Variant chronology
1963 - Blue Note NY USA label, deep-groove, mono (earliest stamper run)
1963 - Blue Note NY USA label, no deep groove, mono (variant reference 3792268) <- this copy
1967 - Blue Note "A Division of Liberty Records" blue/white label, mono/stereo reissue - not established
2020s - Japan reissue (Blue Note BN 4108, OBI)
The Album
Recorded May 9, 1962 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio and issued in 1963, The Natural Soul finds alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson deep into the soul-jazz groove he pioneered for Blue Note, pairing his blues-drenched, gospel-tinged alto with the young organ-guitar-drums combo of John Patton, Grant Green and Ben Dixon plus trumpeter Tommy Turrentine. Donaldson had already helped define the funky, backbeat-driven strain of hard bop that made jukeboxes and jazz clubs move, and this session - a direct follow-up to his earlier organ-combo dates - doubles down on that formula with original blues lines like "Funky Mama" and "Sow Belly Blues" alongside a warm, unhurried reading of the Gershwin standard "Love Walked In." The album crystallizes a period when Donaldson, criticized by some purists for playing to the room rather than the avant-garde, was quietly building one of the most influential bodies of accessible, blues-based jazz of the era. Its easy, danceable grooves and Patton's percolating organ work helped cement the organ-combo sound that would echo through soul jazz and later soul and funk records. Contemporary liner notes framed Donaldson as one of the music's most consistently satisfying and underrated players, a reputation the album's relaxed, groove-forward sequencing bears out. Decades on, The Natural Soul remains a touchstone of the Blue Note soul-jazz catalogue and a favorite among collectors and DJs drawn to its unpretentious, foot-tapping swing.
The Label
The side labels show the classic white and blue Blue Note design with the arced "33 1/3 MICROGROOVE" legend, "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC · NEW YORK USA" beneath it, and BLP 4108 with no West 63rd Street or Liberty text - the plain "NEW YORK USA" address used from roughly 1957 into 1963/64, before Blue Note added the "A DIVISION OF LIBERTY RECORDS" line around 1966. This pressing's labels show no deep-groove ridge, corresponding to the no-deep-groove variant of this catalogue number (variant reference 3792268), unlike the deep-groove copies that represent the very earliest stamper runs. That places this copy in the second wave of the original 1963 mono pressing run - a genuine New York-label first edition, just not the earliest deep-groove lacquer.
Fidelity
Cut and pressed from Rudy Van Gelder's original analog masters, with his stamp and the Plastylite "ear" marking an original-era lacquer and pressing plant. Collectors on the forums consistently rate original Blue Note New York mono pressings of this era among the best-sounding versions of these sessions, prized for Van Gelder's punchy, immediate organ-combo sound. This no-deep-groove New York mono copy sits just behind the very earliest deep-groove stamper copies in the collector hierarchy, but well ahead of the later Liberty-era "Division of Liberty Records" pressings and any digital reissues, which soften the tape's original warmth and dynamics.
Notes
1963 Blue Note BLP 4108 mono - original New York-label first pressing, second (no deep-groove) stamper wave, corresponding to variant reference 3792268. Labels read "BLUE NOTE RECORDS INC · NEW YORK USA" with no Liberty text. The runout carries BN-LP-4108-A/B, the Plastylite ear, and the Van Gelder stamp, marking an original-era pressing rather than a later Liberty-era reissue.
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