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 Quartet
The Musings of Miles
1955-56 · Prestige PRLP-7007 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Prestige |
|---|
| Catalogue number | PRLP-7007 |
|---|
| Year | 1955-56 |
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| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | US |
|---|
| Format | LP |
|---|
| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
|---|
| Genre | Jazz - Hard Bop/Cool Bop |
|---|
| Producer | Bob Weinstock |
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| Musicians | Miles Davis (trumpet), Red Garland (piano), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: PRLP-7007-A C RVG
Side B: PRLP-7007-B C RGV
Condition
- Cover
- EX
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1955-56 - US Prestige 446 W. 50th St. NYC yellow/black "fireworks" label, deep groove, original pressing <- this copy
c.1957-64 - Prestige 203 S. Washington Ave., Bergenfield NJ yellow/black "fireworks" label reissue
c.1970s-80s - Original Jazz Classics (OJC) reissue
c.2020s - Analogue Productions 45 RPM audiophile reissue
This Pressing
Original pressing (mono, c.1955-56) - Prestige NYC "fireworks" label, 446 W. 50th St. address, deep groove; Van Gelder-cut matrix but a later "C" stamper rather than the earliest documented "7E" cut.
The Album
Recorded in a single session at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack home studio on June 7, 1955, The Musings of Miles was Miles Davis's first 12-inch LP, arriving as Prestige began issuing full-length albums instead of 10-inch discs. It captures Davis fronting a quartet with Red Garland, Oscar Pettiford, and Philly Joe Jones - the same rhythm-section chemistry (minus Coltrane) that would soon anchor his celebrated First Great Quintet. The material mixes standards like "Will You Still Be Mine?" and Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia" with Davis originals "I Didn't" and "Green Haze," showcasing his increasingly lyrical, harmonically spare trumpet approach in the years just before his major-label breakthrough. The album arrived at a pivotal career moment, as Davis rebuilt momentum that culminated later that year in his triumphant appearance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival. It is valued as an important document of Davis's mid-1950s transitional style and the formation of his rhythm-section partnerships, and remains a touchstone for collectors tracing the emergence of hard bop out of bebop.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Will You Still Be Mine?
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
Side 2
1. A Gal in Calico
2. A Night in Tunisia
3. Green Haze
The Label
This copy carries the original Prestige NYC yellow-and-black "fireworks" label with the 446 W. 50th St., N.Y.C. address, deep groove, and "HI FIDELITY" text - the design used as Prestige's first 12" LP label, from the label's 1955 launch through roughly 1957 before the address moved to 447 W. 50th St. The matrix reads "PRLP-7007-A/B ... RVG," confirming a Van Gelder-cut lacquer, but the stamper letter is "C" rather than the "7E" found on the earliest first-stamper copies, which also carry a stamped Plastylite "P" ear. That places this copy solidly within the original 446-address NYC-label pressing run, but as a later stamper/pressing within that run rather than the very first lacquer cut - still an authentic original-label pressing, just not the earliest stamper.
Fidelity
Mastered by Rudy Van Gelder directly from his own Hackensack session tape, this is a first-generation Van Gelder cut prized by collectors on the forums for its warmth, presence, and natural tonal balance typical of his mid-1950s home-studio Prestige work. Pressing quality on the original Prestige NYC run is generally excellent when Plastylite-manufactured, though quiet-groove consistency varies by stamper generation, and this later "C" stamper may show slightly more surface noise than the earliest "7E" pressings. Within the album's fidelity hierarchy, this original mono Van Gelder cut sits above all later Prestige reissues (NJ/Bergenfield yellow, black-label, and OJC pressings, which are more widely available but sonically flatter) and is generally regarded by collectors as second only to the very first-stamper copies of the same original label; it also predates and is considered warmer/more organic than the modern Analogue Productions 45 RPM audiophile reissue, though that later cut offers superior surface noise and channel separation via modern mastering.
Notes
This is an original-issue Prestige PRLP-7007 pressing, not a later Bergenfield/NJ-era reissue: the 446 W. 50th St. yellow "fireworks" label and deep groove place it within Prestige's 1955-57 first-label window. The runout reads Van Gelder-cut ("RVG") with a "C" stamper suffix rather than the "7E" suffix documented on the earliest known first-stamper copies, and no Plastylite "P" ear is noted in the transcription, indicating this is a slightly later stamper generation within the same original NYC-label pressing run rather than the very first lacquer. Confirming the exact stamper generation and presence/absence of the Plastylite ear from an actual dead-wax photo would settle the precise position within the first-pressing run.
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