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
Miles Davis All Stars
Walkin'
1957 · Prestige PRLP 7076 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Prestige |
|---|
| Catalogue number | PRLP 7076 |
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| Year | 1957 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | US |
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| Format | LP |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Jazz - Hard Bop |
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| Producer | Bob Weinstock |
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| Performer / Orchestra | Miles Davis Sextet (side 1); Miles Davis Quintet (side 2) |
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| Musicians | Miles Davis (trumpet), Jay Jay Johnson (trombone, side 1), Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone, side 1), Davey Schildkraut (alto saxophone, side 2), Horace Silver (piano), Percy Heath (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: PRLP-7076-A RVG E AB
Side B: PRLP-7076-B RVG D
Condition
- Cover
- VG+
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1957 - US first-label mono, yellow/black deep-groove fireworks labels, 446 W. 50th St. N.Y.C., RVG/AB metal <- this copy
1958-59 - US second original mono, yellow/black fireworks labels, 203 South Washington Ave., Bergenfield, N.J.
c. 1964-66 - US later mono reissue/repress, later Prestige label design, RVG-derived metal
1969 - US stereo reissue, Prestige PRST 7608
1986 - US Original Jazz Classics OJC-213 mono reissue
2009 - US Prestige RVG Remasters 180-gram reissue, P-7076
2023-25 - Craft/OJC all-analog 180-gram reissue, Kevin Gray cut, RTI pressing
This Pressing
1st-label early press (mono, 1957) - Prestige 446 W. 50th St. NYC fireworks DG labels; typed RVG + AB dead-wax codes.
The Album
Walkin' brings together two April 1954 sessions recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at his Hackensack home studio, pairing two different Davis groups on one LP. Side one preserves the all-star sextet date built around extended blues performances, while side two features the quieter, harmonically searching quintet session with Davey Schildkraut. The thirteen-minute title track became a defining early Davis statement, its patient, blues-soaked momentum helping steer modern jazz from crowded bebop virtuosity toward the emerging hard-bop language, and it became a durable concert anthem for Davis. 'Solar' became one of the most frequently played Davis-associated compositions, though later research tied it closely to Chuck Wayne's earlier tune. Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke form an exceptionally sympathetic rhythm section across both dates, while Schildkraut's poised alto playing remains one of the album's most underappreciated pleasures. Critics immediately regarded the set as a significant Davis release, and it has continued to rank among the finest modern jazz recordings of its era. The album captures Davis at a pivotal transitional moment, following his early-1950s struggles and just before the 1955 Newport appearance and first great quintet brought him wider fame.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Walkin'
2. Blue N' Boogie
Side 2
1. Solar
2. You Don't Know What Love Is
3. Love Me Or Leave Me
The Label
The side labels show the original yellow-and-black Prestige 'fireworks' design with deep groove on both sides, reading 'PRESTIGE RECORDS INC. • 446 W. 50th ST., N.Y.C.' around the upper rim and 'LONG PLAYING MICROGROOVE' along the bottom - no additional logos or ring text beyond the fireworks graphic. Prestige used this 446 West 50th Street address on its 12-inch LPs from roughly 1955 into 1958, up to about PRLP 7141, before relocating to 203 South Washington Avenue, Bergenfield, New Jersey starting with PRLP 7141 in 1958. The jacket carries the matching 447 West 50th Street company address. The dead wax carries RVG (Van Gelder) and AB (Abbey Record Manufacturing) codes with E/D metal stamper letters, placing this within the original NYC-address pressing run and among its early stampers, ahead of all Bergenfield-label and later Prestige reissues.
Fidelity
This is a Rudy Van Gelder recording and original Van Gelder mono cut, pressed by Abbey Record Manufacturing; the RVG/AB dead-wax combination preserves the close, immediate horn sound typical of mid-1950s Prestige. Original Prestige pressings can carry more surface noise and less refined vinyl than contemporaneous Blue Note pressings due to economical manufacturing, but a clean deep-groove RVG copy offers the most period-correct presence and tonal density. Later 1960s Bergenfield-label pressings can still sound strong from RVG-derived metal, while 1980s OJC copies are typically cleaner but somewhat brighter and less authoritative. The 2009 RVG Remaster and the newer Kevin Gray/Craft all-analog RTI edition are quieter and more polished, with Gray's cut the strongest modern-fidelity option, though neither displaces an original NYC-label RVG/AB pressing for historical and collector priority.
Notes
1957 US Prestige PRLP 7076 mono - original first-label/early pressing. Deep-groove yellow/black fireworks labels carry the 446 W. 50th St. N.Y.C. address, paired with the correct 447 W. 50th Street jacket address. Typed RVG and AB dead-wax codes confirm Rudy Van Gelder mastering and Abbey Record Manufacturing pressing; E/D are early metal codes, not evidence of a later label issue. Released in March 1957.
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