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

Sophisticated Lou

1973 · Blue Note BN-LA024-F · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BN-LA024-F
Year	1973
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Soul Jazz/Crossover (with strings)
Producer	George Butler
Conductor	Wade Marcus (arranger/conductor)
Performer / Orchestra	Studio orchestra with strings arranged by Wade Marcus
Musicians	Lou Donaldson (alto sax), Joe Farrell (reeds), Paul Winter (reeds), Joe Venuto (vibes/percussion), Derek Smith (piano), Jay Berliner (guitar), Richard Davis (bass, some tracks), Ron Carter (bass, replaces Davis on some tracks), Grady Tate (drums), Omar Clay (percussion), strings arranged and conducted by Wade Marcus

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BN-LA024-F 1 AL BROWN
Side B:  BN-LA024-F2-1B AL BROWN

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: EX+

Variant chronology

1973 - US Blue Note/United Artists BN-LA024-F, white label with blue rim, "33 1/3 STEREO" arc, Al Brown mastering (BN-LA-024-F1 / F2-1B)  <- this copy
1973 - US Blue Note BN-LA024-F, same pressing with OBI/shrink sticker variant
1980s - Germany Blue Note/EMI BST 84429 reissue
1970s/80s sealed copies (same US edition)

This Pressing

1973 US Blue Note (United Artists) stereo LP, BN-LA024-F - the sole documented domestic pressing of this title.

The Album

Recorded in December 1972 at A&R Recording Studio in New York, Sophisticated Lou found alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson - a hard-bop veteran whose 1950s and 60s Blue Note dates had defined soul-jazz - stepping into a lush, string-laden pop-jazz setting arranged and conducted by Wade Marcus. Producer George Butler paired Donaldson with a crossover repertoire of standards and contemporary pop songs, including a fresh take on his own signature composition Blues Walk alongside Stevie Wonder's You Are the Sunshine of My Life and film themes from The Happy Ending and The Long Goodbye. The move reflected the wider early-1970s push by major labels to soften jazz artists' sound for adult-contemporary radio, following a lineage of strings-backed dates by figures like Charlie Parker and Clifford Brown. Reviewers of the era noted the album's romantic, mellow surfaces contrasted with Donaldson's still-vigorous, blues-rooted alto phrasing, giving the record a warmer reception among soul-jazz collectors than among hard-bop purists. It arrived at a transitional point in Donaldson's catalogue, sandwiched between his grittier funk-jazz sides for Blue Note and the fully commercial soul outings that would follow. While not considered among his most influential work, the album remains valued by collectors as a document of Blue Note's early-1970s pivot toward a smoother, string-backed sound and as a showcase for Donaldson's ability to retain his identity within an orchestral frame.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. You've Changed
2. Stella By Starlight
3. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
4. The Long Goodbye

Side 2

1. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
2. Autumn in New York
3. Blues Walk
4. Time After Time

The Label

This copy shows the white Blue Note label with the blue perimeter band reading "33 1/3 STEREO ... BLUE NOTE RECORDS - A DIVISION OF UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS, INC.", a single "BLUE" wordmark on the left rim and "NOTE" across the bottom - the standard United Artists-era Blue Note design used from 1971 onward once Liberty/UA absorbed the label. There is no deep groove and no New York address, consistent with the post-1971 UA-distributed Blue Note LA-prefix series, a design run that continued through the mid-1970s. The BN-LA024-F catalogue prefix (LA = Los Angeles-distributed United Artists series) has only this one domestic label design, so this represents the sole domestic issue rather than one of several rivals.

Fidelity

Mastered by Al Brown (stamped in the runout as AL BROWN) rather than Rudy Van Gelder, consistent with Blue Note's early-1970s shift away from in-house RVG cuts for the UA-distributed LA-series. This is a well-recorded but conventionally-mastered early-70s commercial jazz-pop production rather than an audiophile-grade cut; collectors on the forums generally rate these UA-era Blue Notes as competent but unremarkable compared to the label's 1950s-60s Van Gelder/Plastylite pressings. No audiophile reissue (Music Matters, Tone Poet, Analogue Productions, etc.) of this title exists, so this original US stereo pressing is the top of the fidelity hierarchy for Sophisticated Lou, ahead of the later German BST 84429 repress and any CD issues.

Notes

1973 Blue Note BN-LA024-F stereo is the original and only US pressing of this title. The white/blue United Artists-era Blue Note label matches the post-1971 corporate design used across the LA-prefix catalogue, and the runout carries the matrix BN-LA024-F1 / F2-1B with Al Brown's mastering stamp for this release. No alternate US label design or reissue exists for this catalogue number; a later German BST 84429 pressing is a separate, distinct edition.

Documenting collections

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