This week’s theme. All standards, some vocals, some instrumentals. Featured artists include Thelonious Monk, Oscar Pettiford, Art Blakey, Rosemary Clooney, Stacey Kent, Scott Hamilton, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Jo Jones, John Coltrane, Arthur Taylor, Paul Chambers, Warren Vache, Nancy LaMott, Richie Cole and many more.

This week’s theme: More Charlie Parker, all from 1945 studio recordings. Featured artists include Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Argonne Thornton, Sarah Vaughan, Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson, Flip Phillips, Remo Palmieri, Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Rubberlegs Williams, Sir Charles Thompson, and many more.

This week’s theme: Early Charlie Parker, circa 1940 to 1945. Featured artists include Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Jay McShann, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Argonne Thornton, Miles Davis, Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson, Slam Stewart, Specs Powell, and many others.

I tried a similar tactic with this record, also to no avail:

Ernie Henry, Last Chorus, Riverside 266. This was an original pressing in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. I also own a copy of this record, but I am not enamored with the condition of the vinyl or the cover. This was sitting below the $100 range with no bidders and I though I might be able to steal this for a bargain price as well, with, of course, the term “bargain price” clearly a subjective   concept, particularly as it comes to rare jazz vinyl on eBay in today’s marketplace. I put in a snipe for about $120 on this, but it sold for $135.50, so I was not really a contender. Again, it will stay on the wish list.

I’m not sure if there’s anything on my current watch list I’m ready to try for, but this one is always tempting, since I STILL don’t own an original pressing: Lou Donaldson, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Blue Note 1537. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing listed in VG+ condition for the record and Ex for the cover. The start price is about $500 and I would almost certainly pay that amount for this copy. But that almost certainly will not be enough to acquire it. My guess is that this one gets close to the $1,000 bin, if not edging into it. It was just listed and there are still six days left.

This is a Blue Note that has a shot at making the $1,000 bin: Paul Chambers Quintet, Blue Note 1564. This is an original pressing that looks to be in close to M- condition for the record and probably VG+ or better for the cover. This one is at more than $800 with more than one day left on the auction. This is the same seller who is offering the Lester Young/Teddy Wilson record I mentioned the other day. I had been interested in perhaps bidding on that record, but the price is starting to get to the point where my interest is waning. The record was M-, but the cover was only VG. The price has moved to more than $30, reasonable for sure, but if it gets much higher the VG cover becomes more of an issue, for me at least. I do have snipes on a couple of titles out there now, but I’m not going to share them until the auctions are over. No sense in potentially hyping up the price by making my interest public, right?

hasn’t made any of the lists either. I did consider Lester Young for my lists but, in the end, his real contribution came in the pre-bebop era and my favorite artists all seem to be bop and beyond. I find many of Lester’s records from the 1950s on Norgran and Verve to be beautiful and haunting, but on some of them his playing is so sad I actually find it hard to listen to them. I don’t think I’ve ever been that sad in my life, and I certainly hope I never am. That said, IMHO Pres and Teddy is one of the best of the Lester Young Norgran/Verve records and I’ve always loved it. My own copy of this record can use an upgrade, so I may wind up in the action for this auction.

One final note on Lester Young, which is a story I have probably told in the past, but bears repeating. Back in the early 1970s, when Sonny Rollins was playing regularly at clubs, a few friends and I (mostly Dan Axelrod, who is mentioned here often), would go down pretty much every night and listen to Sonny, staying for all of the sets. In those days, you didn’t have to pay a separate music charge for each set, particularly during the week. Sonny began to recognize us after seeing us so often, and he would chat with us occasionally. There was one night where he asked us why we came to see him night after night, and our response was pretty simple: “It’s because you are the greatest!” And we said this and Sonny gave us a half smile and looked at us with a mixture of appreciation and admonishment and shook his head in mild disgust and said something on the order of: “It’s nice of you to say that, but what about Pres? What about Hawk?” Now we all know that Sonny Rollins is too smart to ever do The Stupid List and one of the reasons is because leaving off someone like Lester Young would just be too stupid for him to comprehend. Which is why, in doing this exercise, I am very pleased with myself that I came up with the headline and title of The Stupid List, and I am equally pleased that all of you who are doing it also agree on the stupidity of it.

Watching the Pres and Teddy record caused me to put this record in my queue as well: The Creative Teddy Wilson, Norgran 1019. This is an original yellow label pressing with a David Stone Martin cover. It is listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The seller has a start price of about $150 and there are no bids. It’s hard to imagine that there will be any bids in that price range, despite the cover and the originality of the pressing. Again, time marches on and the people who would have known of Teddy Wilson in his prime are gone and tastes have changed. Perhaps if these records were recorded on Blue Note there would be more interest, but I don’t think that’s the real issue: We don’t see much demand for the Sidney Bechet or Art Hodes Blue Note records either.

So when did this become a collectible: Don Patterson, The Hip Cake Walk, Prestige 7349? This was stereo pressing with the blue label. It was in M- condition for the vinyl and probably VG++ for the cover. It sold for $71. I realize that is not a Blue Note price, but I kind of viewed this as a $20 record. Is it the presence of Booker Ervin? I’ve seen certain Booker Ervin records, The Song Book on Prestige and The Book on Bethlehem, sell for nice collectible prices, but not any previous Don Pattersons on Prestige.

Here’s a nice Verve: Lester Young and Teddy Wilson, Pres and Teddy, Verve 8205. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter logo. It is also

a record that was released originally on Verve, unlike some of the earlier Verves that were reissues of records previously released on Clef or Norgran. This one was in M- condition for the vinyl and VG+ for the cover. It sold for about $130. I like to see the Verves do well in auctions because I do like the label and I have quite a lot of original pressings, so it helps the value of my collection. Also, Verve tends to feature more mainstream artists and it’s good to see that there is still an interest in them.

This is one you don’t see often: Dave Burns, Warming Up, Vanguard 9143. This one was in M- condition and sold for $178.

Lester Young, The President, Norgran 1005. This was an original yellow label pressing with the cover illustration by David Stone Martin. It was sold by The Jazz Record Center, so it was bound to get top dollar. This one looked to be in VG++ condition for the vinyl and M- condition for the cover. The price was $320.55.

This is a great record with a great cover: Lester Young and Teddy Wilson, Pres and Teddy, Verve 8205. This one was in VG++ condition for both the vinyl and the cover. It was sold by the seller Herschel78, who had a bunch of nice Verves/Norgrans/Clefs a few weeks ago. This one sold for $316.11. Also from the same seller was this:

Harry Carney With Strings, Clef 640. This was an original pressing. The vinyl was listed as M- and the cover was VG++. The price was $109.81. Look at that great cover from David Stone Martin.

And this nice one: Illinois Jacquet, Jazz Moods, Clef 700. This was an original pressing in M- condition for both the record and the cover. It sold for $148.05.