Tony Fruscella s/t 1955 Deep Groove Mono Original Atlantic Black Fan 1220 VG++

$

334

Tony Fruscella

s/t

Atlantic High Fidelity 1220

1955

Original Deep Groove Mono Pressing on the

Atlantic Black Fan Label

This is an amazing deep groove jazz LP  in absolutely beautiful shape. I have owned, sold and held countless amazing classic jazz LPs from the 50s and 60s but the condition and scarcity of this title is something to behold. I have never seen a jazz LP of this vintage so clean.

Fruscella,  being somewhat of a rarely known artist, only released  one major work as a leader in his lifetime. Like so many of the cats he got caught up in junk and booze , lived a rough life and then died before his time. A tragic figure perhaps , one feels like this orphan never had a chance, but he did leave us with this excellent LP.  As a bit of odd trivia for all you folks that love vintage jazz and The Godfather Fruscella  was married for a time, and had a child with  Mama Carmella Corleone  actress Morgana King.

Sonics: The Sound of this LP reminds me why these Deep groove original pressings are so sought after. No digital release can match the incredible natural warmth and presence of the analog process. Simple and direct:  master tape reel> Cutterhead>Stamper>Bliss.

 Pure tube warmth and breathy realism. The sound of his horn  is beautifully rendered.  Warm mids, and engaged rhythm section make this LP a joy to listen to.

The Reissue vinyl and noise reduced CD don't even come close to this.

Vinyl:  The collection which I bought with the use of a middle woman, was amazing. They had incredible taste, and were buying real jazz LPs in the 50s at the time of release, and kept them in amazing shape all these years. Miles in minty condition with the original Columbia poly bags, ' Bird 10 inch releases on Dial, Monk on Riverside, all the great jazz vocalist, you name it.  There were several hundred titles, this one based on the extremely minimal spindle wear, and the overall condition of the vinyl and jacket looks to have been purchased but never really played much more than once or twice and then carefully filed away.

Visually graded as strongest VG++. Under a bright light it is clear there  isn't even evidence of any type of real abrasion. Typically any LP issued with a paper sleeve will have at the very least some light  abrasion marks from the sleeve making contact with the lp. This LP is near pristine. I didn't grade it as NM or Mint as the vinyl formulation in the factory wasn't 100%  aesthetically perfect, I'm not sure which pressing facility Ahmet was using in '55, but I would say very few records are"perfect" , thus I pretty much never use that grade. One side has the appearance of some minor "ghosting" in smaller section, and other perhaps a few very minor aesthetic imperfections. I try to be 100%  upfront  and transparent in my vinyl grading, I would guess that other "name"/ 100% real vinyl dealers here on Ebay might call this condition Mint or near mint.

Play grade Information:

 I carefully cleaned this LP on my VPI record cleaning machine with MFSL products. The LP is now secure in a new Poly lined inner sleeve.

First thing to check for on visually clean records, especially  from  this era is for groove wear caused by too much tracking force on the lesser console units of the day. I've run into this especially on 50s jazz LPs. Luckily this one passed the test perfectly:  No groove wear distortion. Every musical note was unfettered and played beautifully.

In describing the sound of a record I try to sort out what surface noise is the result of any potential post factory wear, and what is inherent to the vinyl medium/pressing itself.

With quieter music, with spare passages, such as acoustic jazz, or classical you will hear more surface noise than you would with amplified/louder rock and roll, but I still use the same strict play grading  scale.

I listened carefully to this LP, free from distraction and made a reference CDR at the same time, so I would minimize play on the record. Playback was done via a VPI Scout with a Dynavector 20X cart.

This record played much quieter on average than even my super clean deep groove titles from the same era.  Surface noise was very  minimal and even in those few segments with a little more sn present  the LP  still play graded a solid VG+. On average the LP play graded solid VG++: Clean , beautiful  undistorted jazz with very minimal obtrusions in sound. I don't believe you could find an original that would play quieter.

I additionally have played the CDR to death for the past 2 weeks, I've probably enjoyed it over a dozen times. I made a straight transfer to disc with no bs or editing software, it's an amazing recording.

Jacket:  Eretegun's label was second to none for sleeves in the 50s. The art is incredible. Pure 50's jazz, clean, understated, modern. The Yellow script pops, in contrast to the glossy black and white picture of Fruscella. This jacket is beautiful with strong sturdy cardboard, with lamination over the top of the cardboard.

