Tag: Serge Chaloff

Autographs, Autographs, Autographs

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I heard back from the reader who sent me the original link to the auction for the autographed copy of John Coltrane Ballads, Impulse A-32. The one that sold for more than $5,000 a few weeks ago. His name is Bill and, it turns out, he has a passion for collecting autographs—as well as an impressive collection. With his permission, here is a copy of our correspondence after I replied to his initial note.

Al:

My jazz collecting the past 25 years has morphed mainly to jazz autographs. There is something about a genuine signature that makes an item come alive: This was actually in the hands of Billie, Bird, Trane, etc. One must be careful to not obtain a fake, but I have mainly dealt with reputable dealers, and over time, I have become more savvy in finds on sites such as eBay.

I did bid on this Coltrane item, but exited the bidding when it went above $2000.

The prizes of my collection are signed photographs, some contracts, some personal letters, etc. To give you an idea of some of my prized items, here is a partial list: Read more

A Few From the Jazz Record Center

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Gigi copyOur friends at the Jazz Record Center had an auction close yesterday and here are some of the items of interest, starting with Gigi Gryce, The Hap’nin’s, New Jazz 8246. This was an original pressing with the purple labels and deep grooves. The record looked to be in M- condition and the cover was probably around VG+. The final price was $338.

Sonny Clark, Leapin’ and Lopin’, Blue Note 4091. This one does not look to be a first pressing, since they don’t call it a first pressing and don’t mention the ear. It looks to be really clean in M- condition for the record and the cover. And it is a mono pressing. The price was $212.50.

Speaking of Sonny Clark, there was also:

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Moving On: Tracking More Jazz Vinyl Collectibles

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As much as it may pain me to interrupt the scintillating discussion on my previous post, it is time for me to move on and write a new post because, after all, that is what I do. I do think that the previous post set a new high for comments on Jazz Collector — and counting — and we came within 10 page views of our all time high for a single day, set last summer during the midst of my stories about purchasing the record collection of Irving Kalus. In any case, I received a missive from our friends at the Jazz Record Center that they have a new auction on eBay, so I took a look over to see what they had. Here are some of the things I found, starting with: Serge Chaloff, Boston Blow-Up, Capitol 6510. This is an original promo pressing that looks to be in M- condition for the record and possibly M- or VG++ for the cover. I haven’t seen that many yellow label Capitols through the years, to be honest. This one does not seem to have the same cachet as Blue Serge, perhaps minus the presence of Sonny Clark on piano, so it will be interesting to watch this and see if it fetches a collectible price. The starting bid is $50.

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Catching Up: Sahib, Serge, Newk, Woods

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This one almost made the $2,000 bin: Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group, Oktav 111. This was an original Danish pressing. What was most amazing about this listing was the number of views it received — more than 1,600. It was listed so that it came up on the first page when you would do a search of jazz vinyl, but still, 1,600 views is quite a lot for any record. Also, I have to plead my ignorance about this LP: I’ve never seen it before and know nothing about it, so if anyone has insight to share, please feel free to do so. The record seemed to be in VG++ condition, close to M-, and the cover was also about VG++, based on the description. The price was $1,952.60.

This one seemed to get top dollar: Serge Chaloff, Blue Serge, Capitol 742. It was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover and it was sold by Euclid Records. The price was $364.88. Finding these records in such

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10-Inch Mania: Miles, Getz, Savoy, Serge, Prez

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Let’s catch up on some 10-inch LPs we’ve been watching. It’s always interesting to keep an eye on the 10-inchers just to see if the market is holding up. So far, it is, based on these records.

Miles Davis, Young Man With a Horn, Blue Note 5013. The vinyl on this one was listed in VG++ condition and the cover was M-. The price was $510.01. This one was sold by the seller herschel78, who has been putting some nice items up over the past few weeks, including some other 10-inch LPs we’ve been  watching.

Miles Davis Volume 3, Blue Note 5040. The vinyl on this one was listed as VG+ and the cover was VG++. The price was $385.

