This week we do the first in a new Unsung Artists Series, focusing on the Vice President, tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette. Featured artists include John Coltrane, Charles Rouse, Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown, Herbie Mann, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Brooks Kerr, Gene Ramey, Sam Woodyard,Jimmy Jones, Joe Benjamin, Roy Haynes, Webster Young, Mal Waldron, Joe Puma, Earl May, Ed Thigpen, Count Basie, Buck Clayton, Dickie Wells, Gus Johnson, Al McKibbon, Walter Page, Freddie Green, Sonny Payne, Thad Jones, Nat Pierce, Joe Newman, Paul Chambers, Wynton Kelly, Charlie Shavers, Clark Terry, Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmy Cobb, Barry Galbraith, Cecil Payne, Hank Jones, Jo Jones, Sweets Edison, Snooky Young, and more.

This week’s theme: The Billie Holiday Songbook

From the same seller there was Jackie McLean, The New Tradition, Ad Lib 6601. This was an original pressing listed in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. The final price was $4,412. And one more: Paul Quinichette, On the Sunny Side, Prestige 7103. This was an original New York yellow label listed in VG++ condition for the record and the cover, although the description of the record sounded more like VG+ to me. The final price was $745. That was the second highest price recorded for this record, the highest being $875.

Here are a few more to stick into the $1,000 bin. Geez, what a startling coincidence: They are all Blue Notes, starting with Cliff Jordan, Cliff Craft, Blue Note 1582. This was an original West 63^rd Street pressing listed in VG condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $1,194.

Art Taylor, AT’s Delight, Blue Note 4047. This was also an original West 63^rd Street pressing. The record was listed as VG+ and the cover was Ex. The final price was $1,613.

Kenny Drew, Undercurrent, Blue Note 4059. This was an original West 63^rd Street pressing with the deep groove Side 2. The record and cover were listed in VG+ condition. The final price was $3,450.

Freddie Hubbard, Hub Cap, Blue Note 4073. This was an original West 63^rd Street pressing listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $1,425.

From the same seller: Jackie McLean, The New Tradition, Ad Lib 6601. The record was listed as VG+ and the cover was VG. The final price was $4,412. As I mentioned before, this seller is getting these very high prices and is only shipping within the U.S. One more from the same seller: Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This was an original New York yellow label listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $2,175.  Per Popsike, this is the second highest price we’ve seen for this record. Two years ago a copy sold for $2,584.

And what would a Jazz Collector post be these days without a Blue Note or a listing from the seller Carolinasoul. Here we have both: Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4041. This was an original West 63^rd Street pressing. The vinyl was listed in VG MINUS condition and the cover was VG+. The final price was $2,999. I guess the chances of me ever upgrading my cover are getting slimmer and slimmer all the time.

A couple of updates:

It doesn’t look like I will be doing anything substantial with my record collection yet. Those negotiations we were having with our largest client are over and, basically, we got everything we were asking for, so I’m probably locked in to working full time for another year, at least. I’m OK with that. Despite not being in the game of selling records, I do hope to be able to post more frequently on Jazz Collector. I’ve really let the work stuff get to me and occupy a lot of my brain power. Perhaps now that things are settled, I would like to get back to enjoying my connection with the community here.

I received this note from a reader: “I am interested in selling a 1960 photo of John Coltrane taken at Ralph Gleason’s home in Berkeley, CA. The photo was taken by Jim Marshall and is very rare.” The reader was asking about advertising it on the Jazz Collector site, but I’m not offering paid ads at this point, so here is a free ad. Anyone interested can reach out to al at jazzcollector dot com and I can put you in touch with the potential seller.

I also received a note from a reader interested in selling a large desktop lighter cigar that ostensibly belonged to Dizzy Gillespie. Apparently it was given to Dizzy by James Moody and is mentioned in Dizzy’s autobiography To Be or Not to Bop. Again, if anyone is interested you can reach out to me and I can reach out to the owner.

This one closed as I was typing: Lee Morgan, Lee-Way, Blue Note 4034. This was an original West 63^rd Street pressing. The record was listed as VG/VG+ and the cover was VG. The seller, Carolina Soul, has a good reputation and often grades conservatively, so perhaps VG+ would be the operative expectation. The final price was $626.52, nearly doubling in the last several seconds of the auction. You may want to check out some of the other auction’s from this seller – they had a lot up this week, including Jim Hall, Jazz Guitar, Pacific Jazz 1227. This seemed to be an original pressing in VG+ condition for the record and G for the cover. It sold for $102.50.

This one looks legitimate and closes in an hour: Monica Zetterlund and Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby. I’ve seen this record with the original Philips cover, but I’m not sure I’m familiar with this cover, which has the label “Sonora Red.” Can anyone help out on that? This one is autographed and the signature looks legitimate to these untrained eyes. Not much information in the listing to help, just a generic description of the condition as “very good.” I’d be interested, but would need a lot more information to meet the start price of $650. The auction closes within the hour of this post and so far there are no bidders.

Booker Ervin, The Space Book, Prestige 7386. This was an original blue label stereo pressing listed in M- condition for the record and the cover. The final price was $169.50. Speaking of Booker, take a look at this picture my friend Dan sent. Love the coming attraction. Also, look at the size of that stage. Cannonball barely fits. Can anyone identify the club?

The same seller has this nice 10-inch Blue Note that is getting quite a lot of attention: Jazztime Paris Volume 1, Gigi Gryce and his Big Band Featuring Clifford Brown, Blue Note 5049. This is a Lexington Avenue pressing listed in Ex condition for the record and the cover. The bidding is already more than $925 with four days left on the auction. I just looked over at Popsike and the previous top price for this record was $265, so I don’t know what is going on with this particular copy. The original recording was issued on Vogue, so while this is an original Blue Note, it is not the first release of the music. I was doing some research and this great post from Jazz Collector, January 2009 came up: The Blue Note Story. If you read the article, also take some time to look at the comments: Our long-time reader Rudolf offers some great research on these Blue Notes and French Vogue records from the era.

