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

Lee Morgan

Lee Morgan Sextet

c. 1957-58 · Blue Note BLP 1541 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BLP 1541
Year	c. 1957-58
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop
Producer	Alfred Lion (uncredited on the jacket)
Composer	Benny Golson, Owen Marshall
Musicians	Lee Morgan (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Kenny Rodgers (alto sax), Horace Silver (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Charlie Persip (drums)

Availability

This record has been sold. Its documentation stays here.

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BN-LP-1541 A EAR RVG
Side B:  BN-LP-1541 B EAR RVG

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: VG

Variant chronology

1957 - US, framed-cover deep-groove Lexington Ave label, RVG/ear
1958 - US, non-framed-cover deep-groove Lexington Ave label, RVG/ear  <- this copy
1959 - US repress, deep-groove Lexington Ave label
1966 - US flat Lexington Ave label, no deep groove
1966 - US New York USA address label (stereo reissue, BST 81541)
1977-2016 - Japan mono reissues with obi
2005-2015 - US/Japan 200-gram audiophile reissue (Classic Records)
2022 - US/Europe reissue on clear vinyl

This Pressing

Deep-groove Lexington Ave pressing (mono) - BN-LP-1541 A/B labels with RVG stamp and Plastylite ear in the dead wax on both sides; non-framed front cover places it just below the scarcer framed-cover true first pressing.

The Album

Recorded when Lee Morgan was barely eighteen, this session captures the young trumpeter already fluent in the Clifford Brown-derived hard bop language he had absorbed during his time in Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Arranger Benny Golson supplied three of the six compositions, with the remaining three contributed by his Philadelphia friend Owen Marshall, giving the date a cohesive, almost big-band-inflected writing sensibility despite the small sextet format. The frontline pairing of Morgan with Hank Mobley and the lesser-known altoist Kenny Rodgers, backed by Horace Silver, Paul Chambers and Charlie Persip, balances Golson's melodic, sophisticated charts against ample blowing room for the young leader. This was Morgan's second outing as a Blue Note leader, arriving just as he was establishing himself as one of the label's brightest new voices, shortly before he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. The record stands as an early testament to Morgan's precocious talent and to Golson's emerging gifts as a composer-arranger within the hard bop idiom, and it remains valued by historians as a formative document in the trumpeter's brief but towering career.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Whisper Not (Benny Golson)
2. Latin Hangover (Golson)
3. His Sister (Owen Marshall)

Side 2

1. Slightly Hep (Benny Golson)
2. Where Am I (Golson)
3. D's Fink (Owen Marshall)

The Label

Both labels are the blue-and-white Blue Note design on the 767 Lexington Ave, New York address, and the vinyl carries a deep groove stamped into both sides - the hallmark of Blue Note's original Lexington-era pressing dies, which were retired by the early 1960s. That deep groove, together with the Lexington address and the Van Gelder stamp and Plastylite ear in the dead wax, places this copy within the original pressing run rather than the later flat-label repress that reused leftover Lexington label stock after the deep-groove dies were abandoned. The front cover carries no frame around the photograph, matching the non-framed printing of this title rather than the scarcer framed first issue, so this copy sits as an early deep-groove Lexington pressing just below the framed-cover true first pressing.

Fidelity

The dead wax on both sides carries the Van Gelder stamp and the Plastylite ear, tying this pressing's metalwork to the original analog chain, and the deep groove stamped into both labels places it among the earliest Lexington-era pressings of this title rather than a later repress. Collectors on the forums rank the deep-groove, Lexington-address pressings of this title at the top of its fidelity hierarchy, just behind the scarcer framed-cover true first issue, and well ahead of the later flat-label Lexington repress, the West 63rd St/Liberty era pressings, and the Japanese reissues. A 200-gram audiophile reissue of this title exists and offers quieter surfaces, but collectors still prize a clean deep-groove RVG/ear Lexington pressing like this one for its tonal warmth and immediacy.

Notes

This is a deep-groove Blue Note BLP 1541 pressing on the 767 Lexington Ave labels, not the later flat-label repress the label design alone might first suggest. The vinyl carries a deep groove on both sides, and the dead wax carries the Van Gelder stamp and Plastylite ear (BN-LP-1541 A/B EAR RVG), tying the metalwork to the original mastering. The front cover lacks the frame border of the scarcer true first issue, placing this copy as an early, non-framed-cover deep-groove Lexington pressing rather than the 1966 flat, no-deep-groove Lexington repress or the later West 63rd St/Liberty era issues.

Documenting collections

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