Jazz Vinyl Miscellany and Mail

Before getting back to writing about my own experiences doing the recent auction with Carolina Soul Records, let’s return to our normal activity of watching other peoples’ rare jazz vinyl in eBay and taking a peak in the old Jazz Collector inbox. Let’s start with Sonny Clark Trio, Blue Note 1579. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record is listed in VG+ condition. The cover is also listed as VG+, but the pictures show it to be no better than VG. It’s from a seller in Thailand who has one feedback. The start price is $1,250 with less than a day left on the auction. We’ll see if anyone is desperate enough to take that kind of risk. Meanwhile, I have a beautiful VG++ copy that may make it to the next round of auctions. Or, maybe not. Read more

Watching Some Original Original And Not So Original Jazz Vinyl

Very interesting thread on the previous post. Glad everyone has been able to keep the conversation going in my absence. For the record, I am and always will be an original, no matter what anyone says. And now, back to watching original rare jazz vinyl on eBay. I have a lot of stuff I am watching now, so let’s go, starting with Frank Morgan With Conte Candoli and Machito’s Rhythm Section, GNP 12. This is an original pressing with the red vinyl. The record and cover are both listed in VG+ condition. The start price is $250 with more than two days left on this auction. I was fortunate to acquire a near mint copy of this record when I purchased the Bruce M. West collection in Baltimore. For some reason, I always considered this to be an album for the $1,000 bin. I guess the reason is that it’s really rare and hard to find, plus there’s not that much early Frank Morgan on record. When I did a search on Popsike, however, I discovered that the top price for this record was $331, and that was back in 2006. I guess it’s just not a Blue Note. Read more

Jazz Vinyl Auctions for the Road (And Beyond)

I’ll be off line for the next week so I won’t be able to post. Not that it will be any different than a normal period between posts, but this time my absence will at least be planned. Everything’s fine. Just enjoying a little holiday. In the meantime, I will leave you with a large batch of records to watch so you can all comment to your heart’s content. Let’s start with one of the records that would still be on my want list, if, indeed, I had a want list: Sonny Rollins Plays, Period 1204. This looks to be an original deep groove pressing listed in M- condition for the record and EX+ for the cover. Bidding is in the $200 range with almost three days left on the auction. I have no idea how this record has eluded me all these years, but it has. Read more

Seconds Anyone?

Going deeper into the Jazz Collector eBay watch list, we have Mal Waldron, Mal-1, Prestige 7090. This was an original New York yellow label. The seller graded the record and the cover as VG+. Based on the pictures, I would grade the cover VG. The final price was $776. The same seller had this one: Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040.This was an interesting one, IMHO. No deep groove, no ear, no West 63rd Street address. So, was it issued by Liberty using old labels, or by the original Blue Note using old labels? In either case, it wasn’t an original. But it was in nice condition, M- for the record, close to M- for the cover. The final price was $760. This seller also had that later pressing Introducing Lee Morgan on Savoy that we spotlighted a few days ago How Many Original Copies of Rare Jazz Vinyl Have Survived (And Other Existential Questions). When we highlighted this record, the bidding was in the $400 range. The final price was $797.99. Perhaps I (and others?) will have to adjust my expectations of what a nice second pressing might command in today’s market. Good for the sellers, and good for the buyers if they are happy. Read more

How Many Original Copies of Rare Jazz Vinyl Have Survived (and Other Existential Questions)

Let’s check out the Jazz Collector watch list on eBay, starting with Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. This is not an original pressing. It has the maroon label with no deep grooves. I was fooled at first because the label looks red in the pictures, but the seller is very clear about what it is. Also, it’s not an original Savoy cover, with the white frame. It is in nice condition, graded M- for the record and near mint for the cover. The auction closes today and the bidding is in the $400 range. Read more

Free Jazz (And More) At a Price

Like many of you, I was closely watching the auction last week from the seller  Carolina Soul. There were some items in my wheelhouse, such as Lee Morgan Indeed and Tommy Flanagan The Cats, but what caught my attention were the free jazz and other jazz records that were outside my normal area of interest and expertise. I will leave it to others to flesh out more detail – thank you, Clifford, in advance – so I will just share some of the highlights, starting with Don Pullen/Milford Graves in Concert at Yale University. This copy had a hand-painted jacket, the likes of which was unfamiliar to me. The final price was $9,515. Read more

Dorham, Mobley, Trane and the Return of Moose the Mooche

Today we have lots of nice records from some of the more prominent eBay sellers so let’s get right to it, starting with Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This one is listed in VG or so condition for the record and VG for the cover, with a drill hole through the label. The bidding is in the $425 range with three days left on the auction. The seller, the-big-game-hunter has some other nice records for sale this week, although not necessarily in the best of condition. Here’s another likely to fetch a high price: Hank Mobley, Blue Note 1568. This is a West 63rd Street pressing, listed in G+ or VG- condition for the record and a very generous VG for the cover. There’s also a big stain on the one of the labels. Bidding is in the $400 range with three days left. Read more

Transitioning Back with Rare Jazz Vinyl

Let’s celebrate our return with a look at random rare jazz vinyl on eBay, marking the transition back to Jazz Collector with some records from Transition: Doug Watkins, Watkins at Large, Transition TRLP-20. This looks to be an original pressing listed in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. There is no mention of the booklet, and no pictures of the booklet, so my expectation is that there would be no booklet, making this particular copy incomplete. So far there is one bid at $750, with the auction closing in a couple of days. Whilst Transitioning, here is a new one to me: Donald Byrd Sextet, Transition 5. This looks to be a limited edition numbered reissue, and it seems to include the booklet as well. Looks pretty cool, if you are into numbered reissues. This is part of the Sam Records Artisan Series, number 138 out of 300. Since I don’t follow the reissues market as closely as original pressings, perhaps someone can enlighten us about this record and this series. Read more

Catching Up, Up, Up

Catching up on a few jazz vinyl sales from the recent auction by Carolinasoul, starting with Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing listed in VG+ condition for the record and the cover. The final price was $3,000. Kenny Dorham, Quiet Kenny, New Jazz 8225. This was an original purple label mono with deep grooves. The record was VG and the cover as VG+. The final price was $1,598. Doug Watkins, Watkins at Large, Transition 20. This was an original pressing with the booklet. The record and cover were VG. The final price was $1,415. Read more

Wow

The comments on the previous post were intriguing, to say the least, so I jumped over to eBay to see this auction in particular: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address from the seller vinyl-house-uk. The record was listed in Ex+ condition, which I translate into M-, and the cover was Ex/Ex+, which I translate to VG++. The final price was approximately 6,200 British pounds, which I translate to $8,132.92. By my calculation that’s the top price I’ve seen for True Blue, which seems to be confirmed by Popsike. For those who keep an eye on these sorts of things, is this the highest legitimate price we’ve seen for any 12-inch jazz LP? If not, what is? Looking at some of the other items from this auction, my eyes are popping out of my head. Read more

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