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 (original NYC 446 W. 50th St. label pressing) · Prestige PRLP-7007 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Prestige
Catalogue number	PRLP-7007
Year	1955-56 (original NYC 446 W. 50th St. label pressing)
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop/Cool Bop
Producer	Bob Weinstock
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: EX DEEP GROOVE/VG+ DEEP GROOVE

Variant chronology

1955 - NY yellow/black "fireworks" label, 446 W. 50th St., deep groove, egg-yolk tint, "7E RVG P" hand-etched matrix with Plastylite ear (earliest known stamper)
1955-57 - Same NY 446 W. 50th St. deep-groove yellow label, later stamper generation (e.g. "C RVG" matrix)  <- this copy
1957-58 - NY label shifts to 447 W. 50th St. address, narrower deep groove window
c. 1958-64 - Prestige "black stereo/silver" or NJ (203 S. Washington Ave., Bergenfield) yellow label reissues
1960s-70s - Prestige NJ/blue trident labels, later reissues
1982 - Fantasy/OJC-004 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 just as Prestige Records 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 approach to the trumpet in the years just before his major-label breakthrough. The album arrived at a pivotal career moment: Davis had recently returned from a period of personal and professional difficulty and was rebuilding momentum that would culminate later that same year in his triumphant appearance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival. Critically, it is valued as an important document of Davis's mid-1950s transitional style and the formation of his rhythm-section partnerships, and it remains a touchstone for collectors tracing the emergence of hard bop out of the bebop era.

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 label design bsnpubs and LondonJazzCollector identify as Prestige's first 12" LP label, used 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 documented first-stamper copies (which also carry a stamped Plastylite "P" ear not noted in this transcription). 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 verifiable 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 and frequently cited on forums.stevehoffman.tv 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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