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
Miles Davis and Horns
1983 · Original Jazz Classics (Fantasy/Prestige reissue) OJC-053 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Original Jazz Classics (Fantasy/Prestige reissue) |
|---|
| Catalogue number | OJC-053 |
|---|
| Year | 1983 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | US |
|---|
| Format | LP |
|---|
| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
|---|
| Genre | Jazz - Bop/Cool Jazz |
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| Producer | Bob Weinstock, Ira Gitler |
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| Musicians | Miles Davis (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Bennie Green (trombone), John Lewis (piano), Percy Heath (bass), Roy Haynes (drums) [Jan. 17, 1951 session]; Miles Davis (trumpet), Al Cohn (tenor sax), Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Sonny Truitt (trombone), John Lewis (piano), Leonard Gaskin (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums) [Feb. 19, 1953 session] |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: OJC 053 A RE1 P
Side B: OJC 053 B RE2 P (AP)
Condition
- Cover
- NM
- Vinyl
- NM
Variant chronology
1956 - US Prestige yellow/black "fireworks" label, 446 W. 50th St. NYC address, mono
1958-1965 - Prestige yellow/black fireworks label, Bergenfield NJ address (203 South Washington Ave)
1965-1971 - Prestige blue/silver logo-era label variants (Bill Grauer/ABC-era reissues)
1972-1979 - Prestige orange/black or later Fantasy-owned label reissue
1983 - Original Jazz Classics OJC-053, yellow label/black rim design with spiral-and-star motif, "PRESTIGE" arched at top, catalog printed as OJC-053 (P-7025) <- this copy
1989 - Original Jazz Classics OJCCD-053-2 (CD reissue)
This Pressing
1983 Original Jazz Classics reissue (mono) - OJC-053, etched "OJC-053 A/B" runout confirms this is the Fantasy-era flat reissue, not the 1956 Prestige NYC original.
The Album
Miles Davis and Horns compiles two early Prestige sessions from opposite ends of Davis's formative post-Parker period: a January 17, 1951 sextet date with Sonny Rollins (their first-ever studio pairing) and Bennie Green, and a February 19, 1953 septet session built around Al Cohn's compositions and arrangements, featuring the contrasting tenors of Cohn and Zoot Sims. Both dates capture Davis still finding his voice after leaving Charlie Parker's group, working in a harmonically rich, horn-heavy format that let him experiment with ensemble textures beyond the standard quartet or quintet. The Cohn-associated material, including "Tasty Pudding" and "Willie The Wailer," showcases a warmer, more relaxed strand of early-1950s bop-adjacent jazz, with Zoot Sims's soloing singled out by critics as a highlight of the session. The 1951 date, meanwhile, is historically important as the first recorded meeting of Davis and Rollins, two musicians who would go on to shape the language of modern jazz. Coming before Davis's mid-1950s quintet breakthroughs, this album offers a glimpse of a still-developing artist testing group concepts that would later inform his more celebrated Prestige and Columbia work. It remains a minor but valued entry in the Davis and Prestige catalogs, prized by collectors more for its personnel and historical placement than for landmark musical innovation, though the Davis-Rollins pairing gives it lasting documentary importance.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Tasty Pudding
2. Floppy
3. Willie The Wailer
Side 2
1. For Adults Only
2. Morpheus
3. Down
4. Blue Room
5. Whispering
The Label
The side-label photos show a yellow center label with a black outer rim, "PRESTIGE" arched in yellow-on-black at the top, "LONG PLAYING MICROGROOVE" arched at the bottom, and the characteristic OJC-era decorative motifs (a spiral/comma logo at upper left, a star logo and directional arrows scattered around the rim); the catalog is printed as "OJC-053 (P-7025)" with no deep groove and no 446 W. 50th St. or Bergenfield NJ Prestige address visible. This yellow/black spiral-and-star design (not the earlier Prestige "fireworks" art, and not a blue/cream design as an earlier note mistakenly stated) is the standard Original Jazz Classics label introduced by Fantasy Records in 1982-83 to reissue out-of-print Prestige, Riverside, and Milestone titles, replacing the original PRLP catalog numbers with new OJC-prefixed numbers. Placement of this design, combined with the etched "OJC 053 A/RE1 P" and "OJC 053 B/RE2 P (AP)" runout codes, firmly dates this copy to the 1983 Fantasy-era flat reissue rather than any vintage 1950s-70s Prestige pressing, putting it near the bottom of the PRLP 7025 pressing hierarchy.
Fidelity
The 1983 OJC-053 reissue was mastered flat from tape by George Horn's team at Fantasy Studios (Berkeley), not cut from Rudy Van Gelder's original lacquers, though it still derives from the same 1951/1953 Van Gelder-engineered Prestige sessions. Collectors on the forums generally rate early-1980s OJC flat transfers as accurate and listenable but noticeably less punchy and dynamic than a genuine 1956 Prestige NYC "fireworks" mono original. Within the album's full fidelity hierarchy, this OJC-053 pressing sits in the middle-to-lower tier: above later Fantasy/ABC-era commercial reissues in transfer fidelity, but well below an original NYC first pressing, and there is no audiophile-grade reissue (Music Matters, Analogue Productions, Tone Poet, etc.) of this particular title to compare against.
Notes
This copy is the 1983 Original Jazz Classics reissue, catalog OJC-053, identifiable by its yellow label with black rim, spiral/star motifs, and "PRESTIGE" arched banner - the standard early-1980s OJC design, not a vintage Prestige NYC or Bergenfield label. The etched runout reading "OJC 053 A RE1 P" / "OJC 053 B RE2 P (AP)" is decisive dead-wax evidence confirming the Fantasy-era flat reissue rather than an original pressing. OJC-053 replaced the original PRLP 7025 catalog number as part of Fantasy's early-1980s reissue program, mastered flat from tape by George Horn's team rather than cut from original Van Gelder metal. This places the disc in the mid/lower tier of the PRLP 7025 pressing hierarchy.
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