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
Jay Jay Johnson
Volume 1 - The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson
1956 · Blue Note BLP 1505 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Blue Note |
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| Catalogue number | BLP 1505 |
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| Year | 1956 |
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| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
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| Country | US |
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| Format | LP |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Jazz - Hard Bop |
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| Producer | Alfred Lion |
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| Musicians | Jay Jay Johnson (trombone), Clifford Brown (trumpet), John Lewis (piano), Percy Heath (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums) [side 1, rec. June 22, 1953]; Jay Jay Johnson (trombone), Wynton Kelly (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), Sabu Martinez (congas), Kenny Clarke (drums) [side 2, rec. September 24, 1954] |
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Matrix / Runout
Side A: BN-LP-1505-A 9M EAR RVG
Side B: BN-LP-1505-B 9M EAR RVG
Condition
- Cover
- VG+
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1955-56 - US, deep-groove label with 767 Lexington Ave address both sides, RVG/ear/9M stampers
1956 - US, deep-groove transitional label mixing the Lexington Ave and 47 West 63rd addresses between sides, RVG/ear/9M stampers <- this copy
1957 - US, deep-groove label with 47 West 63rd address both sides (repress)
1966 onward - US, stereo reissue as BST 81505
1976-83 - Japan, France reissues (LNJ-70075, GXK8032, etc.)
1989 onward - CD reissues
This Pressing
Transitional pressing (mono, c.1956) - deep-groove label, Lexington Ave address on side 1 and West 63rd address on side 2; RVG stamp + Plastylite ear, 9M stamper both sides.
The Album
J.J. Johnson had already established himself in the mid-1940s as the trombonist who proved the instrument's slide mechanism could keep pace with bebop's rapid-fire lines, and by the early 1950s he was the dominant voice on the horn in modern jazz. This compilation gathers two of his key Blue Note sessions: a 1953 sextet date that paired him with the young Clifford Brown, shortly before Brown's own meteoric rise, alongside John Lewis, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke, and a 1954 session with Wynton Kelly, Charles Mingus, Sabu Martinez and Kenny Clarke that leaned into a looser, Afro-Cuban-tinged rhythmic feel. The material mixes originals from Johnson's pen with standards refashioned in hard-bop harmonic language, showcasing both his compositional voice and his fluency as an improviser. These sessions helped cement Johnson's reputation as the trombone's first true bebop virtuoso and remain a cornerstone of the instrument's jazz vocabulary. Critics and historians have long cited this body of work as essential listening in tracing how bebop's rhythmic and harmonic innovations were absorbed into the trombone's technical vocabulary. The record's stature endures as a foundational entry in both Johnson's discography and Blue Note's catalog of 1950s modern jazz.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Turnpike (Jay Jay Johnson)
2. Lover Man (Ramirez)
3. Get Happy (Koehler-Arlen)
4. Sketch 1 (John Lewis)
5. Capri (Gigi Gryce)
Side 2
1. Jay (Jay Jay Johnson)
2. Old Devil Moon (Lane-Harburg)
3. It's You or No One (Styne-Cahn)
4. Too Marvelous for Words (Mercer-Whiting)
5. Coffee Pot (Jay Jay Johnson)
The Label
Both labels are the white-and-blue Blue Note microgroove design with a deep groove pressed into the vinyl on each side, but the two sides carry different address text: Side 1 reads 'BLUE NOTE RECORDS 767 LEXINGTON AVE NYC' while Side 2 reads 'BLUE NOTE RECORDS - 47 WEST 63rd - NEW YORK 23'. Blue Note's Lexington Avenue address was used on the label through 1955-early 1956, after which the company moved to 47 West 63rd Street and reset the label copy accordingly, so a label mixing the two addresses on the same disc reflects a plant run made right at that changeover, using leftover Lexington-address stampers or blanks on one side while the newer West 63rd labels were already in use on the other. That places this copy just after the true first-issue window (an all-Lexington-address pressing) and just ahead of the all-West-63rd repress that followed, i.e. a transitional pressing rather than the earliest or a later state.
Fidelity
Both sides carry Rudy Van Gelder's RVG stamp along with the Plastylite ear, marking this as an original-era metal/stamper generation rather than a later remaster. Collectors on the forums regard this earliest run of Blue Note deep-groove pressings as the sonic benchmark for the title, ahead of the 1966-on stereo reissues and later Japanese and CD remasterings. Within that original run, this transitional-label copy shares the same stamper generation as the earliest all-Lexington-address copies, so it sits at essentially the same sonic tier even though its labels were assembled during the address changeover.
Notes
This is a mono Blue Note BLP 1505 pressing with a deep groove on both sides and matching RVG/ear/9M matrix marks on each side, but the printed label address differs by side - Lexington Avenue on side 1, West 63rd Street on side 2. That mixed address places it at the plant's changeover from the Lexington Ave label to the West 63rd label, after the earliest all-Lexington first-issue copies but before the later all-West-63rd repress. The runout etchings otherwise match the earliest Blue Note stamper generation for this title.
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This record’s page: https://vinylcurator.net/albums/jj-johnson-volume-one-blue-note-1505/
