The Official Price Guide to Records by Jerry Osborne (2007, Paperback)

I am a life-long lover of recorded music (all genre's)and a serious collector since a couple of weeks before Elvis' untimely death. From the beginning I have religiously used Jerry Osborne's price guides... supplemneted by Goldmine, etc. I eagerly purchased his most recent book on E-bay when I launched last year into filling voids in my extensive collection. Frankly, when I got the book and randomly selected a few artists, I was not only disappointed, but shocked. Three of the first few artists I tried to find aren't there... Charlie Pride, The Modern Jazz Quartet and Woody Herman, all favorites of mine. These artists made such an important contribution to American music, it's hard for me to imagine what American music would have been without them. Further investigation revealed other voids... for example, Matt Dennis, one of the most important writers from the forties, fifties and sixties who also recorded his music (one of his albums is a favorite of mine) and had a selection of his songs recorded by Dave Brubeck. Then I began to find other voids - another favorite of mine is a June Cristy with Stan Kenton as more than just an accompaniest on piano... they merge souls to present a soulful tribute to love won & lost that compares very favorably with Frank Sinatra's Only The Lonely or In The Wee Small Hours. Yet I have no way of telling from Jerry's selection if other officianados agree or disagree with my opinion. Whole time periods/labels are missing from other artists discography.

In fairness, I realize that selecting the artists who should appear in a price guide is not an easy task... and all records produced by all artists would be an impossibility. But, there are many artists who appear in the book that I would certainly not compare to the ones I have mentioned.

I continue to find additional voids as I shop Ebay. The prices asked and paid on Ebay is a good supplement for me, but they don't give me the useful information when I can find an album listed in Jerry's price guide.

I still use Jerry Osborne's price guide as my first choice... but, I think he has a long way to go to satisfy my thirst for pricing info on my collection and purchases.