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 Modern Jazz Quartet
The Quartet
1956 · Savoy Records MG 12046 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Savoy Records |
|---|
| Catalogue number | MG 12046 |
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| Year | 1956 |
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| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
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| Country | US |
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| Format | LP |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Jazz - Bebop/Cool Jazz |
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| Producer | Ozzie Cadena |
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| Musicians | Milt Jackson (vibraphone), John Lewis (piano), Percy Heath (bass, tracks A1-A2, B1-B2), Ray Brown (bass, tracks A3-A6, B3-B6), Kenny Clarke (drums, tracks A1-A2, B1-B2), Al Jones (drums, tracks A3-A6, B3-B6) |
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Matrix / Runout
Side A: MG12046A X20 2 D
Side B: MG 12046B X20 3 A
Condition
- Cover
- VG+
- Vinyl
- VG-
Variant chronology
1956 - US Savoy red/silver deep-groove label, silver "S"-note logo, no "Hi-Fi Recording" caption on label face, X20 matrix series <- this copy
1956-57(?) - same red/silver Savoy label with "Hi-Fi Recording" text added to the label face - no documented sale found for this variant
later 1950s-60s - yellow "trumpeter" Savoy label reissue - no documented sale found for this variant
1977 - Arista/Savoy compilation reissue - no documented sale found for this variant
This Pressing
1st pressing family (mono, 1956) - red/silver deep-groove Savoy label, no "Hi-Fi" caption on label face, X20 matrix series.
The Album
"The Quartet" gathers the earliest studio recordings by the group that would become the Modern Jazz Quartet, cut for Savoy in 1951-52 while Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Kenny Clarke and a rotating bassist (Percy Heath on the newest sides, Ray Brown on the earlier ones) were still finding their identity as a self-contained working unit rather than a backing band. Assembled and reissued by Savoy in 1956 once the group's Prestige and Atlantic albums had made "Modern Jazz Quartet" a recognizable name, the LP captures the transitional moment when Jackson's blues-and-bebop vibraphone language met Lewis's increasingly formal, chamber-conscious writing. Tracks like "Bluesology" and "D & E" show Lewis already reaching for the contrapuntal, quasi-classical arrangements that would define the mature MJQ, while "Round About Midnight" and the standards demonstrate the group's early command of ballad restraint. Historically the record matters as the missing link between Jackson's late-1940s small-group blues dates and the codified, tuxedoed chamber-jazz identity the Quartet adopted after signing to Atlantic in 1956. It is valued by collectors and historians less as a unified studio album than as a document of the ensemble's germination, assembled from singles and album sides originally issued piecemeal by Savoy. The Modern Jazz Quartet went on to become one of the most influential and longest-running small groups in jazz, and these early sides remain essential listening for tracing how their signature blend of blues feeling and formal composition first took shape.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
2. Love Me Pretty Baby
3. Autumn Breeze
4. Milt Meets Sid
5. Moving Nicely
6. D & E
Side 2
1. Heart And Soul
2. True Blues
3. Bluesology
4. Yesterdays
5. Round About Midnight
6. Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
The Label
The side labels are the classic Savoy red field with silver "SAVOY RECORDS" arch, a single stylized silver "S"-note logo, "NON-BREAKABLE - 33 1/3 RPM" text above the spindle and "LONG PLAYING MICROGROOVE" arced below - with "THE QUARTET" set in an elongated silver script beneath the spindle hole and no "A Hi-Fi Recording" caption anywhere on the label face (that phrase appears only on the back cover, printed separately). This matches the earliest red-label Savoy pressing group used for the MG 12000 series in 1956, prior to Savoy adding "Hi-Fi" text directly onto later label runs of the same catalog number. Combined with the deep-groove ring visible on the vinyl and the Newark, N.J. Savoy Record Co. address on the back cover, this places the copy in the first pressing family for MG 12046, ahead of the later red-label "Hi-Fi" variant and well ahead of the yellow-label and Arista-era reissues.
Fidelity
Mastered from mono tapes assembled from Milt Jackson's early-1950s Savoy singles/album sides; no engineer is credited on the jacket beyond Ozzie Cadena's production, and the deep-groove red pressing represents an original Savoy cut rather than a later Rudy Van Gelder remaster (the back cover's "Re-Mastered by Rudy Van Gelder" credit applies to a later reissue variant of this same catalog number, not necessarily this specific stamper). Collector consensus on forums favors the original red-label deep-groove Savoy pressings over the later yellow "trumpeter" label reissues and the 1977 Arista/Savoy compilation for warmth and presence, though Savoy's own mastering and vinyl quality in this era is generally regarded as inconsistent compared to contemporaries like Blue Note or Prestige. This pressing sits at or near the top of the fidelity hierarchy for the title, ahead of later Savoy reissues, the Japanese King/SJ pressing, and the 1977 compilation LP.
Notes
1956 Savoy MG 12046 mono - early pressing. Red/silver deep-groove labels with the elongated "The Quartet" logo and no "Hi-Fi Recording" text on the label face match the earliest red-label Savoy design used before that caption was added to later runs. Matrix runouts (MG12046A X20 2 D / MG 12046B X20 3 A) share the X20 mastering prefix across both sides, differing only in stamper/take letters, consistent with normal stamper rotation rather than a different issue. Deep groove on both sides further supports an early-to-mid-1950s Savoy pressing rather than a later reissue.
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