned as I go through the list:
The other night I was sitting in the living room with The Lovely Mrs. JC and we she was reading and I wanted to put on some music. I asked what she would like and she asked for something mellow. I said I could do that. So I went up to the shelves and stared for a while, you know, how you just stare at an open refrigerator waiting for inspiration. For “mellow” my go-to choices would typically be Bill Evans or Coltrane Ballads or perhaps a Chet Baker, since The Lovely Mrs. JC is a fan of all of the above. But I wanted something different and I somehow settled on a Johnny Hodges record, In a Mellow Tone, Norgran 1092. Normally, Hodges is not someone that I would put on the turntable, but she asked for mellow and mellow was actually in the title of this record and it had always been one of my favorite Hodges LPs. Listening to it was quite a revelation. The music is of a pre-bop vintage, but it is actually quite timeless and absolutely beautiful. If you have it, put it on, and perhaps pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy. From there, I wanted to move to something a little bit more modern and I chose
Our friends at the Jazz Record Center had an auction last week and here are some of the results:
Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges, Verve 8367. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter logo and it was in M- condition for both the record and the cover. I was surprised to see this one sell for $148.37. Neither Hodges nor Mulligan is typically all that collectible, and this is one of the later Verves among those with the trumpeter logo. Any theories as to why this would sell for nearly $150? Is the market shifting back to Verves a little?
I’ve never seen this one before: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, A Nite at Carnegie Hall, Black Deuce. This was the full set of 78s capturing the historic September 29, 1947 concert. As noted in the listing, this was a pirated record release, but it was the first of the issues in any form. The set looked to be in excellent, near mint condition. They sold for $688.
This one almost made it into the $2,000 bin:
Here are some other jazz vinyl auctions we’ve been watching on eBay, starting with Art Taylor, AT’s Delight, Blue Note 4047. This is an original West 63rd pressing with the deep grooves, Van Gelder, ear, etc. It is listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. The bidding is in the $530 range and the auction closes later today.
Dexter Gordon, Doin’ Allright, Blue Note 4077. This was an original New York pressing. The seller listed it in VG+/VG++ condition for the record and the cover. In the description, he mentioned tape on the cover. To me this immediately marks the condition down to VG+, not VG++. So I would also question the condition of the vinyl, but that’s just me. This one sold for $222.50, which is what I would expect for a VG+ pressing of this record, so I guess others may have had the same sense on the grading.
Here’s one featuring a Johnny Hodges autograph:
Sorry for taking such a long break over the Memorial Day weekend. But we are back to our post at Jazz Collector and ready to begin posting regularly again, starting with a catch-up of items we were watching last week on eBay.
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
Sorry I haven’t posted for a few days, but, judging by the comments, you guys seemed to do pretty well without me. In any case, I return with some items I’ve been watching on eBay, starting with some jazz vinyl that seems to indicate the clear split in the market between the super-collectibles, i.e., original Blue Notes et al, and the many other records that were collectible at one time but seem to have lost some of their market/cachet. Starting with Eddie Costa, Guys and Dolls Like Vibes, Coral 57230. This was an original pressing, in VG++ condition for the record and probably about VG+ for the cover. We’ve covered this in the past for the Jazz Collector Price Guide and it has sold for as much as $136. The seller did not do himself any favors by failing to mention in his listing that the pianist on this date was Bill Evans. It’s also a terrific record. There was one bidder who got this record for $30. From the same seller was Johnny Hodges and Duke Ellington, Back to Back, Verve 8317. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter label in M- condition for the vinyl and probably the same for the cover. Again, there was one bidder and a price of $30. Is there so little interest in Hodges and Ellington these days? One more, also Guys and Dolls by the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars, Columbia 8223. This was an original stereo pressing inVG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It is also a nice album, was somewhat collectible at one time, and features Zoot Sims, Phil Woods, Dave McKenna and others. This one didn’t get a single bid at $20.
There were a bunch of interesting jazz vinyl auctions that closed last night, to wit: Red Rodney, Signal S 1206. This looked like an original pressing in perhaps VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover? The seller uses a wide variety of grades that don’t necessarily correspond to the grading language we typically use, so it’s up for interpretation. Hopefully the buyer will be pleased. This one sold for a whopping $1,825.55.
Her’s one for the $2,000 bin: Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This was an original pressing that looked to be in M- or VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $2,111. There was another copy of this record that we mentioned the other day, Blue Note 1590, that was in just VG- condition for the record and cover. We wondered about the eventual price for a record that may not be all that playable. The price was $237.65
How the market has changed through the years: Johnny Hodges, Castle Rock, Norgran 1048. This was an original yellow label pressing. It was in VG+ condition for both the record and the vinyl. It sold for $66. When I started collecting jazz, there seemed to be much more interest from collectors in the original Norgrans. A different era, I guess — but also an opportunity to pick up some of these very nice records at reasonable prices.
