Tag: Thelonious Monk

Keeping Track of Some High-End Blue Notes

Leave a comment

 

Another Warhol Cover

Another Warhol Cover

As we’re updating the Price Guide, we’ve been inputting some very nice Blue Note LPs from the past few weeks, so here are a few highlights to whet your appetite. When you do look at the Price Guide and want to see the most recent items, click the Timestamp button on the far right and have it sort the items by those most recently entered. Remember, you can sort by artist (last name, first name), label, condition, price and time posted. Anyway, here are some of the Blue Notes going into the Price Guide this weekend:  We’ve been writing a bit lately on Andy Warhol covers. Here’s one that’s familiar to most collectors: Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580. This was an original pressing in very nice condition. Price: $1,225 Read more

Monk’s Music, Again, But Not For $3,000

One comment

I was starting to scan eBay to do a post on new items, when I came across this record: Thelonious Monk, Monk’s Music, Riverside 242. This is an original white label pressing in decent, but certainly not mint condition. The current price is $47. It’s an interesting one because it is an album that once — one-time-only — actually sold for more than $3,000 on eBay, three-plus years ago. At the time there was considerable discussion and consternation about it, since this had usually been at most a $300-$400 record before that, even in near mint condition. In light of the discussions about eBay (The Great eBay Debate), it’s worth noting that sometimes two people can drive the price of a record way, way beyond prior limits. Having said that, I’m also looking at some of the prices of records we were watching this weekend and, honestly, you’d never expect that there was any kind of global financial crisis going on. I’ll do a follow-up post later today to show you what I mean.

Catching Up With Some Interesting Collectibles

3 comments

Here are some interesting results from some records we’ve been watching on eBay:

Red Garland, All Kinds of Weather, Prestige 7148. This is an original yellow label pressing with the New Jersey address in M- condition. Price: $385. I’ve never quite figured out which Red Garland records sell for the highest prices, and why. So, if anyone out there has the answer, please post a comment.

Here’s an interesting one: Paul Chambers, Whims of Chambers, Blue Note 1534. What’s interesting is that this was not an original pressing: The original pressing on this has the Lexington Avenue address, and this copy had the West 63rd street address. So it was not original and it was only in VG condition, yet it still sold for $124.50.

Ben Webster, Soulville, Verve 8274. This was an original pressing with the trumpeter logo in M- condition and sold for $190.09. That’s a pretty nice price for a Ben Webster on Verve. This was sold by

Read more

A Weekend With Jackie, Basie, Warhol, Monk

Leave a comment

As promised, here are a few more records to keep an eye on this weekend, as well as some sellers who have interesting items.

Jackie McLean, A Long Drink of the Blues, Prestige New Jazz 8253. I‘ve always loved the second side of this LP, with Jackie in a quartet setting doing Embraceable You, I Cover the Waterfront and These Foolish things. This particular copy of the record is an original, but not in great condition. Sometimes, if the price is right, it makes sense to bid on something like this, hoping that the record sounds better than it looks. In any case, this is a record worth looking at and it’s also worth looking at some of the other items from this seller this weekend.  A few weeks ago we wrote about a Joe Newman record selling for a high price because of a cover illustration by Andy Warhol. Now here’s another album with a Warhol cover, Count Basie, RCA 1112. This is being sold by Atomic Records, one of the largest eBay jazz sellers.

Read more

A $1,000 Record

Leave a comment

You don’t see too many jazz records selling for more than $1,000. Here’s a recent Gil Melle, Patterns in Jazz, Blue Note 1517, that sold for $1,225. It helped that the record was in mint condition, was an original and was being sold by a highly reputable dealer. Back when I was doing the site regularly, there was huge discussion when a copy of Monk’s Music, Riverside 342, sold eBay for $3,061.50. Here’s what I wrote at the time: Read more

Monk’s Music: The $3,000 Question

3 comments

In our newsletter last week we re-raised the question about why a copy of Monk’s Music, Riverside 242, recently sold on eBay for more than $3,000. Here are some of the early responses:

 “Hi. Great newsletter by the way. I buy a lot of LPs from Atomic and watched that auction in disbelief. I corresponded with the Atomic crew after the auction asking them if there was something special I didn’t know about this particular LP and they said they were blown away at the price and had absolutely no explanation. My explanation is someone’s pocketbook is bigger than their brain Read more

Another Day, Another Price Barrier To Break

Leave a comment

I was sitting at work yesterday, taking a little break and browsing on eBay, when my friend Dan Axelrod called.

“Are you watching eBay?”

I told him I was.

“Did you see the Monk record?”

I did a quick search and there it was: A copy of Monk’s Music, Riverside 242, by Thelonious Monk. It was an original white label pressing in near mint condition being sold by Atomic Records. What was unusual about the listing was not the record itself, but the bidding. When Dan called the bidding had passed $2,000. When the record finally sold, the price was $3,061.50. It looked like a bidding war among four buyers.

Dan and I weren’t the only ones intrigued – amazed – by the bidding: This record was viewed 1,215 times, which is more than I recall for any other jazz record.

“I didn’t even realize this was one of the heavy hitters,” Dan said.

Neither did I.

I did a quick search of the price guide at Jazzcollector.com. We had one copy listed with the white label. It was in VG++/VG+ condition and sold for $366 in March. Inflation? Rising prices? Condition? Is there any rational reason why this record would sell for more than $3,000?

If you have an explanation, send a note to us.  We’ll explore this one in greater detail next week when we send out our next newsletter.

 

Lots and Lots on eBay

Leave a comment

Back from another weekend away, so it’s time to see what happened on eBay the past few days. We were watching auctions from a group of dealers that had some amazing records. Here are some of the dealers and their wares. You can do a general eBay search on completed items for any of these dealers to see more.

 

Here are items sold by the dealer Jazz5060. This dealer also has a bunch of great records for auction now.

 

Charlie Persip, Jazz Statesman, Bethlehem 6046, in M-/M- condition. Price: $157.50

 Walter Benton Quintet, Out of this World, Jazzland 28, in M-/M- condition. Price: $449

 Zoot Sims, Stretchin’ Out, United Artists 4023. This was a promo copy in M-/VG++ condition. Price: $460

 Freddie Hubbard, Goin’ Up, Blue Note 4056, in M-/VG++ condition. Price: $349.95

 The Return of Howard McGhee, Bethlehem 42 in M-/M- condition. Price: $676 Read more

Another Day, Another Thousand Records

Leave a comment

Another day, another thousand or so records on eBay. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to go through them all and it may as well be me. Here are some of the items we’re watching over the next couple of days: Don Sleet, All Members, Jazzland 45

After you click this item do yourself a favor and click “View Seller’s Other Items.” You will see some great records in great condition that will sell for high prices.

This is another dealer with some good items this week. Art Taylor, Taylor’s Wailers, Prestige 7117

One of these days we will get this record, but not this week. The price tag of $450 is already a little too steep. Read more

Interesting Quotes from ’50s Downbeat Issues

Leave a comment

I couldn’t sleep again the other night so I went into my music room and started poring through the batch of 115 Downbeat and Metronome magazines I bought at the WFMU Record Show in New York last week. Most of the magazines are from the 1940s and 1950s, with a few Downbeats from the 1960s thrown in. I love these things because they give you a real view of the history of jazz as it was happening. I’m always surprised that so few people seem to be collecting the old magazines. It’s okay, because the prices are always reasonable and it would be nice if they stay that way. Anyway, over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of the interesting items I find as I go through the magazines. Here are a few snippets: Read more

1 … 12 13 14 15