Nina Simone | jazzcollector.com

Jazz On Vinyl and On Film

April 30, 2016 Al 13 comments

I didn’t think this one was a collectible, but there it is being auctioned by the Jazz Record Center with a start price of $100, so it must have collectible value to someone somewhere: Boppin’ With the Chet Baker Quintet, Prestige 7512. This is a stereo pressing with the purple label. I can’t recall any purple label Prestige selling for $100 or more, so I am somewhat surprised to see this one here. We’ll see what happens. On a side note, I saw the Chet Baker bio-pic the other day, Born to Be Blue. Very good film, well done, with a nice performance by Ethan Hawke as Chet. I also saw the Nina Simone bio-pic, Nina, with Zoe Saldana in the title role. There was a lot of controversy about this one because they chose a very light-skinned actress with very white features to play Simone. Anyway, I can’t believe I made it through the whole movie. It was so bad. Don’t bother. And, if you’re a Simone fan, REALLY don’t bother. It will just make you angry. I just noticed that the new Miles Davis bio-pic, Miles Ahead, with Don Cheadle as Miles, is playing up here in The Berkshires this weekend, so that may be next on my agenda.

Spellbound!

February 1, 2016 Al 14 comments

Just catching up on my eBay watch list and thought I’d share some items of interest that are still lingering from the past couple of weeks. Not to overly beat an already beaten dead horse, but this one is still in my queue from the Dr. Herb Wong auctions by the seller funkyousounds: Nina Simone, I Put a Spell on You, Philips 600-172. This was a stereo promo pressing in M- condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $530, which was a shocker to me. I took a look at Popsike to get comparables and was surprised to see that this record had sold for $150 to $200 in the past. I didn’t ever think of it as a collectible, but I guess these days I’ll have to readjust because the market seems to be changing before our very eyes. Still, $530 was quite a leap from the previous top price for this record.