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

Johnny Hodges

Don't Sleep In The Subway

1967 · Verve Records V6-8726 · Stereo · US · LP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Verve Records
Catalogue number	V6-8726
Year	1967
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Big Band/Swing
Producer	Esmond Edwards
Conductor	Jimmy Jones
Performer / Orchestra	Studio big band arranged and conducted by Jimmy Jones
Musicians	Johnny Hodges (alto sax), Ernie Royal, Snooky Young, Bill Berry (trumpet, flugelhorn), Tony Studd (bass trombone), Jerome Richardson, Frank Wess, Jimmy Hamilton, Danny Bank (reeds), Hank Jones (piano), Everett Barksdale, Carl Lynch (guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Grady Tate (drums), Buddy Lucas (harmonica), Jimmy Jones (arranger/conductor)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  V6-8726 S-1 MGS-1200 REV 11 FG
Side B:  V6-8726 S-2 MGS-1201 REV 11 FG

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: VG+

Variant chronology

1967 - US Verve grey "Big V" label, mono, V-8726
1967 - US Verve grey "Big V" label, promo yellow-label DJ copy, V-8726
1967 - US Verve grey "Big V" label, stereo, V6-8726 (this release/variant)  <- this copy
1967 - UK Verve SVLP 9196 stereo
1967 - Canada Verve V-8726 mono / V6-8726 stereo
1967 - Germany Verve V6-8726 stereo
1968 - UK Verve VLP 9196 mono
1968 - Spain Verve V6-8726 stereo

This Pressing

1967 US stereo pressing (V6-8726) - Verve grey Big-V label, gatefold cover, MGM Records rim text; standard first US stereo commercial issue.

The Album

Don't Sleep In The Subway was recorded across three August 1967 sessions in New York for Verve, pairing the Ellington orchestra's peerless alto voice with a large studio big band arranged and conducted by pianist Jimmy Jones. Producer Esmond Edwards built the set around a mix of a then-current pop hit (the Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent title tune, a Petula Clark smash) and standards alongside several Hodges originals, a commercial strategy typical of Verve's late-1960s jazz-with-strings-and-brass releases aimed at a broader listening audience. Hodges, already one of the most celebrated alto stylists in jazz through his decades with Duke Ellington and his own small-group Verve dates of the 1950s-60s, brings his instantly identifiable, vocal-like tone and gliding legato phrasing to material well outside the hard-bop mainstream. The supporting cast - Snooky Young, Frank Wess, Jimmy Hamilton, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton and Grady Tate among them - reflects the top-tier New York studio talent Verve could call on for these sessions. Critical reception was mixed-to-positive: Allmusic's retrospective view judged the orchestrations uneven while singling out Hodges himself as consistently sharp, a fair summary of how the album is remembered - a minor, late-period showcase valued chiefly for Hodges's own playing rather than for the material or arrangements.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Don't Sleep In The Subway - 3:20
2. The Wonder Of You - 2:44
3. Serenade In Blue - 3:08
4. Everytime She Walks - 3:47
5. Wisteria - 2:47

Side 2

1. Heel Kickin' - 3:38
2. You've Changed - 2:51
3. Some Fun - 3:40
4. Eydie-Dee Dee - 4:27

The Label

The label seen here is the grey "Big V" Verve Records design (large stylized V-shaped watermark logo with "Verve Records" script above), MGM Records rim text ("MGM Records - A Division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. - Made in U.S.A."), and catalogue number V6-8726 with the MGS-1200/1201 internal matrix reference printed on the label itself. This grey Big-V design with MGM ownership text is Verve's standard 1963-67 house style under MGM Records' stewardship, placing this pressing squarely in the album's first US stereo release window (1967). A US mono edition (V-8726) and a promo yellow-label DJ pressing were issued from the same session alongside this stereo commercial copy; no different label artwork is claimed for any of them, as this stereo grey label is the only design associated with this copy.

Fidelity

This is an analog-era Verve/MGM stereo cut from the 1967 National Recording Studios sessions, mastered and pressed under MGM Records' in-house operation rather than by an audiophile specialist; there is no known audiophile reissue (Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, etc.) of this title to rank it against. Collector commentary on this relatively minor, late-1960s big-band Hodges date is sparse on the forums, with little dedicated discussion of mastering quality; general consensus on late-60s MGM/Verve pressings is that they are solidly but not exceptionally engineered compared to the label's earlier Norman Granz-era jazz dates. Within the album's own pressing history, this original US stereo edition is the primary sonic reference point, ahead of later international pressings (UK, Canada, Germany, Spain) which derive from the same or dubbed masters with variable plant quality.

Notes

This is the original 1967 US stereo pressing on Verve V6-8726, grey "Big V" MGM-era label, gatefold jacket. The runout carries matrix V6-8726 S-1/S-2, MGS-1200/1201, REV, F.G., consistent with the standard US stereo commercial issue rather than the mono (V-8726), promo, or any of the UK/Canada/Germany/Spain stereo variants. No cover or label distinguishing marks suggest anything other than a routine first-run US stereo copy.

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