Stan Getz Plays, Clef 137. This was an original pressing with a nice cover by David Stone Martin. The price was $68. This is a great record, one of Getz’s best.

Leo Parker, New Trends of Jazz Volume 5, Savoy 9018. This one was

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Today on eBay: A Rare Bird Indeed

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We spent some time last night perusing today’s activities on eBay, so we figured we’d share some of our findings with you on a bright lovely morning in the New York metro area.

Charlie Parker, The Bird Blows The Blues, Dial 901. This is purported to be the first 12-inch LP ever. It was issued as a promo for Dial. There are reports of only 50 pressings of this record, but, we’re sure that is part of the mythology. We’ve written about it before at Jazz Collector and we’ve also tracked pricing in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Our top price in the past has been $2,850. It certainly does not come up on eBay very often. This one seems to be in pretty nice condition. When we first saw this last night, the price was around a hundred dollars and now it’s around $400 with six hours to go. We’ll see where it ends up. It is quite a rarity and

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Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Serge Chaloff, Boston Blow-Up!

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This is one I had on the to-get-rid-of list for sure. I’ve owned a mint copy for 25 or so years and never listened to it. I found a second copy and put it on eBay last night. In order to list it on eBay I finally put it on the turntable. You know what? I’m selling the one on eBay and keeping the one in my collection. This is quite a nice record, Serge was some player and the bari version of Body and Soul is certainly worth the price of admission. Now I’ve got to give a second listen to Blue Serge before I get any thoughts about getting rid of that one as well. That may be harder to keep, since it is now selling for several hundred dollars in today’s market. I’m hoping that during the course of this process I’ll discover music that’s been sitting around the collection for awhile. I had the same experience with

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Price Updates: Serge, Thad, Miles, Silver, et al

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We’ve been quite busy the past few days updating the Jazz Collector Price Guide so, if you haven’t looked lately, it’s worth taking a peek. There are more than 4,100 records in there now, and quite a lot in the $1,000-and-up category. If you want to search by highest prices first, you can do that just by clicking the word “Price” at the top of the Guide, or you can just sort by fields. If you want to sort all of the records based on price, you can click on the link for View the Complete Price Guide. Anyway, here are a few more records we’ve added to the Guide.

Johnny Griffin Sextet, Riverside 264. This was an original blue label pressing. The record was listed as M- and the cover appeared by be bout VG+. The price was $237.50.

Miles Davis, Cookin’, Prestige 7094. This was an original New York pressing that was listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The price was $394.

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A Few to Keep an Eye On

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Here are a few items of interest we’re following over the next few days:

Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House Volume One, Blue Note 1515. This is an original pressing with the Lexington Avenue address, but it’s only in VG condition. The seller has a start price of about $200 and there are no bidders with a couple of days left. We’ve recently seen one of these sell for about $775 in better condition, of course, on the Jazz Collector Price Guide. One of the reasons we’re watching this: We have been going through our own collection deciding what to keep and what to sell. Some of the prices of the Blue Notes are higher than ever, so we’re considering dipping into the collection and picking out some choice items to post on eBay. This is one of the records we own, and we have a copy in extremely nice condition. If anyone out there wants to make an offer, we’re listening.

Here’s one of similar interest, for similar reasons:

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Dodo, Kenney, Wallington For the Price Guide

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Here are a few more for the Jazz Collector Price Guide:

George Wallington, Jazz For the Carriage Trade, Prestige 7032. This was an original pressing with the New York label. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $343.89.

Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Study in Brown, Emarcy 36037. This was an original pressing with the drummer logo. The record and cover were both VG++. The price was $123.62.

Artie Shaw and His Grammercy Five, Volume 4, Clef 645. This was an original pressing with the David Stone Martin cover. The price was $56.

Serge Chaloff, Fable of Mabel, Storyville 317. This was an original 10-inch pressing in VG++ condition, both record and cover. he price was $91.

Chet Baker and Art Pepper, Playboys, Pacific Jazz 1234. This was an 

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