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

The Sidewinder

1964 · Blue Note BLP 4157 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BLP 4157
Year	1964
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop
Producer	Alfred Lion
Musicians	Lee Morgan (trumpet), Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Barry Harris (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Billy Higgins (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BNLP 4157 A  VAN GELDER
Side B:  BNLP 4157 B  VAN GELDER

Condition

Cover: NM-/NM- WITH INNER SLEEVE
Vinyl: EX

Variant chronology

1964 - US 1st press, "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC • NEW YORK USA" label, no deep groove, Van Gelder stamp + Plastylite ear etched in runout  <- this copy
1965-66 - Same "New York, USA" label but Van Gelder stamp with NO ear (post-Plastylite-contract pressings)
1966-67 - "A Division of Liberty Records" added beneath New York address
1970s - Liberty/UA black-and-blue "a division of United Artists" label
1985 - Manhattan Records black-label reissue
1999 - Capitol/Blue Note 24-bit reissue (CD, not comparable) - n/a
2010s-2020s - Music Matters 45rpm audiophile / Blue Note Classic Vinyl reissues

This Pressing

1st press (mono, 1964) - Blue Note "New York, USA" label; BNLP-4157 Van Gelder matrix prefix consistent with original stamper.

The Album

Recorded on December 21, 1963 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio, The Sidewinder was cut as a fairly routine Blue Note date built entirely from five new Lee Morgan originals, with the loping title track added almost as an afterthought to round out the program. Morgan, a prodigy who had joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band as a teenager and later anchored Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, was rebuilding his career after a period of personal decline when this session became his unexpected comeback vehicle. Joining him were tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, newly signed to Blue Note himself, pianist Barry Harris on loan from Riverside, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Billy Higgins, who together lock into a loose, blues-drenched boogaloo groove that leaves wide-open space for extended solos over simple harmonic vamps. The title track's easy backbeat and earworm bassline caught on unexpectedly with radio and jukebox audiences, turning what Blue Note had pressed in only a few thousand copies into the label's best-selling record and, according to producer Michael Cuscuna's account, a financial lifeline for the company. Its crossover success also proved influential and controversial in equal measure, spawning a wave of similarly groove-based "boogaloo" jazz-funk sides across the mid-1960s hard bop catalog and drawing some critical grumbling that commercial appeal was overtaking artistic ambition. Decades on, The Sidewinder is regarded as a cornerstone of the hard bop/soul-jazz idiom and a high point in Morgan's celebrated run of Blue Note leader dates, prized by critics and listeners alike for its irresistible groove and the quality of the blowing from Morgan and Henderson.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. The Sidewinder (Lee Morgan)
2. Totem Pole (Morgan)

Side 2

1. Gary's Notebook (Lee Morgan)
2. Boy, What A Night (Morgan)
3. Hocus-Pocus (Morgan)

The Label

The side labels are the plain blue-and-white two-tone Blue Note design with the arc reading "BLUE...NOTE", "33 1/3 MICROGROOVE LONG PLAYING" in the upper arc, and "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC • NEW YORK USA" printed flat beneath the title - with no street address and no "Division of Liberty Records" text. No deep groove is visible in the label photos on either side. This "New York, USA" address format replaced the earlier street-address labels (767 Lexington Ave / 47 West 63rd St) around 1963 and remained in use until Liberty's 1966 buyout added "A DIVISION OF LIBERTY RECORDS" beneath it, so this label design places the pressing in the 1964-1966 window. Combined with the BNLP-4157 Van Gelder matrix format documented as the original stamper prefix for this title (later pressings often show a plain "BLP 4157" or "BLN" style matrix), this is consistent with an early pressing in the "New York, USA" era, ranking it ahead of the Liberty-era and later United Artists/Manhattan reissues in the label hierarchy.

Fidelity

This is a Van Gelder mono cut, mastered directly by Rudy Van Gelder at his Englewood Cliffs studio and (if a true first stamper) pressed at Plastylite, the pressing plant collectors regard as producing the punchiest, most dynamic vintage Blue Note sound. Steve Hoffman forum consensus consistently ranks original Van Gelder-cut New York-label mono pressings of The Sidewinder above the 1966+ Liberty-era repressings and well above the Manhattan/Capitol CD-era reissues in warmth and impact. Among later options, the Music Matters 45rpm mono/stereo audiophile reissues and the Blue Note Classic Vinyl series are well regarded for tape-sourced clarity but are generally described by collectors as smoother/cleaner rather than possessing the raw punch of an original Van Gelder-Plastylite pressing. If this copy carries the Plastylite ear (unconfirmed from the transcription), it sits at or near the top of the fidelity hierarchy for this title; if it lacks the ear (a slightly later New York-label pressing), it would still rank above Liberty-era and reissue pressings but below a documented first stamper.

Notes

1964 Blue Note BLP-4157 mono - consistent with an original US first-pressing configuration. Labels read "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC • NEW YORK USA" with no street address and no Liberty text, dating the design to the 1963-66 window before the 1966 Liberty buyout. The runout is transcribed as "BNLP 4157 A/B VAN GELDER," the matrix prefix documented on genuine first pressings of this title; the transcription does not explicitly note the Plastylite "ear" etching that most first-run copies carry, so that detail should be confirmed by direct deadwax inspection before certifying this as a true first stamper. No deep groove is visible on either label, which is normal for Blue Note pressings from this later, deep-groove-phased-out era. Barry Harris is credited as appearing courtesy of Riverside Records, consistent with the original 1964 sleeve credit.

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