This week’s theme: Part two of a two-part celebration of my father’s 100th birthday. Featured artists include Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Carmel Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Brown Jr., Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Randy Weston, Cecil Payne, Lockjaw Davis, Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance, and many more.

This week’s theme: Part one of a two-part celebration of my father’s 100th birthday. Also a reminder to read Song For My Father from the Jazz Collector archives. Featured artists include Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, Tal Farlow, Buddy DeFranco, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Red Garland, Bobby Timmons, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly, Modern Jazz Quartet, Jimmy Smith, Richie Cole, Kenny Burrell, and many, many more.

Kenny Burrell with Art Blakey, On View at the Five Spot Café, Blue Note 4021. This is an original Blue Note West 63^rd Street pressing. It features a great band that also includes Tina Brooks, Boby Timmons, Roland Hanna and Ben Tucker. The record is listed in VG+ condition for the vinyl and VG++ for the cover. Bidding is close to $400 with four days left in the auction.  I was recently talking with a jazz fan who had just turned 90, and he was reminiscing about going to the Five Spot almost every night in the late 1950s, particularly when Monk was playing there regularly. I was hoping to buy some records from this particular gentleman, or at least to peruse his collection. He assured me he had a bunch of original Blue Notes and Prestiges. But he lived in a large house and, after about an hour of searching, we never did find the records. True story.

I see my friends at Carolina Soul are back with an auction, including Dexter Gordon, Go, Blue Note 4112. This is an original New York USA pressing, listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. Cover looks fantastic in the pictures. Bidding is at $400 with more than four days left in the auction. When I worked with Carolina Soul a couple of years ago to sell some records from my collection, there was a copy of Dexter Gordon Go in the batch. It was a duplicate, of course. Don’t remember what it sold for, but I do know these original Blue Notes are constantly going up in value, or in the case of a certain Freddie Hubbard LP going Up, Up, Up.

This week’s theme: Sonny Rollins plays the compositions of Sonny Rollins. Musicians include Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, George Morrow, Richie Powell, Art Blakey, JJ Johnson, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Bob Cranshaw, George Cables, Tommy Flanagan, Arthur Taylor, Miles Davis, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke, and many more.

This week’s theme: John Coltrane as a sideman on the Prestige label. Part one of perhaps four? Featured artists include, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Philly Joe Jones, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell and many more.

Let’s try to find a few records that will actually be sold. Here’s a great one: Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580.This is an original West 63^rd Street pressing, famous not just for the music, but also for the cover art by Andy Warhol. The record is listed in Excellent Plus condition and the cover is listed as “brilliant EXCELLENT++.” There are 28 bids, the bidding is in the $1,300 range and there are four days left in the auction. I would suggest a price north of $3,000 is where this record will end up, and I may be underestimating by a lot. We’ll see.

Here’s another gem from the same seller: Cliff Jordan, Cliff Craft, Blue Note 1582. This looks to be an original West 63^rd Street pressing. Interesting note on the labels – a previous owner wrote in the times for each track. Going to go back to the Johnny Griffin record and see if the same thing happened there. And the answer is . . . yep, same owner. Lots of Excellents and Plusses in the listing for the condition of the vinyl and the cover. Bidding is in the $860 range and this one will surely end up in the $1,000 bin, unless there’s a separate $2,000 bin, and it may end of there.

All right, one more. Oh, here’s another Warhol cover and a listing from our friends at the Jazz Record Center in New York: Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights, Volume 2, Blue Note 1597. This is listed as a RVG-stamped West 63^rd street pressing, with no deep groove. The record is listed in “excellent” condition and the cover is listed in “new condition – immaculate in every respect.” Bidding is in the $380 range with more than five days left on the auction. If you are interested in perusing other auctions from this listing, just click here for the Jazz Record Center.

This one is from the auction that closed this past week: John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original West 63^rd Street pressing. The record looked to be in M- condition and the cover was listed as “near new condition.” The final price was $2,524. Yes, another record high.

Fred Jackson, Hootin’ ‘N Tootin’, Blue Note 4094. This was an original New York USA pressing. Again, the condition was fairly immaculate, near new and virtually new, with “Review Copy” stamped on the back. This one sold for $1,525, another record high.

Lots of Blue Notes on these lists. Let’s find another label. How about:

Bill Evans Trio, Waltz For Debby, Riverside 399. The record looked to be in new condition, and the cover was probably VG++, based on the pictures. The final price was $1,269.

And Bennie Green with Art Farmer, Prestige 7041. This was an original New York yellow label, with the coated frame cover in “extraordinary” condition. This one sold for $1,830 and I don’t even have to bother to go over to Popsike to know that this is a new record price for this record.

To be continued . . .

Oh, and Happy Record Store Day.

This is one of interest to me: Fred Astaire, the Astaire Story on Mercury. This is the original 1952 limited edition boxed set, number 224 out of 1,384, signed by Fred Astaire. The seller has listed the entire package in M- condition. The start price is $700 and the auction closes a few hours from whence I am typing this. There is a buy-it-now price of $1,000. So far there are no bidders. When I first started collecting jazz, this was a highly desired piece, often selling for more than $1,000 back when $1,000 could have bought you several rare Blue Notes. Times change. Fred Astaire was once an icon. Now, who knows, is there any name recognization for a star whose career peaked in the 1930-to-1950 time frame? And the music on this package is not going to wow anyone interested in the 1960s Blue Note catalog. Ah, well. I have my copy and I intend to keep it.

Finally, below we have a cartoon, courtesy of my friend Danny (he didn’t do it, he just sent it):

This week’s theme: Riverside Records, Part II

Kenny Burrell, Prestige 7088. This is an original New York yellow label. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is VG++. The bidding is in the $350 range with three days left on the auction. From the same seller is Donald Byrd, Fuego, Blue Note 4026. This is an original West. 63^rd Street pressing, listed in VG+ condition for the record and the cover. Bidding is in the $150 range.

This listing reminds me of an email I received recently that I’ve been hesitant to share. But let me share it, anonymously, and see if the commenters on the site have the same reaction that I did: “I have Fuego by Donald Byrd. The labels have Inc. and the R and the vinyl has the ear. The record jacket says that the record is BST 84026 but the etching in the dead wax does not have an 8, it says BN-LP 4026. Is this mono or stereo? In other words the etching overrules the info on the jacket.”

Thoughts?