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

Lush Life

1961 · Prestige PRLP 7188 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Prestige
Catalogue number	PRLP 7188
Year	1961
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop
Producer	Bob Weinstock
Musicians	John Coltrane (tenor sax); Trio (Side A): Earl May (bass), Art Taylor (drums); Quintet (Side B): Donald Byrd (trumpet, B1 only), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Louis Hayes (drums, B1), Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums, B2)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  PRLP-7188 A RVG AB
Side B:  PRLP-7188-B RVG AB A

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: EX

Variant chronology

1961 - Bergenfield NJ yellow fireworks label, deep groove both sides, mono  <- this copy
1961 - UK Esquire pressing, mono
1964 - Prestige reissue, same catalogue number, re-set label without deep groove
1966 - Netherlands Prestige reissue
1968 - Prestige electronically reprocessed stereo reissue (PRST 7581)
1972-1987 - Japanese Prestige reissues (mono)
1984 - Original Jazz Classics reissue (OJC-131)
2003 - Analogue Productions 45 RPM mono audiophile remaster
2010s - DCC Classics and other audiophile reissues

This Pressing

1st pressing (mono, 1961) - Prestige yellow fireworks label, Bergenfield NJ address, deep groove both sides, RVG/AB stamps.

The Album

Lush Life draws together two separate Coltrane dates from his early Prestige years: a 1957 trio session with Earl May and Art Taylor, and a 1958 quintet date featuring Donald Byrd alongside Red Garland and Paul Chambers from Miles Davis's working rhythm section, with Louis Hayes and Albert Heath splitting drum duties. At this point Coltrane was transitioning from sideman to leader, not long removed from his tenures with Davis and Thelonious Monk, and the record captures him stretching out on standards and one original blues while working toward the harmonic language that would define his classic quartet period. The title track, a brooding reading of Billy Strayhorn's torch song, stands as the emotional centerpiece and one of the most searching ballad performances of Coltrane's Prestige years. The album is notable for being essentially unaccompanied-by-horns on its trio side, an unusual format that throws Coltrane's tone and phrasing into sharp relief. Within Coltrane's catalogue it occupies a transitional space between his hard-bop apprenticeship and the sheets-of-sound innovations soon to follow, and it has long been prized by critics and collectors as a showcase for his ballad conception. Its combination of intimate trio playing and quintet swing has made it a durable favorite among listeners tracing Coltrane's development as an improviser.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Like Someone In Love
2. I Love You
3. Trane's Slo Blues

Side 2

1. Lush Life
2. I Hear A Rhapsody

The Label

The side labels on this copy are the yellow-and-black Prestige “fireworks” design, with the PRESTIGE wordmark banked across the top of the rim, a spiral-and-starburst motif, LONG PLAYING MICROGROOVE arched at the bottom, and the 203 South Washington Ave., Bergenfield, N.J. address printed above the title on both sides. This is a deep-groove label on both sides. Prestige used this Bergenfield address and fireworks design from roughly 1958 into the early 1960s, before the West 50th Street New York address replaced it on later pressings of this catalogue number carrying a re-set, non-deep-groove label. The Bergenfield address, deep-groove construction and the AB-stamped runout place this copy at the head of the pressing history for this catalogue number, ahead of the mid-1960s reissue sharing the same number.

Fidelity

Rudy Van Gelder recorded this material and cut the lacquers at his Hackensack studio for this original Prestige pressing, and the RVG-stamped, deep-groove first pressing is the cut collectors on the forums generally rate as the most vivid and immediate-sounding version of this material, ahead of the mid-1960s Prestige reissue and the 1968 electronically reprocessed stereo edition. The 2003 45 RPM mono audiophile remaster is the modern reference point for quiet surfaces and dynamics, but the original Bergenfield mono pressing remains the historical benchmark for tonal character. Manufacturing on this pressing is typical of early-1960s Prestige output - generally solid, if occasionally variable in vinyl formulation compared with later, quieter reissue pressings.

Notes

1961 Prestige PRLP 7188 mono - original first pressing. The yellow fireworks label carries the 203 South Washington Ave., Bergenfield, N.J. address and a deep groove on both sides, with RVG and AB marks in the runout matching the first-issue configuration. This places the copy ahead of the mid-1960s reissue that shares the same catalogue number but carries a later, non-deep-groove label.

Documenting collections

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