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

Friday Night In Person At The Blackhawk, San Francisco - Volume I

1961 · Columbia CL 1669 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Columbia
Catalogue number	CL 1669
Year	1961
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop / Post-Bop (Live)
Producer	Irving Townsend
Musicians	Miles Davis (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  XLP 53548-1C BH 1
Side B:  XLP 53549-1A BH 11

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: VG+ 6-EYE/VG+ 6-EYE

Variant chronology

1961 - US Columbia "six-eye" red mono label, deep-groove era, CL 1669  <- this copy
1962-63 - US Columbia "Guaranteed High Fidelity" red/black two-eye mono label reissue
1963-late 1960s - US Columbia "360 Sound Mono" red label reissue
1970-1972 - US Columbia orange-label reissue (CBS-owned era)
1980s-90s - US/EU budget reissues and Japanese CBS/Sony pressings
2003 - Columbia/Legacy "In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete" 4xCD box (not vinyl) - reference only
2021 - Mosaic/Craft "The Complete Blackhawk Sessions" audiophile vinyl box, limited edition

This Pressing

1st-era pressing (mono, 1961) - Columbia six-eye red label, CL 1669, matrix XLP 53548-1C/53549-1A.

The Album

Recorded live over a Friday and Saturday night residency in April 1961 at the Blackhawk club in San Francisco, this album captures Miles Davis's working quintet with Hank Mobley on tenor in place of the departed John Coltrane, backed by the redoubtable rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Columbia split the sprawling club tapes into two companion LPs, "Friday Night" (Volume I) and "Saturday Night" (Volume II), giving listeners an unusually intimate, in-the-room document of Davis on the bandstand rather than in the studio. The set leans on staples from his repertoire - "Walkin'," "Bye Bye Blackbird," "All Of You" - alongside the originals "No Blues" and the closing theme "Bye Bye," played with the loose, extended-solo freedom of a working club date. Mobley's presence has often been overshadowed by Coltrane's tenure, but the Blackhawk tapes are among the best surviving evidence of his stint with Davis and of a quintet quietly transitioning toward the more exploratory band Davis would assemble later in the decade. Critically, the album has long been regarded as a solid if secondary entry in Davis's vast Columbia discography - valued less for innovation than for its relaxed documentation of a great small group at work. It remains a touchstone for collectors of Davis's early-1960s Columbia period and of live hard-bop recording in general.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Walkin'
2. Bye Bye Blackbird

Side 2

1. All Of You
2. No Blues
3. Bye Bye (Theme)
4. Love, I've Found You (piano solo by Wynton Kelly)

The Label

This copy carries the classic Columbia "six-eye" mono label: red field, "COLUMBIA" arched in white across the top, six small CBS-eye logos alternating with red/black flag panels around the rim, and the "LP" trademark medallion with "MARCAS REG. MADE IN U.S.A." at the bottom - the standard Columbia mono design used from roughly 1955 through 1962. CL 1669 was first issued in August/September 1961, squarely inside the six-eye label's production window, so a six-eye copy of this catalog number is consistent with (though not conclusive proof of) a first-pressing timeframe rather than the later two-eye or "360 Sound" redesigns that replaced it from 1962 onward. The mono CL-prefix and "NONBREAKABLE" text (no STEREO banner) confirm this is the mono edition, distinct from the parallel six-eye stereo CS 8469 issue. Matrix numbers XLP 53548/53549 with letter-suffix stampers (1C/1A) are period-correct Columbia lacquer/stamper codes for the original 1961 mastering rather than a later re-cut, though without a deadwax photo the precise stamper generation and deep-groove presence can't be confirmed beyond the label evidence.

Fidelity

The original 1961 Columbia mono cut was mastered from the Blackhawk club tapes recorded under producer Irving Townsend; as a live nightclub recording it has inherent room noise, imperfect balance and a warmer but narrower dynamic range than a studio date. Steve Hoffman-forum consensus generally favors the mono mix for cohesion on this title, though the stereo CS 8469 spreads the horns and rhythm section more distinctly. Six-eye era Columbia pressings are typically well-cut and reasonably quiet for the period, but this title has since been surpassed in fidelity by the expanded, newly-mastered 2003 Columbia/Legacy "Complete" box (engineered by Mark Wilder from the original tapes) and by the audiophile-grade 2021 Mosaic/Craft vinyl box of the complete Blackhawk sessions, both of which offer cleaner transfers and fuller unedited performances than the original single LP.

Notes

1961 Columbia CL 1669 mono - six-eye red label places this copy inside Columbia's 1955-62 label design window, consistent with an original-era pressing rather than the later two-eye or 360 Sound reissue labels. Mono CL-prefix catalog number and "NONBREAKABLE" text (no STEREO banner) confirm this is the mono edition, distinct from the parallel CS 8469 stereo issue. Matrix suffixes (1C/1A) indicate stamper-generation codes rather than a re-mastered cut, but without a full runout/deadwax photo the exact stamper/plant generation and deep-groove presence can't be verified with certainty from the label photo alone.

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