This week’s theme is pretty much what it says: Tracks from 10 random Blue Note records, Artists include Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor, Philly Joe Jones, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Louis Smith, Dizzy Reece, Jackie McLean, Pete LaRoca, Cliff Jordan, Jon Gilmore, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Sonny Clark, Dexter Gordon.

Today’s theme: Horace Silver, Part One. Featured musicians include Horace Silver, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Hank Mobley, Curley Russell, Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham, Doug Watkins, Jimmy Raney, Roy Haynes, Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Louis Smith, Blue Mitchell.

This week’s theme: Jazz records recorded on Feb. 4. Featured artists include Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Billy Taylor, Hal McKusick, Art Farmer, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Phil Woods, Jon Eardley, Paul Chambers, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, Louis Smith.

This week’s theme is a random playlist from the Blue Note label. Featured artists include Art Blakey, Art Taylor, John Coltrane, Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, Sheila Jordan, Hank Mobley, Louis Smith, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Donald Byrd and, of course, many, many more.

Phil Woods, Warm Woods, Epic 3436. This looks to be an original yellow label pressing. It is in shrink wrap, but that might indicate this particular copy may have hit the selves after the initial run. Not sure when the industry shifted from loose plastic to shrink wrap, but I think it was in this time frame, late 1950s or early 1960s. Anyone with a better idea? Rudolf? This is another seller who doesn’t deal in returns or refunds. He said he played the album and there are no skips, but some crackling. Start price is $200 with three days to go and so far there are no bidders and only seven watchers.

Could I do a complete post without mentioning a Blue Note. I could, but I choose not to. So how about Here Comes Louis Smith, Blue Note 1584. This looks to be an original West 63^rd Street pressing. The record is listed in VG+ condition and the cover is Ex+. The bidding is at $500 with four days left. This one will end up in the $1,000 bin, don’t you think?

I have another question about this record. It features the alto saxophonist “buckshot la funke,” who is, of course, Cannonball Adderley. But a few numbers later in the Blue Note catalogue comes Somethin’ Else, the only Blue Note under Cannonball’s leadership and a record that seems more of a Miles-driven session versus a Cannonball session. Does anyone know what was going on with contractual rights in those days – why Cannon could not appear under his own name for Louis Smith, but then has an album under his own name in the same time period? I know that the Louis Smith record was originally a Transition, but that doesn’t explain the contractual issues with Blue Note. And, if Cannonball had a contract with Blue Note before he moved to Riverside, why was it only for a single record?

And while we’re on the list of original records I don’t own, we can also find Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. This looks to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing in E- condition for both the record and the cover. E- might be acceptable to me, if I knew what it actually meant. This bidding is “only” around $200 with about one day left on the auction. We’ll close today with a Prestige, Gil Melle Plays Primitive Modern, Prestige 7040. This is an original New York yellow label pressing. The record is listed as VG+ and the cover is VG. The start price is $150. So far there are no bidders. This record has never been that highly sought-after as a collectible so in that condition at that price, I would be surprised if there is a lot of interest.

This one made it into the $4,000 bin despite a seller with a feedback rating of 97.4%: Tommy Flanagan Overseas, Prestige 7134. This copy was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover and wound up selling for $4,100. The same 97.4% seller sold this: Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This was an original promo copy with the West 63rd Street labels. The record was listed in Ex condition and the cover was VG+. The final price was about $2,620. I don’t mean to disparage the seller in any way, as I know there can be language barriers when dealing in jazz records across cultures and continents. I just felt it was worth pointing out, given the high prices buyers were willing to pay for these very rare, very collectible records.

Top dollar for a Blue Note stereo pressing: Dexter Gordon, A Swingin’ Affair, Blue Note 84133. This was a stereo New York USA pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $455.

Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Esquire 32-041. This was an original British pressing that was graded in Ex condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $443.04. Discerning readers may recall that I developed a fascination for these Esquire Prestige issues a few years ago and, in that state of delirium, I recall buying a copy of this record four about $75, so perhaps I wasn’t delirious at all.

This one closes later today: The Magnificent Thad Jones, Blue Note 1527. This looks like an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record and cover are  listed in Ex condition. There is a “discontinued” stamp on the label, which the seller somehow thinks is a selling point. Oh well. Bidding is at about $1,000 but it hasn’t yet met the reserve price and there is also a buy-it-now price of $2,400. For that kind of money, you would hope the seller could afford a better camera, or at least a lamp or two to illuminate the record.

Just because they’re there, here are a few from the Jazz Collector personal want list. Cliff Jordan, Blue Note 1565. This looks to be an original New York 23 pressing listed in VG+ for both the cover and the record. Bidding is in the $535 range with more than two days left.  Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594. This is an original West 63^rdStreet pressing, listed in EX+ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The bidding is already at more than $1,300 with more than three days left on the auction.

the provenance of this one was extremely appealing. It had the note from Alfred Lion to Leonard Feather, asking him to write the liner notes. Talk about a one-of-a-kind item. Plus it had the stamped Blue Note address, the big Plastylite label and the strange letterhead from Alfred Lion that for some reason says: “Alfred W. Lyons.” What is that? Just writing about it now fills me with regret at not having won it, although I am sure I will survive I did have the dubious honor of placing second in the auction. I bid $621.11 and it sold for $631.11. There’s no knowing just how how high the other bidder would have gone, so I’ll never know how close I came, unless the winner is a Jazz Collector reader and chooses to come forward.

Between the Jazz Record Center auction and a couple of others I was watching, it was, indeed, a day for heavy hitters on eBay. Here are some of the other results for those of you keeping score at home.

From JRC:

Louis Smith, Smithville, Blue Note 1594: $2,000

Ike Quebec, Test Pressing of Easy Living, which wasn’t actually released until 1987: $2,025

John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell, Blue Note 1573: $1,749.74

Jackie McLean, Swing, Swang, Swingin’, Blue Note 4024: $898

Don Cherry, Complete Communion, Blue Note 4226: $465

James Moody With Strings, Blue Note 5005: $177.50

Non-JRC:

Donald Byrd, Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill, Transition 17: $2,449

Donald Byrd, Byrd-Jazz, Transition 5: $1,875.55

Jazz By Sun Ra, Transition 10: $2,800

And the final tally is: WOW!

Meanwhile, I was watching this record and it didn’t sell at all: John Coltrane (et al), Tenor Conclave, Prestige 7074. This was an original New York yellow label pressing, listed in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. The start price was about $400 and there were no bidders.

I happened to pull this record off my shelf the other day to listen. I’m trying to get back to records that are not on my frequently played list. What I found most interesting about this record, as you would expect, was Coltrane. He is still relatively early in his development — this was before his first album as a full-fledged leader — and his playing is safer and more straight-ahead than it would be even a few months later. The other tenor players are Zoot Sims, Al Cohn and Hank Mobley, so it is quite a session, along with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. If it was on Blue Note, what would it be worth in that condition? Close to $1,000 or more, right? Anyway, if you don’t own this record, it’s a good one. And, of course, in my collection, which is organized alphabetically and not by label, this one is filed with the Coltranes.

That Sonny Rollins Worktime UK pressing that we were watching also finally sold. This one was in Ex condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The final price was about $135. The same record had previously sold for about $270, so perhaps the buyer got a bargain. I would take it at the final price so, seller, if you are a reader of Jazz Collector and this deal also fails to be consummated, you know where to find me.