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
Lou Donaldson
Cole Slaw
1964 · Argo LP-747 (pressed as DJLP-747) · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Argo |
|---|
| Catalogue number | LP-747 (pressed as DJLP-747) |
|---|
| Year | 1964 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | US |
|---|
| Format | LP |
|---|
| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
|---|
| Genre | Jazz - Soul Jazz/Hard Bop |
|---|
| Producer | Esmond Edwards |
|---|
| Musicians | Lou Donaldson (alto saxophone), Herman Foster (piano), Earl May (bass), Bruno Carr (drums), Ray Barretto (congas) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: RR4M-6809-1 LP-747 S-1 13515 I
Side B: RR4M-68010-1 LP-747 S-1 13512 I
Condition
- Cover
- NM
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1964 - Argo standard black label, silver print, commercial mono issue (catalog nos. 13512/13513 area), deep groove
1964 - Argo cream/white "Audio Odyssey by Argo" label, DJLP-747 promo, "NOT FOR SALE", stamped "REVUE COPY", deep groove, mono <- this copy
1965 (est.) - Cadet-era reissue, red/white/blue Cadet labels in Argo LP-747 jacket, stereo (matrix LP 747 SG)
later - Cadet 7" DJ single "Cole Slaw/Soul Gumbo", not a full LP variant
This Pressing
Argo DJLP-747 promotional "Revue Copy" (mono, 1964) - cream Audio Odyssey label, deep groove, "NOT FOR SALE" stamp; a trade/press-service pressing contemporary with the commercial issue.
The Album
Cole Slaw was cut on June 19, 1964 at RCA's New York studios, one of a run of albums Lou Donaldson made for Argo/Cadet during the mid-1960s after leaving Blue Note for a few years. Donaldson had emerged in the late 1940s as a Charlie Parker-influenced altoist before steering toward a warmer, blues- and R&B-inflected "soul jazz" style that would define his best-known work. Here he leads a compact quartet plus Ray Barretto's congas, which lend a loping Latin-tinged pulse to standards like "Poinciana" and "There Is No Greater Love" alongside two Donaldson originals, "Li'l Miss Fine" and "Soul Gumbo." The album is emblematic of the mid-'60s crossover jazz-for-jukeboxes aesthetic - unpretentious, danceable, steeped in blues feeling - that helped keep Donaldson working steadily through a transitional period in jazz's commercial fortunes. It never achieved landmark status but is valued by soul-jazz collectors as a solid, groove-heavy example of Donaldson's mid-career sound, sitting between his classic Blue Note quartet sides and his later, funkier organ-combo work. Critical notice at the time was modest, but the record has endured as a minor favorite among rare-groove and mod-jazz diggers for its title cut and the Barretto-driven rhythm feel.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. There Is No Greater Love
2. Poinciana
3. Cole Slaw
4. People Will Say We're In Love
Side 2
1. Li'l Miss Fine
2. O Sole Mio
3. Skylark
4. Soul Gumbo
The Label
This copy carries the cream "AUDIO ODYSSEY BY ARGO" label design with the ARGO block logo at left, a plain single black ring at the perimeter reading "ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY" and "LONG PLAYING 33 1/3 RPM ... MADE IN U.S.A.", deep-groove pressing, and the disc is stamped "NOT FOR SALE" with a promo number (#13514/#13515) and catalogue prefix "DJLP-747" plus a rubber-stamped "REVUE COPY" - all era markers Argo used on trade/press-service pressings distributed alongside the regular commercial black-label LP-747 in the early-to-mid 1960s. Argo's Chicago-based cream Audio-Odyssey labels date to the label's mid-1960s design window before the Cadet-era red/white/blue labels supplanted them around 1965-66. Because this is a service/promo pressing rather than the retail black-label LP, it sits alongside - not strictly before or after - the standard commercial mono pressing in the release's hierarchy; it was manufactured from the same plates/stampers at the same time as the trade release rather than representing a later reissue.
Fidelity
Engineered by Ray Hall at RCA's New York studio and produced by Esmond Edwards, this is a straightforward, well-recorded but not audiophile-grade mid-'60s jazz date; Argo/Chess pressings of this era are generally solid but not renowned for exceptional vinyl quality compared to contemporary Blue Note or Riverside pressings. There is no known audiophile reissue (Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, etc.) of this title, so the fidelity hierarchy is simply original mono/stereo Argo pressings versus later Cadet-era pressings; this deep-groove mono promo, being an early trade pressing, likely predates any later Cadet stamper generations and should sound at least as good as, if not marginally better than, later commercial copies.
Notes
1964 Argo LP-747 mono - promotional "Revue Copy" / DJ pressing, not the standard retail issue. Cream deep-groove Audio Odyssey label stamped "NOT FOR SALE" with promo numbers #13514/#13515 and catalogue prefix DJLP-747 confirms a service pressing distributed to radio/press rather than for sale. Matrix suffixes RR4M-6809-1 / RR4M-6810-1 point to an early mono stamper generation consistent with the record's June 1964 recording and 1964-65 release window.
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