Et Tu, Johnny Griffin?

Here’s an interesting newcomer to the $1,000 bin: Johnny Griffin, Volume One, Blue Note 1559. This is a great record and, as a rare Blue Note with a great roster of artists, it is not surprising that this would sell for a high price tag. This particular copy, in M- condition for both the record and the cover, sold for $1,380. What was interesting to me about this record was the way in which the seller chose to list it. He listed it as “Blue Note 1559 Lee Morgan Hank Mobley.” He also purchased a subhead, which mentioned the presence of John Coltrane as a sideman. Notice how the seller never even mentioned Johnny Griffin, who was the leader on the date.

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Catching Up With Some Nice Savoys

I’ve been a big fan of the Savoy label since I started listening to jazz, perhaps because of the great Charlie Parker records, perhaps because the original Savoys always had the heavy vinyl and nice covers and great artists. I remember discovering the Dexter Gordon Savoy LPs and hunting all over to find copies, which, it turned out, weren’t even original pressings. It didn’t matter, not at that time, because it was only about the music. Anyway, we’ve been watching a couple of nice Savoys this week (one because it was our own record) and it was nice to see that they are among the more cherished collectibles, at least if you go by the prices reflected by the winning bids. Here are a couple of items, both of which will be added in due time to the Jazz Collector Price Guide:

Donald Byrd, Jazz Message #2, Savoy 12092. This was an original pressing with the blood red label. It was

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A Few More (Blue Notes) For the $1,000 Bin

The $1,000 bin keeps getting bigger and bigger. We just did a search on eBay of completed auctions of $1,000 jazz records and it was quite stuffed. Here are some of the items we will be adding to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. 

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was listed in in “excellent” condition for both the vinyl and the cover. According to the seller’s notes, “excellent” is what we wold normally use for VG+. So, in VG+ condition, this record sold for $1,525.

John Jenkins With Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address. The record was in M- condition, both vinyl and cover. The price was $1,905.

Lee Morgan Volume Three, Blue Note 1557. This was an original West 63rd Street

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Problems With eBay?

Not sure if anyone else is having problems with eBay, but I am. As a seller, I often use the Featured Plus tool, which normally allows my items to appear on the first page of any search for Jazz records with the subcategory of 33-RPM. I’e been doing this for years and there hasn’t been a problem. Then, this week, eBay changed it’s view and search functions and all of a sudden my items are not appearing on the first pages of searches anymore and, in fact, I can’t find any search where they are being listed. This is one of the items that’s currently listed as Featured Plus: Introducing Lee Morgan, Savoy 12091. It’s a nice item, already over $100 by the way. Anyway, I’m posting this to see if anyone else is having problems with the new version of eBay, either in searching to purchase items or in listing items. I am a Power Seller, not that being a Power Seller carries that much weight, but I am curious if other people are having problems and if anyone is finding solutions. Also, if anyone can find a search where my Lee Morgan record appears as a featured item, please be kind and let me know. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when eBay tries to fix things that aren’t broken and winds up screwing up a perfectly good system.

Some Nice Blue Notes For The Price Guide

We’ve seen several nice Blue Note records break the $1,000 price barrier in the past couple of weeks, including the copy of Cool Struttin’ by Sonny Clark that sold for $3,416. Here are some of the Blue Notes that we will be entering into the Jazz Collector Price Guide this weekend. 

Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record was VG++ and the cover was M-. The price was $1,575.

Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing in VG+ condition, both record and cover. The price was $900.

Thad Jones, The Magnificent Volume 3, Blue Note 1546. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The record was VG++ and the cover was M-. The price was $500.

Then there are these records from Sonny Clark:

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Updating the $1,000 Bin

We’ve been updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide this morning and we just added a fairly  large group of records that surpassed the $1,000 price barrier. We’ve mentioned some of these before on Jazz Collector, but it’s interesting to see the group all at once. There are no links attached to these, by the way, so don’t try clicking them. Here goes:

Bent Axen, Let’s Keep the Message, Debut 133. There are actually two copies of this that fit into the category. They were both in M- condition, both cover and record. One sold for $1,790.90 and the other sold for $1,326.

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. There are two copies of this as well. One was sold by the Jazz Record Center and was in M- condition, both record and cover. It sold for $1,492. the other was in VG++/VG+ condition. It sold for $1,575. Go figure.

Here’s the only one on the list that was a bit of a surprise:

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Another for The $1,000 Bin

I was up in Providence this weekend and couldn’t get over to visit Steve over at Round Again Records on Wickenden Street, which I usually try to do when I visit the city. It would have been a good time to go: Round Again had a very nice copy of Lee Morgan Volume 3, Blue Note 1557, which closed yesterday on eBay. The record was in M- condition and the cover looked like a VG++. The record sold for $1,675 and had nearly 300 views. Like many dealers, Steve puts a lot of his best stuff on eBay these days, for good reason: It’s hard to imagine someone walking into a shop and paying $1,675 for a record, although it happens with increasing frequency on eBay. Still, there are always good items to browse at Round Again, so if you’re in Providence, it’s definitely worth the trip. And say hi to Steve for us.

One for the $2,000 (almost $3,000) Bin

Many of you probably saw that the item we were watching yesterday from the Jazz Record Center, Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538, wound up selling for the whopping price if $2,927. That’s great. It’s nice to see the demand high and the price high and a happy customer and (I’m sure) a happy seller. Dave asks in one of the other posts if we have a list of the highest prices on eBay. We don’t have a formal list, but you can go to our Jazz Collector Price Guide and do a search of our 4,000-record database and sort them by highest prices first. The top item we have is a copy of Cool Struttin’ by Sonny Clark that sold for $3,750.

A few More For the $1,000 Bin, Courtesy of JRC

As we expected, several of the items from the Jazz Record Center auction sold for well more than $1,000. Here’s the rundown of the ones we were watching:

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original New York pressing. On further inspection, this copy looks to be in M- condition, both record and cover. The final price was $1,492.

Sonny Rollins Volume One, Blue Note 1542. This was also an original pressing — Lexington Avenue on both sides. The record was M- and the cover looked to be VG++. The final price was $1,281.

Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031. This one also seemed to be in M- condition, both record and cover. The final price was  $1,259.

In addition to these for the $1,000 bin, there is also this one from Jazz Record Center:

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From JRC: Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins

We were checking our email and we noticed that the Jazz Record Center is another auction coming up on eBay this week. The check out the link, click here. This one will be quite interesting to watch, since there are at least three records we expect to break the $1,000 barrier, and there are a bunch of other records that will test the softness of the market. When you have a dealer with the sterling reputation of the Jazz Record Center, you are getting the truest sense of market conditions, since bidders don’t have to worry about the veracity and credibility of the seller. In any case, among the top items being auction by Jazz Record center this week are: Lee Morgan, Indeed, Blue Note 1538. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record is M- and the cover is somewhere between VG++ and M-. The current price is $912; Hank Mobley, Soul Station, Blue Note 4031. This one looks M- all the way around and is currently at $777; Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This is a New York pressing in beautiful condition and is currently at $521.

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