Let’s start with the tease on the Blue Note documentary. It is called Blue Note Records: Beyond the Blue Notes. I saw it at a special screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. Watching the movie and knowing that I would have to write about it here reminded me why, early in my journalism career, I decided that I didn’t want to be a critic. To be fair, there were some great things about the movie. Nice clips of Monk, the Lion and Wolff story, the artwork (of course) and some great commentary and stories from 91-year-old Lou Donaldson, who lights up the screen every time he appears. Would I recommend the documentary to you, loyal Jazz Collector readers? I don’t need to, do I? You’ll see it no matter what I say, as you should. Within the movie is the story of the music we love as it was recorded and packaged on one of the labels we treasure and collect.

As a fan of the label and the music I was disappointed that the movie didn’t do a better job of capturing the ethos of the Blue Note label and the era in which the classic records were recorded, primarily the hard bop period from the early 1950s to the time the label was sold to Liberty in 1966. The movie is filled with platitudes from a bunch of current artists, plus lots of references to the influence of Blue Note on hip-hip, as opposed to putting many of the classic recordings in the context of their time. There was also a lot of emphasis on artists who did the bulk of their best work on other labels – such as Miles, Monk and Coltrane – as opposed to some of the artists who were more closely affiliated with Blue Note, such as Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean and others. There were times where the movie felt like a public relations vehicle to help with the promotion of current Blue Note artists, which I hope was not the intent. In looking on the site for a picture to accompany this post, the only one that was available from the Jazz Collector era was the one I used from Bud Powell. Didn’t seem right, for our purposes here, not to use a Francis Wolff photo.

I am not a critic and never set out to be one, so I will be interested to hear other opinions here at Jazz Collector once the movie gets a broader release and more of you have an opportunity to see it.

In the meantime, there are records to watch on eBay. Lots of talk about that Tommy Flanagan Overseas record, which sold for $6,250. I tend to agree with Woody and others that the 50-year rule will not apply to the collectible records of the 1950s, because they are considered “art” as opposed to coming from the world of popular artists. I’ve been collecting since the early 1970s, seriously since the early 1980s, and there has rarely been a period where the value of the most collectible records has not gone up. As an American, I’ve always been cognizant of the fact that people around the world seem to have a much greater awareness and appreciation for the music and its creators than we have had here, and I hope and assume that will never go away, not just in terms of the value of the records, but more so in keeping the music alive.

Among others, our friend CeeDee has gotten impatient with our lack of posts and has sent links to some jazz vinyl auctions we missed on eBay, including:

Miles Davis, Cookin’, Prestige 7094. This was an original New York pressing listed in M- condition for the record and the cover. It sold for $798. This illustrates my earlier point about records only going up in value. Back in the early 1980s, I could buy a copy of this for $100 or less.

The Consummate Artistry of Ben Webster, Norgran 1001. This was an original yellow label pressing. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was VG+. The final price was $363.99.