This record has been sitting in my queue for a few weeks and I want to clear it out: Thelonious Monk, Brilliant Corners, Riverside 12-226. This is a blue label third pressing. When I bought a copy last year I valued it at between $100 and $200 in VG+ condition, and I’ve been checking other copies to see if I overvalued it, which I probably did, based on current market. If you look at Popsike, white label original pressings of Brilliant Corners often sell for several hundred dollars, with a high of $1,251. Blue labels, not so much. This one had a start price of $110 in M- condition for the record and Ex for the cover. It was a third pressing and didn’t sell at all. And now it is out of my queue. Mission accomplished

Speaking of Monk, there is this: Thelonious Monk Quintet, Prestige 7053. This is an original New York yellow label with the first cover, which is a photo. The second cover was the one designed by Andy Warhol and my bet is that the second cover is the one more valued by collectors. Let’s take a look . . . click to Popsike . . . and . . . indeed, the Warhol cover is, by far, the one that collectors seem to prefer, with one aberrant copy actually selling for $2,350 in 2009. The top price for the photo cover was $665. I’ll take either cover, and definitely the entire record, which is a classic. This one is graded in Ex condition for the record and VG++ for the cover. There is less than a day left on the auction, the start price is about $300 and so far there are no bidders.

Here are a couple more nice Prestiges from the Jazz Collector era:

Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This is an original New York yellow label pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and vG+ for the cover. The bidding is in the $250 range and there are about two days left in the auction as of this writing. Tadd Dameron and John Coltrane, Mating Call, Prestige 7070. This is an original New York yellow label pressing. You’ll have to read the seller’s description to assess the grade. The record is somewhere between VG+ and VG++ and the cover is VG++. The bidding is in the $200 range with two more days before the auction closes. Quick question for those of us fortunate enough to own this record: If you file by artists, as I do, where to you keep this one? Under Coltrane or under Dameron? Mine is with the Coltranes.

And what would a Monday at Jazz Collector be without a couple of Blue Notes, starting with Sonny Red, Out of the Blue, Blue Note 4032. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing listed in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The price is in the $200 range, but I expect it to sell for quite a bit higher, particularly after that copy a couple of weeks ago sold for $1,802. Thad Jones, Detroit New York Junction, Blue Note 1513. This is an original Lexington Avenue pressing that is described to be in VG+ condition, although potential bidders would be advised to look at the picture of the cover to draw your own conclusions. The bidding is in the $300 range with more than a day left.

I must have been in a bit of a Prestige head when I was looking last time, because there are a bunch of nice Prestiges in my queue, including: Elmo Hope, Informal Jazz, Prestige 7043. This is another one from the Baltimore collection, which will always be a highlight of my record collecting experiences. This was another original pressing with the New York address and yellow labels. The record was listed in M- condition and the cover was probably VG+ or VG++. This one sold for $430, which seems low to me, considering the presence of both John Coltrane and Hank Mobley as sidemen. What gives?

And, while we’re having a Prestige moment: Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This was another New York original. Tough to gauge the condition from the description. It was certainly no better than VG+ and might have been VG for the record. The cover was listed in Ex condition. The final price was $456.78, which sounds about right considering the condition of the vinyl. Great record, by the way. Two underrated soloists in Webster Young and Paul Quinichette.

Not so bizarre for this one: Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This was an original New York yellow label pressing. The record was listed in EX condition and the cover was probably VG. It also had a promo stamp on the back cover. It sold for $428.

Another Prestige from the same era: Jackie McLean and John Jenkins, Alto Madness, Prestige 7114. This was also an original New York yellow label, listed in VG+ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It also had a promo stamp on the back cover. The price was $325.

And this one:

Phil Woods and Donald Byrd, Young Bloods, Prestige 7080. This was another original yellow label New York pressing with a promo stamp. It was listed in VG+ condition for the record and VG for the cover. The start price was $100 and . . . it didn’t even get a single bid. Why not? Not sure, but I think it may have to do with the picture accompanying the listing, which was very weak, and the fact that the seller mentioned “surface noise” as a characteristic even though he listed the record in VG+ condition.

Webster Young, For Lady, Prestige 7106. This was an original New York yellow label pressing that looked to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. Always liked this record, featuring Mal Waldron and Paul Quinichette in addition to Young. This one did not sell. It had a top bid of $510 but failed to meet the seller’s reserve price.

This was from a different seller but also did not sell: Jackie McLean, Lights Out, Prestige 7035. This was an original New York pressing in what was described as pristine M- condition. The top bid was around $620, but that was lower than the reserve price. I’m surprised this one didn’t get a higher bid, and I’m sure the seller was too, but, to be fair, the seller’s feedback rating is less than 99 percent, which probably impacted the bidding.

Barbara Lea, Lea In Love, Prestige 7100. This was an original New York pressing. The record was M- and the cover was VG++. It sold for $385. This seller often has great records and has a strong reputation. I wonder why they vary their terminology between the Goldmine M-, VG+, VG, etc., and the E+, E, E-? Perhaps if they read Jazz Collector they will provide an answer.

George Wallington, The New York Scene, New Jazz 8207. This was an original pressing with the deep grooves and purple label. The seller also used the E+/E grading system, which I interpret to be M- for this record and VG++ for the cover. It sold for $495. I have this record and I actually paid 25 cents for it. Somehow it found it’s way into a discard bin at a local record store about 20 years ago and I fished it out. It was in beautiful condition. Someone either made a mistake or had no idea what he was doing. Needless to say, I was quite pleased.