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

Sunny Side Up

2008 · Classic Records BN 4036-MONO-200G · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Classic Records
Catalogue number	BN 4036-MONO-200G
Year	2008
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop
Producer	Alfred Lion (original 1960 session); Bernie Grundman (2008 remastering)
Musicians	Lou Donaldson (alto sax), Bill Hardman (trumpet), Horace Parlan (piano), Sam Jones (bass, tracks A3, B2, B3), Laymon Jackson (bass, tracks A1, A2, A4, B1), Al Harewood (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BN-LP4036-A BG
Side B:  BN-LP4036-B BG

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1960 - US Blue Note original mono, deep-groove labels, Van Gelder stamp and Plastylite ear
2008 - Classic Records mono 200g reissue, standard commercial copy
2008 - Classic Records mono 200g test pressing, blank die-cut jacket <- this copy
2022 - Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series 180g reissue, new remaster

This Pressing

2008 Classic Records test pressing of the mono 200g reissue of this Blue Note title - blank die-cut jacket, one printed Test Pressing label, hand-dated 4/24/2008.

The Album

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio across two February 1960 sessions, Sunny Side Up captures alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson at the peak of his classic run for his label, leading a quintet built around trumpeter Bill Hardman and pianist Horace Parlan. Donaldson had emerged as one of the era's most reliably soulful alto voices, a Charlie Parker disciple who favored gutbucket blues phrasing and R&B-tinged swagger over harmonic experimentation. The program balances blues-drenched originals like the earthy, boogaloo-adjacent 'Goose Grease' and 'The Truth' with warmly rendered standards such as 'The Man I Love' and 'Softly As In A Morning Sunrise,' giving the date the relaxed, jukebox-friendly feel typical of Donaldson's late-1950s and early-1960s work. Parlan, arriving fresh from a stint with Charles Mingus, brings a percussive, blues-rooted comping style that dovetails naturally with Donaldson's attack, while Hardman's brassy trumpet sharpens the front line. The session arrived at a pivotal moment as the label pushed further into the hard bop and soul-jazz idiom that would define much of its 1960s catalog. Critics and collectors have long viewed the album as a satisfying, unpretentious entry in Donaldson's discography, valued more for its groove and stellar sidemen than for any single standout composition. Its lasting appeal rests on exactly that unfussy consistency, a hallmark of a saxophonist whose decades-long career remained one of jazz's most durable and danceable.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Blues For J.P.
2. The Man I Love
3. Politely
4. It's You Or No One

Side 2

1. The Truth
2. Goose Grease
3. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

The Label

The Side 1 label is the generic blue-banner 'Classic Records / (remember the sound...)' logo with blue rim text arcing 'CLASSIC RECORDS' over 'TEST PRESSING' and a hand-inked date and catalogue number, a stock design used across that company's test runs beginning in the early 2000s rather than a finished period Blue Note label. No deep-groove ring or period address text appears on this label style. Side 2 carries no printed information at all, only light handling marks, typical of a one-sided test stamper. This label design places the copy in Classic Records' pre-release quality-control stage, ahead of the finished retail mono reissue's own numbered labels.

Fidelity

The mono reissue this test pressing previews was remastered and cut by Bernie Grundman from the analog master tapes onto 200-gram Quiex SV-P vinyl, pressed by a custom pressing facility; collectors on the forums rate this Grundman cut very highly, generally ranking just behind an excellent original first-pressing cut but ahead of later stereo-only reissues of this mono-only title. As a test pressing struck from the same lacquers and stampers as the commercial run, it should sound identical to a standard-issue copy of that pressing, with any difference limited to quality-control variance rather than mastering. It is a distinct, earlier remaster from the more recent 180-gram Blue Note reissue of this title.

Notes

This is a 2008 Classic Records test pressing of their Bernie Grundman-mastered mono 200-gram reissue, not an original pressing or a numbered retail copy. The blank white die-cut jacket with a typed identification sticker, the single one-sided printed Test Pressing label matching the hand-written date, and the completely blank second label are all hallmarks of a pre-release quality-control pressing. The etched runouts match the reissue's mastering codes, confirming it as the same cut used for the commercial run rather than a distinct mastering. It stands outside the standard issue/reissue hierarchy for this title as a pre-release artifact rather than a numbered commercial pressing.

Documenting collections

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