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

E.S.P.

1965 · Columbia CL 2350 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Columbia
Catalogue number	CL 2350
Year	1965
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Post-Bop
Producer	Irving Townsend
Musicians	Miles Davis (trumpet), Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  XLP 798161B
Side B:  XLP 79817 1A 1

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: NM 2 EYE/NM 2 EYE

Variant chronology

1965 - US Columbia red 2-eye mono label, "360 Sound" + "Nonbreakable" text, XLP 79816/79817, Pitman pressing  <- this copy
1965 - US Columbia "360 Sound" 2-eye stereo, CS 9150
c.1967-69 - US Columbia 2-eye reissue (no "Nonbreakable", stereo only)
c.1970-90s - US Columbia orange-rim "1-eye" label, PC/CS 9150
Modern CD/audiophile/Mosaic reissues

This Pressing

1st pressing era (mono, 1965) - Columbia CL 2350; red 2-eye label with "Nonbreakable" text, Pitman plant etch in runout.

The Album

Recorded in Los Angeles in January 1965, E.S.P. documents the studio debut of Miles Davis's celebrated "Second Great Quintet" - Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams - the first time this exact lineup appeared together on record following Shorter's arrival to complete the group. Almost the entire program consists of new originals contributed by the bandmembers themselves rather than standards, signaling a deliberate turn toward a freer, more abstract compositional and harmonic language. The album arrived at a pivotal juncture in Davis's career, following his mid-1960s live work and preceding the increasingly exploratory studio albums (Miles Smiles, Nefertiti, Sorcerer) that would follow through 1968. Its loosened rhythmic interplay and open harmonic frameworks, especially from Williams and Hancock, proved enormously influential on the development of post-bop and would help set the template for the

Tracklist

Side 1

1. E.S.P.
2. Eighty-One
3. Little One
4. R.J.

Side 2

1. Agitation
2. Iris
3. Mood

The Label

This copy carries the classic red Columbia "2-eye" mono label - twin oval "eye" logos at 9 and 3 o'clock, "360 Sound" arced in white at the bottom, "MONO" and "Nonbreakable" text beneath the catalog number - the design Columbia used circa 1963-1966 before phasing out mono LPs around 1967-68. The catalog number CL 2350 with matrix XLP 79816-1B / XLP 79817-1A and a "P" etch confirms pressing at Columbia's Records Pressing Plant in Pitman, New Jersey, one of the East Coast plants used for early runs of this title. The rim reads "Printed in U.S.A." with no later orange-rim or 1-eye era text, and the presence of "Nonbreakable" (dropped from slightly later 2-eye pressings) supports placing this squarely in the earliest 1965 pressing run rather than the circa-1967 2-eye reissue that dropped that text.

Fidelity

This mono mix was mastered from the original 1965 Columbia session tapes; 2-eye era Columbia mono pressings of E.S.P. are well-regarded on forums.stevehoffman.tv for their punchy, immediate sound typical of mid-60s Columbia jazz mono cuts, though quality can vary somewhat between the Pitman and Terre Haute plants used for this title. This Pitman 2-eye mono pressing sits at the top of the fidelity hierarchy for E.S.P., ahead of the circa-1967 2-eye stereo-only reissue and the later 1-eye orange-rim stereo reissues; dedicated audiophile reissues of this specific title are scarce, so a clean vintage 2-eye mono copy like this remains the benchmark for collectors chasing the original sound.

Notes

1965 Columbia CL 2350 mono pressing in the red 2-eye label era (used c.1963-1966), consistent with an original first-pressing-run copy. Matrix XLP 79816-1B / XLP 79817-1A with a "P" etch confirms Pitman, New Jersey plant manufacture, one of the plants used for early East Coast pressings of this title. The label retains "Nonbreakable" text and the back cover keeps the original mono-era Columbia disclaimer, both dropped from the circa-1967 2-eye reissue and absent entirely from later orange-rim 1-eye pressings, reinforcing the early dating.

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/miles-davis-e-s-p/