All three seams are tight and perfect: There is not even a hint of wear or splitting. Given the weight of the heavy deep groove LP this is exceptionally noteworthy. Kudos again to Ahmet/Atlantic as none of my Blue Notes/ or Prestige jackets of the era have stayed so perfect.  There is a 1 inch long by 2 cm wide piece of slight delamination in the center next to the opening of the sleeve.  The bottom left corner has a 1/2 CM wear mark. That's it.

The rear slick is clean, no writing, the slick is perfectly centered with no fraying. The white semi-gloss surface is clean with only the bare minimum of light rub wear. Cleanest I've seen from the era.

I grade the jacket Strongest VG++ to NM- Amazing.

LP is stored in a hard poly 5.0 Mil new inner sleeve.

Conclusion:

Overall the entire piece in scary good/museum like condition.

Pure American art of the highest order.

Thanks for viewing my auction, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

NOTE: Because of the condition/scarcity of this piece. LP will be shipped priority, with tracking and insurance based on the closing price of the auction. As such I will invoice you once the auction closes for the true cost of shipping.

About the seller:

I am first and foremost a collector. I treat this entire experience as such, and enjoy sharing these pieces.  My goals is to provide the absolute best pressings with all the detail, knowledge, skill and love they deserve. I have been a serious collector, and have traveled the world to accumulate some amazing LPs. I sell regularly on private sites online, and have built a steady group of repeat, highly satisfied customers. I will occasionally sell on EBay when I have some really nice items to share. I take this very seriously, and have impeccable 100% feedback for the items I have sold. I take pride in my work, and my past auctions will show up in place like Popsike etc.

The majority of what I sell is high quality, 1st pressings.  My personal love for vinyl comes from my goal to acquire the best sounding copies of my favorite musicians. I have extensive knowledge of which LPs are indeed the “best Pressings”, true 1st pressings, and have in most cases heard many copies of these LPs which have enabled me to know which ones sound best. I am happy to past this all on to you.

I have never had a dissatisfied customer with over a 1000 positive transactions. I can count the number of returns and exchanges over the years on one hand. I credit this to my level of detail, attention to quality, and making sure the entire transaction is positive. With that in mind here is a tone of detail about the process

On VINYL Grading:

Let’s talk about grading. I know you’re thinking, jeeze, another EBay record seller with his own special take on record grading, let’s just go to the Goldmine standard, cut the crap and be done with it.  Sounds great but if you don’t understand how I grade based on the Goldmine standard, and considering how people use  these terms on this site, I think a more in depth discussion will help you understand what your record will sound like when it arrives.

I think it is also helpful to understand how your copy compares to other LPs pressed during the same production run. I have a strong working knowledge and familiarity with the vast majority of titles I sell. Why? Because I love the music and want what you want the best sound. Some titles no matter how clean of condition play with more surface noise than others based on who pressed the LPs, and what company they used to produce the copies. As a collector, I have typically heard a bunch of the same pressings, and can comment on sound and how it relates to condition. This can be helpful so you don’t spend the rest of your life trying to track down a copy that plays cleaner, when such a pressing doesn’t exist.

First and foremost, let’s just say 99.9% of all records sold on EBay are over graded at a ridiculous level. As a passionate collector of LPs, this really sucks, you typically have to build this inflation into your purchasing decisions, “If it’s sold as a VG++ record, it’s probably really VG+” even if they are good seller with 100% feedback.  I strive to avoid this; my customers are unanimous in their praise for my grading. I grade conservatively, honestly and in detail. I want to give you as much information as possible about the condition of the vinyl, so you will ultimately know how it sounds.

It is also helpful and informative to understand visual grading as well as play grading. When time permits I try to provide both. Obviously with sealed LPs, or records sold as unplayed, I don’t want to diminish their value by opening/and or playing them. As such I can’t comment or know how they will sound.

Let’s run through visual grades  first. Like any of the other Real sellers on this sight, I grade under a bright light, so I can see any imperfections accurately.

NM: This Record will show no post factory blemishes what so ever. Not even a sleeve scuff. It was probably stored in some type of poly lined inner sleeve, and rarely if ever played, or owned by a total collector or someone with really good preservation instincts but limited musical taste. A lot of these records were purchased with a discount or out of curiosity but rarely if ever played.

