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

Freddie Hubbard

The Night of the Cookers - Live at Club La Marchal, Volume 1

c. 1966-70  ·  Blue Note BST 84207  ·  Stereo  ·  US  ·  LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Freddie Hubbard - The Night of the Cookers - Live at Club La Marchal, Volume 1: Front Cover
Back Cover Other Side 1 Label Side 1 Vinyl Side 2 Label Side 2 Vinyl Side 1 Matrix Runout A1 Side 1 Matrix Runout A2 Side 1 Matrix Runout A3 Side 2 Matrix Runout B1 Side 2 Matrix Runout B2 Side 2 Matrix Runout B3

Pressing details

LabelBlue Note
Catalogue numberBST 84207
Yearc. 1966-70
Mono / StereoStereo
CountryUS
FormatLP
Speed33 1/3 RPM
GenreJazz - Hard Bop
ProducerAlfred Lion
MusiciansFreddie Hubbard (trumpet), Lee Morgan (trumpet), James Spaulding (alto sax, flute), Harold Mabern Jr. (piano), Larry Ridley (bass), Pete La Roca (drums), Big Black (congas)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BNST 84208A 84207A VAN GELDER
Side B:  BNST 84028B 84207B VAN GELDER

Condition

Cover
NM-
Vinyl
EX+

Variant chronology

1965 - US Blue Note, blue/white 'NEW YORK, USA' label, Van Gelder stamp + Plastylite 'P' in dead wax, 1st stereo pressing
1966-70 - Blue Note 'A Division of Liberty Records, Inc.' blue/white label, Van Gelder stamp, East Coast Keystone-stock pressing  <- this copy
1972-77 - United Artists-era Blue Note reissue (e.g. All Disc pressing)
1997 - Japanese TOCJ CD reissue
2014 - Japanese UCCQ vinyl reissue

This Pressing

2nd press (stereo, c. 1966-70) - Blue Note 'A Division of Liberty Records' blue/white label; Van Gelder stamp in dead wax = East Coast pressing from original Van Gelder metal.

The Album

Recorded live on April 9-10, 1965 at Club La Marchal in Brooklyn, The Night of the Cookers documents one of hard bop's great trumpet summits: Freddie Hubbard, then 27 and fresh off his early Blue Note breakthroughs, matched against Lee Morgan, his closest rival among the era's young trumpet stars. The date arose from 'Just Us,' a Brooklyn jazz-appreciation circle of young women (including wives of Hubbard, Cedar Walton and Billy Higgins) devoted to promoting the music and giving it a home at the club. Hubbard brought his working quintet of Spaulding, Mabern, Ridley and La Roca, augmenting it with Morgan and conguero Big Black for the occasion. Volume 1 rests on two extended performances: Clare Fischer's Latin-tinged 'Pensativa,' which became a Hubbard signature, and Richard Carpenter's blues-drenched 'Walkin',' a hard-driving vehicle for trumpet trading. Issued across two volumes in 1965-66, the set captures the tail end of Blue Note's golden club-recording era and stands as a career highlight for both trumpeters. It remains widely regarded by critics as one of the finest live hard bop documents of its time, prized above all for the ferocious Hubbard-Morgan interplay.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Pensativa (Clare Fischer)

Side 2

1. Walkin' (R. Carpenter)

The Label

This copy carries the blue-and-white 'BLUE NOTE RECORDS - A DIVISION OF LIBERTY RECORDS, INC.' label, the design Blue Note adopted after Liberty's mid-1966 acquisition and used through 1970. The upper-and-lower-case 'Side 1'/'Side 2' typesetting matches Keystone Printed Specialties label stock, Blue Note's original East Coast printer, versus Bert-Co's all-caps West Coast 'SIDE' printing seen on other Liberty pressings. That points to East Coast manufacture using original Van Gelder metal shipped by Liberty, consistent with the VAN GELDER stamp in the runouts. This places the copy squarely in the second-tier Liberty reissue window (c.1966-70), after the 1965 NY USA first pressing but sonically descended from the same lacquer.

Fidelity

This East Coast Liberty pressing was stamped from Rudy Van Gelder's original metal, so the cut itself is the genuine RVG master, and collectors on the forums rate these Keystone-labeled Liberty copies well above the West Coast Research Craft re-masters (Bert-Co labels, no Van Gelder stamp) and later Capitol/United Artists-era reissues. The source material is Orville O'Brien's remote club recording, with Van Gelder handling only re-recording and mastering, so the sound is energetic and lively but somewhat raw compared to a proper Van Gelder studio date. In the title's fidelity hierarchy this pressing sits just below the 1965 NY USA stereo original (same metal lineage but earlier stampers) and above non-Van Gelder reissues, with Japanese King/Toshiba cuts as the main vintage alternative.

Notes

Blue Note BST 84207 stereo, Liberty-era US reissue (c. 1966-70), not the 1965 NY USA first pressing. Decisive evidence: blue/white 'A Division of Liberty Records, Inc.' labels (post-1966 acquisition design), Keystone-style 'Side 1/2' typesetting indicating East Coast label stock, and the VAN GELDER stamp in the runouts confirming pressing from original Van Gelder metal. The Liberty 'First Family of Recorded Entertainment' company inner sleeve is consistent with this era. The labels print BNST 84207-A / 84207-B, while the runouts carry '84208'/'84028'.

Documenting collections

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