Catching Up On Some Sweet Blue Notes

Here are a few more Blue Note 1500-series beauties we’ve been watching:

This one goes into the $1,000 bin: Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing that was in M- condition all the way around. A real beauty. It sold for $1,880.55.

Lee Morgan, City Lights, Blue Note 1575. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was listed as VG++ and the cover was listed as VG+. The price was $850 and it had nearly 200 page views, which means a lot of people were at least considering a bid. I know I was.

Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This was also an original pressing, although the listing was a little weird, advertising it as Bone and Bari, the Curtis Fuller LP. Nonetheless, whatever record this turns out to be it was listed in VG++ condition and it sold for $790.

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A Blues Walk & A Visit to A Shrine

Perhaps CeeDee started a trend this week with his guest column. Here’s another from our friend Don-Lucky:

A ‘Blues Walk’ in NYC…

“Lou Donaldson at the Vanguard on Tuesday April 6th, 2010 was one of the best sets I’ve seen there in a while and well worth the long drive down to NYC from Ottawa. The first set began with Lou’s theme song Blues Walk and escalated through a series of standards and into Alligator Boogaloo from there. He was accompanied by Randy Johnston on guitar, Pat Bianchi on the organ, and Fukushi Tainaka on the drums… It didn’t stop there, Dr. Lonnie Smith dropped in to pay his respects for the second set, along with a quick cameo by Roy Hargrove, and a few vocals by singer Champion Fulton. Definitely worth the trip. Although Lonnie seems to think I owed him money from the last time he was in Canada. Don’t ask me why !

As for the rest of the trip, I did manage to drop in on Rudy Van Gelder at his fabled studio in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,  on the way out Wednesday morning. That’s the studio in the picture above. Rudy wanted

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Horace Parlan Blue Note: A Tale of Two Labels

OK, I have to admit, I’m spending a lot of time catching up on the Jazz Collector Price Guide because I’m kind of avoiding other (i.e., paying) work that is far less interesting. My loss — as in a loss of sleep, when I have to eventually catch up on this other work — is your gain. Here are a few more Blue Notes that will be entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Horace Parlan, On the Spur of the Moment, Blue Note 4074. This is an interesting one. One label is New York USA and the other is West 63rd. This record came out right at the cusp of when Blue Note was making the transition. The seller claims it has deep grooves as well as the ear in the deadwax.  It was listed in VG+ condition for both the vinyl and the cover and it sold for $183.50. Is it an original? I would tend to think so, but I’m not so sure. Here’s another copy of the same record: Horace Parlan, On the Spur of the Moment, Blue Note 4074. This one

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Some More Blue Notes, Less than $1,000

Here’s  some jazz vinyl on Blue Note that did not sell for more than $1,000.

Paul Chambers Quintet, Blue Note 1564. This was an original pressing and it was listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The price was just $114.50. That’s pretty low for this record. The last time we followed it in the Jazz Collector Price Guide it sold for more than $1,100, and previously it has sold for more than $600. This was not in M- condition, but you would still expect it to go for at least $300 or so. I think the seller may have overgraded the record, based on the description — VG+ but with “marks that will make some noise.” To me that’s a sign that the record may be VG or worse, so that would probably be the reason for the lower price.

Lee Morgan, The Cooker, Blue Note 1578. This one was listed in VG condition for the vinyl

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An Avalanche of Thousand-Dollar-Plus Jazz Vinyl

We’ve been off line for a couple of days, just got back, went to My Ebay and noticed that the auctions of the seller Nautiluso are now in the midst of closing. Wow! Wait till you see these prices. Here’s a start:

Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims, Blue Note 1530. Like most of the others in this group, this was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $3,342.99.

J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. Condition: M- for record and cover. Price: $2,247.22

Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. Condition: M-. Price: $1,175

Hank Mobley With Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, Blue Note 1540. Condition: M-. Price: $1,705.

Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. Condition: M-. Price: $2,247.

Bill Evans, Waltz For Debby, Riverside 399. Condition: M-
Price: $1,500.

As noted, this is just a small sampling. There will be more to come. It would be great if some of the winners of this vinyl will report back to us on the condition and whether these records are, indeed, as pristine as they seem.

Art Pepper For the $1,000 Bin: Blues Walk, Almost

Here’s one for the $1,000 bin and another for the almost-$1,000 bin:

The Return of Art Pepper, Jazz West 10. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was listed in M- condition and appeared to be unplayed. The cover looked to be about VG+. The price was $1,155.55. We’ve seen several Art Pepper records cross the $1,000 barrier in the past: The Art Pepper Quartet on Tampa as well as Modern Art on Intro, which recently topped $1,500. This is the highest price we’ve seen yet for this LP, according to what we have followed in the Jazz Collector Price Guide.

Joining the almost-$1,000 bin, which is not really a bin, is this one:

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A Couple of Nice 10-Inch LPs For The Price Guide

Just catching up on some recent interesting eBay sales to add to the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Here’s a nice 10-inch Blue Note: Lou Donaldson, New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5021. This was in VG+ condition, both the record and the cover. The price was $339. I love these old records with titles like “New Faces, New Sounds” or “Introducing.” They really put the timing of the release of the records in a nice context. This one also has a great cover.

Here’s another 10-incher from the same era with a great cover and a great title: Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows For LP, Prestige 166. This is another title that really dates itself: The concept that

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For the Price Guide: A Blue Note Batch & A Prestige

Here are a few more big-ticket items we’ve been watching. All of these will be entered into the Jazz Collector Price Guide as soon as we get a chance.

Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was an original pressing with the yellow label and New Jersey address. The record and cover both seemed to be in VG+ condition. The price was $599.95.

Walter Davis, Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in M- condition. It sold for $790.

Freddie Hubbard, Open Sesame, Blue Note 4040. This too was an original pressing and it was in M- condition, both the record and the cover. The price was $636.  This was actually surprisingly low — we’ve seen this record sell for more than $1,000 several times, and reach as high as $1,590 for a record that  was not in M- condition.

Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note 1569. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing. The

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Catching Up on Some Blue Notes

We’d mentioned the other day that we were watching some Blue Notes so today we will catch up on some of the items we’ve been watching.

Wayne Shorter, JuJu, Blue Note 4182. This was an original pressing in M- condition, both record and cover. It was sold by Euclid Records, which generally means it will get top dollar. This one did: It sold for $443.88. We’ve only tracked this record one time previously in the Jazz Collector Price Guide and it sold for $115 in VG++ condition. So this will go into the Price Guide as a new high point for this record. 

Kenny Dorham, Afro Cuban, Blue Note 1535. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was VG++ and the cover was pretty beat, listed as G+ or VG-. Despite the poor condition of the cover, the record still sold for $483.

Bennie Green, Back on the Scene, Blue Note 1587. This was an interesting one because the seller

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