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

Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington

Recording Together For The First Time

Roulette (Japanese pressing, licensed to Nippon Columbia) SL-5120-RO · Stereo · Japan (manufactured by Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd under license from Roulette Records) · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Roulette (Japanese pressing, licensed to Nippon Columbia)
Catalogue number	SL-5120-RO
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	Japan (manufactured by Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd under license from Roulette Records)
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Swing/Dixieland
Producer	Bob Thiele
Composer	Duke Ellington (nearly all selections are Ellington compositions or co-compositions)
Musicians	Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocal), Duke Ellington (piano), Trummy Young (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Mort Herbert (bass), Danny Barcelona (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  RO-358-119 1-A-3 A
Side B:  RO-358-120 1-A-3

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1961 - US Roulette R/SR-52074, original Birdland-series pressing
not established - Japanese Nippon Columbia license, orange/yellow sunburst "ROULETTE" label, cat. SL-5120-RO  <- this copy
1984 - Roulette/Mobile Fidelity 2LP twofer with The Great Reunion - unpriced
Modern audiophile reissues (Classic Records 200g LP/45rpm box, MFSL 2LP, Parlophone 180g)

This Pressing

Japanese Nippon Columbia-manufactured stereo pressing (SL-5120-RO), a later foreign license issue subordinate to the 1961 US Roulette original.

The Album

In April 1961, producer Bob Thiele brought together two towering but rarely-paired giants of jazz - Louis Armstrong, the trumpet-and-vocal embodiment of New Orleans-rooted swing, and Duke Ellington, its most sophisticated composer-bandleader - for two days of recording at RCA's New York studio, with Ellington sitting in as pianist alongside Armstrong's working All-Stars (Trummy Young, Barney Bigard, Mort Herbert, Danny Barcelona). The pairing had been building since the two men's 1960 work together on the film and score of Paris Blues, and Thiele shepherded the idea past both men's famously overbooked managements into a brief, tightly-scheduled studio date. This first LP drew ten of the seventeen tracks recorded, virtually all Ellington compositions or co-compositions, letting Armstrong's warm horn and gravelly voice reinterpret staples such as "Mood Indigo," "Cotton Tail" and "Black And Tan Fantasy" as a tribute from one master to another. The record stands as the only studio meeting of these two founding fathers of jazz and has long been regarded by critics and historians as an essential, career-capping document for both men.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Duke's Place
2. I'm Just A Lucky So And So
3. Cotton Tail
4. Mood Indigo
5. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

Side 2

1. The Beautiful American
2. Black And Tan Fantasy
3. Drop Me Off In Harlem
4. The Mooche
5. In A Mellotone

The Label

The label seen here is a bright orange/yellow sunburst-ray design reading "ROULETTE / 33 1/3 RPM STEREO" at the top, catalogue number "SL-5120-RO" and matrix references "(RO-358-119)" / "(RO-358-120)" printed at left, with rim text stating the record was "MADE BY NIPPON COLUMBIA CO., LTD" and rights reserved to "ALBIEMA COLUMBIA CO., LTD" (a Japanese licensing credit). This sunburst design and Nippon Columbia manufacturing credit are consistent with the wave of Japanese-licensed reissues of American jazz catalogues (Blue Note, Roulette, etc.) that Nippon Columbia pressed and distributed domestically through the 1970s, well after the original 1961 US Roulette Birdland-series release (R/SR-52074, announced in Billboard 8/7/61) which used Roulette's own US label design. The ¥1,800 price sticker on the back cover confirms this is a Japanese domestic-market pressing rather than an export or US copy, and the SL-5120-RO catalogue prefix places it in a distinct Japanese numbering series unrelated to the US R/SR-52074 catalogue number, so it postdates and is subordinate to the American original in the pressing hierarchy.

Fidelity

This is a Japanese Nippon Columbia stereo pressing rather than the original Roulette/RCA-cut American release; Nippon Columbia's jazz-reissue pressings of this era are generally clean and quiet but are cut from tape/dub sources rather than the original US mastering, so collectors on the forums typically rank the 1961 US Roulette stereo original above Japanese license pressings for openness and immediacy. Modern audiophile cuts - the Classic Records 200g LP and 45rpm box, and the Mobile Fidelity 2LP - are prized above both for mastering quality but are all now out of print. This copy sits below the US original and below the audiophile reissues in the fidelity hierarchy, valued mainly for its rarity as a Japanese-only variant.

Notes

This is a Japanese pressing manufactured under license by Nippon Columbia (rim text "MADE BY NIPPON COLUMBIA CO., LTD"), catalogue SL-5120-RO with matrix references RO-358-119/RO-358-120, distinct from the original 1961 US Roulette Birdland-series release R/SR-52074. The sunburst-ray label design and Nippon Columbia credit place it as a later Japanese domestic license pressing rather than a first pressing; the ¥1,800 price sticker on the back cover corroborates a Japanese retail sale. No US "Printed in USA" or Roulette-house label elements are present, confirming this is not the American original.

Documenting collections

I do this work for other people’s collections too — documenting a collection record by record, researching individual pressings, and preparing collections for sale or for insurance. If you have a collection you would like documented, or a record you want identified properly, get in touch: email

This record’s page: https://vinylcurator.net/albums/louis-armstrong-and-duke-ellington-recording-together-for-the-first-time/