Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Big John Patton
Got A Good Thing Goin'
1966 · Blue Note BST 84229 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Blue Note |
|---|
| Catalogue number | BST 84229 |
|---|
| Year | 1966 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Stereo |
|---|
| Country | US |
|---|
| Format | LP |
|---|
| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
|---|
| Genre | Jazz - Soul Jazz/Organ Combo |
|---|
| Producer | Alfred Lion |
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| Musicians | John Patton (organ), Grant Green (guitar), Hugh Walker (drums), Richard Landrum (conga) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: BNST-84229.A VAN GELDER
Side B: BNST 84229.B VAN GELDER
Condition
- Cover
- P
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1966 - Blue Note Records Inc, New York, USA label (no Liberty text), Van Gelder stamp, Plastylite-era pressing <- this copy
1966-1970 - Blue Note, "A Division of Liberty Records, Inc." label
1970-1973 - Blue Note, "A Division of United Artists Records" label
1985 - Blue Note reissue series (Manhattan/EMI)
2000s - Blue Note CD reissue (7243 5 80731 2 6) - not vinyl
2020s - audiophile 180g reissue (Blue Note Classic/Tone Poet-adjacent series)
This Pressing
1966 stereo first pressing - Blue Note NY USA label (BST 84229), Van Gelder-stamped runout, catalog number falls inside the NY USA design window that closed later that year.
The Album
Recorded April 29, 1966 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio, Got a Good Thing Goin' captures organist Big John Patton at the height of his mid-1960s soul-jazz run for Blue Note, reunited once more with guitarist Grant Green in what proved to be their final recorded collaboration. The program pairs two extended Patton-Green originals, "The Yodel" and "Soul Woman," with three contemporary R&B covers - Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar," Sam Cooke's "The Shake," and Duke Pearson's "Amanda" - reflecting Blue Note's mid-60s push toward a groovier, jukebox-friendly soul-jazz sound. Patton, a Kansas City-raised organist who cut his teeth in R&B bands before joining Lou Donaldson and later leading his own Blue Note dates, was among the most rhythmically direct and unpretentious organists in the label's stable, and this session is frequently cited as a high point of his catalog. Drummer Hugh Walker and conguero Richard Landrum push the record into a percussive, dance-oriented groove that helped define mid-60s organ-combo soul jazz alongside contemporaries like Grant Green's own leader dates and Lou Donaldson's records of the era. AllMusic's retrospective review awarded the album four and a half stars, and it remains a favorite among soul-jazz collectors for its hot, unfussy grooves, even as some listeners find the material simpler than Patton's more exploratory work. The session stands as a snapshot of Blue Note on the eve of its sale to Liberty Records, closing out a fruitful and influential chapter in both Patton's and Green's careers.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. The Yodel (Patton-Green)
2. Soul Woman (Patton-Green)
Side 2
1. Ain't That Peculiar (Robinson-Moore-Tarplin-White)
2. The Shake (Sam Cooke)
3. Amanda (Duke Pearson)
The Label
The side labels are the light-blue and white design reading "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC · NEW YORK, USA" with no Liberty Records credit, the fifth Blue Note label style used roughly 1962-1966 across the BLP/BST 4081-4247 catalog run. Blue Note was sold to Liberty Records in mid-1966, after which remaining NY USA-labeled stock was used briefly before the imprint was updated to read "A Division of Liberty Records, Inc." Because BST 84229 falls within the NY USA catalog window and this copy retains the unmodified New York address text, it represents the label's last independent-era design for this title, pre-dating the Liberty-credited pressings that followed later in 1966. The runout reads BNST 84229 A/B with a Van Gelder stamp and matrix number 114; no Plastylite ear appears in the runout, which does not itself rule out a first-pressing plant.
Fidelity
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder direct to the original stereo masters, this NY USA pressing sits at or near the top of the fidelity hierarchy for this title, ahead of the thinner-sounding Liberty and United Artists-era pressings from roughly 1967-1973. Collectors on the forums generally favor these mid-60s Van Gelder-cut Blue Note stereo pressings for their warmth and immediacy over later reissues. No audiophile remaster (Music Matters, Analogue Productions, Tone Poet, etc.) of this specific title exists, so this original pressing represents the best commonly available sonic option; a 2000s CD reissue exists but is a digital, not vinyl, alternative.
Notes
1966 Blue Note BST 84229 stereo - original first pressing. Label reads "Blue Note Records Inc, New York, USA" with no Liberty Records text, placing it before the mid-1966 ownership-change relabeling; runout shows the BNST 84229 A/B etchings with matrix number 114 and a Van Gelder stamp. No Plastylite ear appears in the runout, which does not by itself rule out a first-pressing plant. Reid Miles cover design and back-cover ad art for contemporaneous Patton titles (Along Came John, Blue John, The Way I Feel, Oh Baby!) support a mid-1966 release window.
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