Another reader sent us this link with this note: “Not sure if you caught this beautiful Lorraine Geller LP that sold for $1,200 (buy it now). There can’t be too many of these rarities left in that type of condition.” Indeed.

Here’s a question from a reader:

“Al,  I have a question for you. When you bid on a jazz lp on Ebay and the seller gives it a visual grade of lets say NM-.  You win the lp and when you receive it, you find his visual description is perfectly accurate, but when you listen to it you hear lots of clicks and a lot of background noise. What do you do, if anything?  Would you complain to the seller about the sound or just accept it the way it is?  I ask because I notice many sellers don’t give an audio grade in their descriptions, and many of these lps sell for huge amounts.  When I sell, I give an audio & visual grade, but I think I’m in the minority. Anyway, I appreciate your feedback on this question. Thanks much (and thanks for the great website), Bill.”

Here’s my reply:

“Hi, Bill. I’ll pose the question to my readers, if you don’t mind. I won’t mention your full name. I don’t buy much on eBay these days, but I would definitely get back to the seller. I wouldn’t look at it as a complaint or question the seller’s credibility and I wouldn’t do it with even a trace of hostility or anger. Rather, I would say that, yes, the visual description was accurate, but when the record played it was closer to VG or VG+ or whatever. Then I would ask the seller what he would recommend. Some sellers will take the record back and give you a full refund (if that’s what you want); others will give you a partial refund and tell you to keep the record. Most sellers will do something. If they don’t offer anything and are arrogant or hostile, then just don’t buy anything from them anymore. Personally, I’m not comfortable filing formal complaints on eBay. Can’t say why other than karma. — al”

I never did hear back from Bill on how/wheher this was resolved, so, Bill, if you’re still out there, what happened?

Here’s another question from a reader: “Do you have any information about the Crescent record label other than what is reported by Wikipedia?” Answer: I don’t but I figured maybe someone out there does. So here’s the question for any Crescent experts.

I was listening to this record today: Vi Redd, Bird Call, United Artists 14016. Part of a pact I recently made with myself to go into the collection and listen to records I’ve either never before listened to, or haven’t listened in years. This is a damn nice record, to my pleasant surprise. Anyway, on this record, there is a trumpet player identified as “Kansas Lawrence.” The clue is that he went to school in Lawrence, Kansas. I tried to identify him by his playing. At first I thought it might be Clark Terry. That was wrong. It took a quick search on the Internet to find out who it was, which any of you can do as well. The question is, can anyone identify Kansas Lawrence without looking it up. As always, we are on the honor system here at Jazz Collector.

BTW, the Vi Redd record is over and now I have on the turntable, Annie Ross Sings a Song with Mulligan. Another great record, excellent vocals, excellent arrangements, with great contributions from both Chet Baker and Art Farmer. I’m trying to decide whether this embarrassment of riches is a curse or a blessing – to have so many records, I can’t listen to all the good ones, or to have so many records that I can pull one off the shelf seemingly at random and be pleasantly surprised. I’m sure many of you will gladly volunteer to take some records off my hands to alleviate any concerns may have. It is also odd that I have this little bit of extra time on my hands to listen. I have a short respite between writing assignments, and close listening is something I rarely take the time to do anymore, so I’m having fun.