Variant chronology
1966 - US original mono LP-772, blue-fade deep-groove retail label, Pitman pressing
1966 - US original mono LP-772, blue-fade deep-groove retail label, Midwest pressing
1966 - US original mono LP-772, blue-fade deep-groove retail label, Columbia Terre Haute pressing
1966 - US original mono LP-772, blue-fade deep-groove retail label, RCA Indianapolis TR4M branch <- this copy
1966 - US original mono DJLP-772 promo, Indianapolis pressing
1966 - US original stereo LPS-772, red-white-and-blue deep-groove label, Pitman pressing
1966 - US original stereo LPS-772, red-white-and-blue deep-groove label, RCA Indianapolis pressing
1966 - US original stereo LPS-772, red-white-and-blue label, Columbia Terre Haute pressing
1966 - France Barclay 0820090 stereo issue
1966 - Argentina Microfon IP-146 issue retitled El Sexo Debil
1967 - Spain Hispavox HX 001-11 mono issue
1967 - Spain Hispavox HX(S) 001-11 stereo issue
1967 - Netherlands Chess International MAR S-3088 stereo issue
1967 - Japan Globe SMJ-7433 stereo issue
1975 - US Cadet CA-772 stereo reissue
1976 - Japan Cadet BT-5095 stereo reissue
1980 - France Cadet 515001 stereo reissue
1982 - Spain Cadet/CFE JS-063 stereo reissue
1983 - Japan Baybridge/Cadet UPS-2228-BC stereo reissue
The Album
The jacket dates these sessions to April 1966 at RCA Recording Studios in New York, with producer Esmond Edwards presenting Kenny Burrell in a compact quartet setting. The program divides evenly between five Burrell originals and five outside songs, moving from the blues workout Mother-In-Law and Hot Bossa to People, Girl Talk, Erroll Garner's La Petite Mambo, and I'm Confessin'. Despite the romantic title and cover concept, this is not simply mood music: it folds blues, hard bop, bossa nova, and ballad playing into concise three-to-five-minute performances. Burrell, a Detroit musician who arrived in New York in 1956, was already one of the defining post-Charlie Christian jazz guitarists through his Blue Note, Prestige, and Verve recordings and his important work with Jimmy Smith. Midnight Blue and Guitar Forms had recently demonstrated both his popular reach and his orchestral sophistication; The Tender Gender applies those strengths to a leaner small-group format. The album reached Billboard's Top LPs chart in December 1966, peaking at No. 146 during a two-week run, and AllMusic later awarded it three stars. Its lasting reputation is that of an underrated Burrell favorite: less canonical than Midnight Blue or Guitar Forms, but a concentrated display of his melodic economy, blues attack, groove, and stylistic range.
The Label
This copy has BSNPubs' second Cadet design: a light-blue field fading to white, black print, and CADET block letters shaded red, white, and blue; it followed the simpler solid light-blue/dark-blue inaugural Cadet label. Both labels are deep-groove and carry LP-772, MONOPHONIC, and the rim line MFG. BY CHESS PRODUCING CORP., CHICAGO, IL 60616. Chess renamed Argo as Cadet in 1965; the back cover's 2120 South Michigan Avenue address places production before Chess's 1968 move and well before the 1969 GRT sale and 1971 label consolidation. The typed TR4M-0394-1/S-1 and TR4M-0395-1D/S-2 core inscriptions match the Discogs US mono RCA Indianapolis entry, although that entry also records a stamped I in the dead wax that is absent from the supplied transcription; direct inspection of that stamp would provide final plant confirmation.
Fidelity
Ray Hall and Bob Simpson engineered the RCA Studios sessions; no separate LP mastering engineer is credited, but the TR4M codes are RCA's custom mono matrix series and this record was pressed at RCA Indianapolis. The 1966 US mono and stereo cuts occupy the top historical tier as the earliest analog LP presentations, although period Cadet/RCA sound is not usually ranked with Blue Note's Van Gelder pressings. Collector reports are mixed: one describes the US record as crystal clear, while another found both domestic vinyl and the 1983 Japanese reissue somewhat dull and compressed, with the Japanese copy possibly marginally better. The later US and Japanese reissues can provide quieter playing surfaces but have no established audiophile advantage. No dedicated Tone Poet, Analogue Productions, Music Matters, or Mobile Fidelity-style modern LP reissue is documented, leaving a clean original US pressing as the default benchmark; this G+ copy will be limited by groove wear regardless of the cut.
Notes
1966 Cadet LP-772 mono - original US first pressing, RCA Indianapolis branch. The second-design blue-fade/deep-groove labels, LP-772 mono number, Chess Producing Corp Chicago rim text, and 2120 South Michigan Avenue back-cover address all fit the original Cadet/Chess era. The typed TR4M-0394-1/S-1 and TR4M-0395-1D/S-2 matrices match Discogs' US Indianapolis mono entry. Discogs also associates that branch with a stamped I in both runouts; because the supplied transcription omits that stamp, direct dead-wax inspection would provide final confirmation.
