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

The Miles Davis Quintet

Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

1961 · Prestige PRLP 7200 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Prestige
Catalogue number	PRLP 7200
Year	1961
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Hard Bop
Producer	Bob Weinstock
Musicians	Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  PRLP-7200 A RVG
Side B:  PRLP-7200 B RVG AB

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NM- DEEP GROOVE/NM- DEEP GROOVE

Variant chronology

1961 - Yellow/black "fireworks" label, deep groove, 203 South Washington Ave Bergenfield NJ address, RVG stamp, mono first pressing  <- this copy
1964-1970 - Gold trident label (mono), same deep groove/deadwax as first press
1964-1971 - Blue trident label (stereo, PRST 7200)
1970s-80s - Prestige/Fantasy reissue, blue/silver or later logo label, no deep groove
2014 - Analogue Productions APRJ 7200, 200g mono audiophile reissue

This Pressing

1961 first pressing (mono) - Prestige PRLP 7200 yellow/black "fireworks" label, deep groove, 203 South Washington Ave Bergenfield NJ address, RVG-stamped runout.

The Album

Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is the fourth and final of the four classic Prestige LPs (Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', Steamin') drawn from two marathon studio dates - May 11 and October 26, 1956 - that Davis's so-called "First Great Quintet" cut to fulfill his Prestige contract before jumping to Columbia. Davis, Coltrane, Garland, Chambers and Philly Joe Jones had been touring hard and largely played live-in-the-studio, first-take arrangements of songs already road-tested on stage, giving these sessions their famously loose, blowing-session energy. The program mixes standards like

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Surrey with the Fringe on Top
2. Salt Peanuts
3. Something I Dreamed Last Night

Side 2

1. Diane
2. Well You Needn't
3. When I Fall in Love

The Label

This copy carries the original Prestige "fireworks" yellow-and-black label with the address "Prestige Records, Inc., 203 South Washington Ave., Bergenfield, N.J." and pronounced deep groove on both sides, the design and address Prestige used for its mono jazz line from the mid/late 1950s through the label's move to gold-trident labels in 1964. The etched "AB" runout code plus stamped RVG matches the earliest known stamper generation documented for this catalog number (contemporaries show AB PRLP-7200-A / AB PRLP-7200-B-1). Placement of this yellow deep-groove label ahead of the 1964 gold-trident and blue-trident (stereo) redesigns confirms this is from the true first pressing run issued at the album's original July/August 1961 release, not a later Bergenfield-era repress with the trident logo.

Fidelity

Mastered and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder at his Hackensack studio directly from the 1956 quintet sessions; this deep-groove yellow-label mono pressing with RVG stamp represents Van Gelder's own original lacquer cut, prized by collectors on forums.stevehoffman.tv for its warmth and immediacy compared to later Fantasy-era repressings sourced from generation-removed tapes. Pressing quality on these early Bergenfield-era Prestige mono LPs is generally very good, though slightly more prone to surface noise than contemporary Blue Notes due to Prestige's more modest vinyl stock. In the album's fidelity hierarchy this original mono first press sits at the top alongside early gold-trident mono repressings, well above later stereo Fantasy reissues, with the 2014 Analogue Productions APRJ 7200 200g mono LP (mastered from the original tapes, pressed at QRP) representing the modern audiophile-grade alternative most Steve Hoffman forum members consider the best-sounding modern option.

Notes

1961 Prestige PRLP 7200 mono - original first pressing. Yellow/black fireworks label with deep groove and the 203 South Washington Ave, Bergenfield NJ address predates the 1964 shift to gold/blue trident labels, and the RVG-stamped, AB-etched runout matches documented early stampers for this catalog number. Sold to collectors as the true first-issue configuration of this final installment in the 1956 Prestige quintet sessions, released July/August 1961.

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