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

John Coltrane

Blue Train

1958 · Blue Note BLP 1577 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BLP 1577
Year	1958
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop
Producer	Alfred Lion (uncredited on the jacket)
Musicians	Lee Morgan (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Kenny Drew (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), "Philly" Joe Jones (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BN-LP-1577-A 9M RVG EAR
Side B:  BN-LP-1577-B 9M RVG EAR

Condition

Cover: VG
Vinyl: VG-

Variant chronology

1958 - Blue Note mono, New York 23 on one label, 47 West 63rd St on the other (true first state)
1958-59 - Blue Note mono, 47 West 63rd St INC on both labels, deep groove (same pressing as the collection's other copy)  <- this copy
1958-59 - Blue Note mono, 47 West 63rd St INC on both labels, deep groove (the collection's other copy, higher grade)
1960-66 - Blue Note stereo, 81577
1966-79 - Blue Note stereo reissues, New York USA / Liberty-era and flat-edge labels
1984 - Japan Blue Note reissue
c. 2009-2015 - audiophile reissues (Music Matters, Classic Records)

This Pressing

First-era pressing (mono) - Blue Note 47 West 63rd St. INC deep-groove labels; Van Gelder RVG stamp, Plastylite ear, 9M stamper in the runout.

The Album

Recorded on September 15, 1957, Blue Train was John Coltrane's only date as a leader for Blue Note during a period when he was still under contract to Prestige, made possible by a one-off agreement that let him front the session. It came at a pivotal moment in Coltrane's rise, shortly after his tenure with Thelonious Monk had sharpened his harmonic daring and while he was still a sideman in the Miles Davis group that would soon make him famous. The front line of Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller gave the band an unusually rich horn voicing, and the title blues, built on Coltrane's own theme, became one of the defining compositions of the hard bop era. The session also showcased Coltrane's original writing beyond the blues form, with the brisk

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Blue Train (Coltrane)
2. Moment's Notice (Coltrane)

Side 2

1. Locomotion (Coltrane)
2. I'm Old Fashioned (Kern-Mercer)
3. Lazy Bird (Coltrane)

The Label

Both labels read Blue Note Records Inc., 47 West 63rd St., NYC on Side 1 and Side 2, with a deep groove pressed into the label field on both sides. That both-sides-63rd-Street address replaced the transitional state that still carried New York 23 on one side, so this copy sits in the W. 63rd Street pressing window that immediately followed the very first labels, while the runout keeps the same early stamper generation as that first state. The deep groove and the 63rd Street address together place this copy in the first pressing era of the title rather than among the later flat-edge or stereo relabelings.

Fidelity

The mono cut was mastered directly by Rudy Van Gelder from his own Hackensack session tapes and pressed by Plastylite, carrying both the RVG hand stamp and the Plastylite ear in the deadwax. Collectors on the forums consistently rate the original mono Blue Note pressings of this session as the most natural-sounding versions of the record, ahead of the contemporaneous stereo rechannel and the later flat-edge reissues. Among modern remasters, the audiophile mono reissues are well regarded for clarity, but an early-stamper original mono pressing like this one remains the benchmark for the title.

Notes

1958 Blue Note BLP 1577 mono - an early 63rd Street pressing. Both labels carry the 47 West 63rd St., NYC address with a deep groove, and the runouts show the RVG hand-stamp, the Plastylite ear, and a 9M stamper matching the earliest documented cut of this matrix. This places the copy just after the very first New York 23/63rd-Street transitional labels, in the same pressing window as the collection's other copy of this catalogue number, which carries an identical runout but grades higher.

Documenting collections

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