VG++:  This LP is often the best you will find of many pressings in my experience. This LP may have some light sleeve scuffing and or inaudible light marks. Will still often have a very high gloss, and will look like new. This grade is often assumed by other sellers to be NM, because the defects may be inaudible.

VG+:  Some lighter marks: this LP has been played and enjoyed but has been well kept, and was probably at least put back in its original inner sleeve. This seems to be my average grade for someone who for the era did a pretty good job of taking care of their records. Lighter scratches/ marks etc.

VG:  This record has marks, scratches etc. this is probably the average condition LP from the 60s/70s. Not completely ruined, but definitely loved and enjoyed and played to death. May not have been stored in a sleeve, removed from the LP a bunch. Often times you can find a lot of value at this grading point. I’d rather have a VG original than some BS made form a cd reissue, and with rare collectible records often the only way to find a reasonably priced copy without spending a few hundred bucks.

I may on occasion sell a record in lesser shape than VG if it’s extremely rare, valuable, and or collectible.

Jackets, Art, inserts etc

Jackets are a lot more straight forward.  I try to take good high res pics to capture it, but will mention any issues; here are my thoughts on grading:

NM: Often times in shrink, the shrink it pretty much fully intact, I’ll try and mention and price, hype stickers etc.  This jacket should have pristine art, as you would have found it in the store: No bends, ring wear, tears, stains, mold damage, writing, seam splits, delamination etc.

VG++: really clean, maybe some slight imperfections like tiny initials in ball point, very slight ring wear etc

VG+: Might have a name written but not typically huge, , fairly standard ring wear (not obscuring the majority of the art) might have some very minor seam splitting scuffs and marks etc.

VG: Tears , split seams, writing, ring wear that starts to dominate the art etc. stains etc

Inner sleeves tend to always separate at least an inch or so at the 6 o’clock point, they also tend to fold, and often left the factory this way. I don’t send a whole lot of time on inner sleeves, or grade them, but I will mention them and their condition. If they have mold starting I will not include them to contaminate the record. If there was custom art/inner sleeve that came with the title I will typically point this out, and mention if it is included or not.

If the record was issued in a generic sleeve, I may include it, but not always, I try to provide recycled Poly lined protective sleeves when possible in order to protect your record when possible.

As far as cool inserts, posters etc, I will include one when possible, I will make mention of this. If the listing doesn’t include mention of this don’t assume that it does include the original inserts.

SHIPPING:

I ship records properly. I will always ship 12” LPs in LP specific mailers. These are new, or in perfect shape on the rare chance I use a recycled mailer.

I take the LP and place it an inner sleeve, OUTSIDE of the LP to prevent seam splits. I have the jacket, Record in sleeve, and any inserts all inside a protective outer sleeve.

I also ship the vast majority of the time with 2 12x12 cardboard inserts to protect your LP. On the odd chance I don’t have cardboard inserts I will use bubble wrap material to ensure the Lp(s) is safe in transit, and won’t incur any damage.

That said I do not incur any responsibility for damage caused by the shipping agent. If you want to insure your package, please let me know and we can discuss costs.

With shipping materials combined with USPS Media Mail, this runs a total of $4.

There are additional costs to ship outside the US. I typically ship 1st class airmail.

I can ship any expedited / insured method you may prefer, at an additional cost.

I will ship to most anywhere in the civilized world, my preference is the US. If I get a sketchy vibe from you I reserve the right to sell the LP to the next highest bidder.

Payment:

PayPal Only. You must pay me within 48 hours of the auction close.

In Closing:

I try to keep all the “rules” to a minimum; I treat people with respect the way they like to be treated. I have put these rules in place based on my experiences as a seller to prevent any drama. Life is way to short to deal with BS. I have a regular job for that J. I am not selling garbage or some faceless commodity. These are historical artifacts, art of the highest order. I spend my valuable time to ensure I do things right with a collector’s perspective in mind. I am reasonable and friendly guy. Please communicate and together I will realize the market value for my LPs and you will get the best possible experience in buying used vinyl via the internet.

If you made it this far you should probably be listening to a record instead. Thanks for viewing my auction.

WCE