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

Charles Earland

Living Black! (Recorded LIVE! At The Key Club, Newark, N.J.)

1971 · Prestige PRST 10009 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Prestige
Catalogue number	PRST 10009
Year	1971
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Soul-Jazz
Producer	Bob Porter
Musicians	Charles Earland (organ), Gary Chandler (trumpet), Grover Washington Jr. (tenor sax), Maynard Parker (guitar), Jesse Kilpatrick (drums), Buddy Caldwell (conga)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  PRST 10009 A 
VAN GELDER
Side B:  PRSTB10009 A
 VAN GELDER

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NN-/NM-

Variant chronology

1971 - US Prestige PRST 10009, purple/violet Bergenfield-address label, stamped VAN GELDER both sides  <- this copy
1971 - France Prestige PR 10009
1997 - US Prestige PRCD 24182-2 CD remaster
2009 - Japan Prestige UCCO-9881 limited-edition reissue

This Pressing

1971 stereo pressing - US purple/violet Bergenfield-address label, no deep groove; stamped VAN GELDER both sides.

The Album

Charles Earland, the Philadelphia-born Hammond B-3 organist nicknamed "The Mighty Burner," built a following fusing hard-bop technique with blues, gospel and funk grooves pitched at a dancing club crowd. This live document catches him leading a hot, tightly drilled band before a packed house at Newark's Key Club, arriving on the heels of the successful studio dates that had already established him as one of the label's most commercially exciting soul-jazz artists. The band was barely rehearsed as a unit - the trumpeter had joined only three days before the date and the tenor saxophonist stepped in as a last-minute replacement - yet the performance is unified and confident throughout. An original burner and a contemporary radio-friendly cover set a driving, celebratory tone, while extended readings of two modern-jazz standards tie the record's dance-floor energy back to the bebop and modal repertoire. The lengthy spotlight on the tenor saxophonist stands as an important early recorded showcase for a player who would soon emerge as a major solo star. The album was warmly received by critics and fans and remains one of the defining live documents of early-1970s soul-jazz and a high point of Earland's prolific run for his label.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Keyclub Cookout
2. Westbound #9

Side 2

1. Killer Joe
2. Milestones

The Label

The labels on this copy are a flat (no deep-groove ring visible) purple/violet Prestige stereo design: a circled trident-and-torch logo with PRESTIGE STEREO lettering at twelve o'clock, and the full PRESTIGE RECORDS INC., 203 S. WASHINGTON AVE., BERGENFIELD, N.J. rim text running the perimeter. This purple, Bergenfield-address design is the only label design documented for this catalogue number's US pressing run, and it is what appears on the visible copy here; the stamped VAN GELDER credit on both sides is likewise visible in the transcription. Because only the top-line catalogue and Van Gelder stamp were recorded rather than any etched stamper or mother suffix, the finer generation of lacquer or stamper used for this specific copy cannot be read from what is on hand, though the label design itself places it within the label's original run for this title rather than a later reissue design.

Fidelity

Rudy Van Gelder recorded the Key Club performance and cut the lacquers; stamped VAN GELDER appears on both sides, confirming original mastering lineage. This purple-label US original is the fidelity benchmark for the title: full-bodied and dynamic, with convincing club ambience and a wide soundstage, though as a live remote recording some surface noise and room bleed are inherent to the source. Collectors on the forums rate this pressing's sound as rich and room-filling, and with no audiophile reissue of this title in circulation, this original sits at the top of its fidelity hierarchy.

Notes

1971 Prestige PRST 10009 stereo - original US first-pressing configuration. The purple top-logo labels carry the 203 S. Washington Ave., Bergenfield rim text matching the era of this new catalogue-series title. Both sides carry stamped VAN GELDER in the deadwax, the decisive original-lacquer marker for this release. This copy shows standard retail labels and jacket with no promo markings.

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