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

Grachan Moncur III

Evolution

2022 · Blue Note BST 84153 · Stereo · Germany (back cover carries a 'Made in Germany' line; the labels print 'Made in the EU') · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BST 84153
Year	2022
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	Germany (back cover carries a 'Made in Germany' line; the labels print 'Made in the EU')
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Post-Bop/Avant-Garde
Producer	Alfred Lion (uncredited on the jacket)
Composer	Grachan Moncur III
Musicians	Lee Morgan (trumpet), Grachan Moncur III (trombone), Jackie McLean (alto sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Anthony Williams (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  4535335 0060244535335 4-A KPG@CA BM76189-01 A1
Side B:  4535335 0060244535335 4-B KPG@CA BM76189-01 B1

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1964 - US Blue Note BLP 4153, mono, New York USA label
1964 - US Blue Note BST 84153, stereo, New York USA label
1966 - US Blue Note BST 84153, reissue (no ear)
1967 - US Blue Note BST-84153, Liberty-era reissue
1970 - US Blue Note BST 84153, reissue
1973 - US Blue Note BST-84153, reissue
1975 - US Blue Note BST 84153, reissue
1978 - US Blue Note BST 84153, reissue
1985 - France Blue Note BST 84153, reissue
1985 - US Blue Note BST 84153, reissue
1986 - Japan Blue Note BNJ 71102/BST 84153, reissue
2009 - France Heavenly Sweetness HSV026VL/BST 84153, reissue
2010 - US Music Matters MMBST-84153, 45 RPM 2LP audiophile reissue
2015 - US/Europe Blue Note BST 84153, remastered reissue
2021 - Spain Blue Note BST 84153/BLP-4153, remastered reissue
2022 - Worldwide Blue Note 4535335/BST-84153, Classic Vinyl Series 180-gram reissue  <- this copy

This Pressing

2022 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series reissue (stereo) - Kevin Gray lacquer cut at Cohearent Audio, pressed by Optimal Media in Germany; a New York USA-style label carrying an LC 00133 code and a 2022 copyright line places it as a modern pressing, not an original-era copy.

The Album

Trombonist Grachan Moncur III had already made his mark as a sideman and composer for Jackie McLean before stepping out as a leader on this 1963 session, his second date for the label following Some Other Stuff. Moncur wrote all four pieces here, building loosely structured, harmonically open compositions that let the front line of Lee Morgan, Jackie McLean and Moncur himself stretch beyond conventional hard-bop changes while Bobby Hutcherson's vibraphone added a shimmering, almost orchestral color to the ensemble. Bob Cranshaw's bass and the young Tony Williams's drumming, fresh from his work with Miles Davis, gave the date a flexible, conversational rhythmic foundation suited to the music's freer harmonic language. The record arrived at a moment when a cluster of Blue Note artists - McLean, Moncur, Hutcherson, Williams among them - were pushing the label's hard-bop foundation toward the more abstract vocabulary of the era's new jazz without abandoning its melodic and blues roots. Evolution has long been regarded as one of the quieter but most influential statements of that mid-1960s transitional period, admired for the compositional ambition of pieces like the title track and 'The Coaster' and for the chemistry of its young front line. It cemented Moncur's reputation as a composer of real sophistication and remains a touchstone for the album's blend of structure and openness within the Blue Note idiom.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Air Raid
2. Evolution

Side 2

1. The Coaster
2. Monk in Wonderland

The Label

The side labels show the cream-and-blue New York USA design - BLUE up the left, NOTE along the foot, the rim reading BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC • NEW YORK USA with no street address and a registered mark under NOTE - the same layout Blue Note used from the early 1960s into 1967. On this copy that design sits alongside an LC 00133 label code, a 2022 Capitol Records copyright line, and a Made in the EU credit, none of which could exist on a label printed before 1976, let alone 1964; a label code and a 2022 copyright line date the printing, not the design it reproduces. The jacket also carries a second catalogue style, ST-84153, alongside the labels' BST 84153, a small discrepancy of the kind common to reissue packaging. Taken together these marks place this copy as a modern pressing that faithfully reproduces the original New York USA label art rather than an example of it.

Fidelity

The lacquers were cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tapes, with vinyl pressed at Optimal Media in Germany as part of Blue Note's 180-gram Classic Vinyl Series. Collectors generally rate Kevin Gray's Blue Note Classic Series cuts as clean, accurate modern analog transfers, a dependable and musical alternative to scarce originals. Within this title's fidelity hierarchy it sits below the original Van Gelder-cut New York USA first pressing and below the audiophile Music Matters 45rpm two-LP edition, but above standard-issue reissues and the CD.

Notes

This copy is a 2022 worldwide reissue in Blue Note's Classic Vinyl Series, not an original 1964 pressing. The label reproduces the New York USA cream-and-blue design but carries an LC 00133 label code and a ℗© 2022 Capitol Records line, both marks that cannot predate 1976 and 2022 respectively. The runout is etched rather than hand-stamped and carries a Kevin Gray/Cohearent Audio mastering code alongside an Optimal Media (Germany) plant code dated to 2022. The jacket keeps its original shrink.

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