Of Prestiges and Great Tenor Records
Prestige Day at Jazz Collector. This one is for a good friend who has a passion for 10-inch LPs, and for Phil Woods: Phil Woods, New Jazz Quintet, New Jazz 1104. Man, look at that cover. Phil looks like he’s about 15. The record is in M- condition and the cover is VG to VG+. Start price is $250 and it’s closing in four hours. No bidders so far.
Sonny Rollins, Tenor Madness, Prestige 7047. This is an original New York pressing. The record and cover were listed in VG++ condition. The bidding is in the $275 range with more than a day to go. Someone recently sent me a list of something like the 50 greatest tenor sax records ever. I quickly glanced at the list to see what was #1 (it was either Giant Steps or A Love Supreme). I looked to see where this record ranked, since it would have it in my top two or three. But it wasn’t on the list. I clicked my off off the link and never looked back. I’m sure a quick Google search and someone will find it and post it here. I would have it Tenor Madness had been on the list.
This is another great tenor record I listened to recently for the first time in years:
John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Tenor Conclave, Prestige 7074. This is an original New York pressing that looks to be in VG++ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. Start price is $99. There are no bids, and there is a reserve. Three and a half days left on the auction. Think this one is on the list. Doubt it.
Jazz Times Top Sax Poll
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bibleandculture/2012/08/16/jazz-times-top-sax-poll/
I hate lists….
So many not on this list it hurts.
NO Blue Train! ouch
Only three Stan Getz albums ? No”Sweet Rain” ? No Charles Parker ? This is not a poll. This is a joke.
the seller who has tenor Madness, has another essential Rollins, “Worktime”, now at 69 dollars only. Looks like a great copy. It is not an original though. The original has a frame cover, thin spine and pink lettering, the re-issue has green lettering on a laminated front and a broad spine with the album title and catalogue number.
The Woods is a beauty, in fact the six issues on New Jazz in 10″ are all great.
No david sandborn on the list??http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkjoX1uBL6Q
>-) 🙂
That Johnny Griffin split cover Argo from that same seller is nice too.
Slightly off topic, but since we are looking at Prestige LP’s & favorite Tenor players… I noticed in the last posting that the Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus Al linked said it has a flat edge…
So where do the 7000 series Prestige flat edge pressings stop and the safety lip edge pressings take over ?
(This might be one for Prestige aficionados like Rudolf & Mike based on the research they compiled on Prestige pressing information in a 2010 posting:
https://jazzcollector.com/blue-note/were-back-but-hardly-missed/
…Although it seemed to leave out clarification on the flat edges once they hit the 7000 series)
don-lucky: I never noticed at Prestige marked flat edges opposed to later protection lips.
Some labels were outspoken flat edge before making the change. E.g. BlueNote and French Vogue. So, in my opinion, somebody who claims flat edge at Prestige, is mistaken.
It’s an outrage….I really can’t take this list serious,
NO ‘king’ Kenny G on the list either!!!!..
Thanks Rudolf, For a brief moment there I began wondering if all my 7000 series Prestige LP’s were not as original as I once thought !
So did anyone else out there go home last night and toss on their copy of Tenor Madness after reading Al’s post above ? I ended up perchasing some tickets to catch Ravi Coltrane at an upcoming show, then checked Sunny’s tour schedule this summer, as I am started to crave that live tenor sound…)
Joe I: do know the music on this split cover? I find it one of the least inspiring Griffin sessions.
Rudolf : yes there are Flat edged prestige. 7082, for instance. Not the same kind of flat than Blue Note, not so regularily numbered in the catalogue than Blue Note, but some Prestige have no protection lips. I will see my others and let you know more
Rudolf – yes, it’s JG’s debut as leader, if I’m not mistaken. It’s not great, not bad; he’s clearly finding his feet. But I’m a bit of an Argo nut, so I always get excited about nice copies of the less coming or more interesting Argo offerings. I also get a kick out of the split cover, as an artifact of a time when the business was thinking hard about design. (Which is also why I am fond of the DSM Clef covers, and, of course, the classic Blue Note covers.)
The first pressing of Prestige 7007 “The Musings Of Miles” was flat-edge and pressed by Plastylite no less!
to all: this is an interesting discussion.I checked my Plastilyte 7007 and 7082. To me they look like regular productions with a very minor, almost negligeable safety lip at the rim and many grooves leading to the music. For me it is not flat edge. It depends on the definition of flat edge. If Michel has the first pressing of Mulligan’s California Concerts on Swing LDM 30.007 or the Paris Concert on Swing 30.008, he will see that there is no safety lip at all and only one groove leading to the music. If you put your stylus to the right of this one groove, it will fall off. That, for me, are real flat edge/rim pressings.
I am just playing Guys and Dolls – Like Vibes on Coral (Eddie Costa and Bill Evans); the rim is flatter than those two Prestige albums above. With Prestige it is variable; I have had a later edition of Musings of Miles, “The Beginning” # 7221 which was really flat edge. It surprised me at the time, but it also shows that it has got no distinctive value, in the sense of early pressing or not, it is purely incidental.
Don-Lucky: don’t worry, you are all right with your Prestige collection (me too!).
Joe I. you describe the JG as it is, JG is wavering. Also the album is very short in playing time.
I never get too worked up about these lists. Personally Tenor Madness is not one of my favorites, Newk’s Time and Saxophone Colossus any day over TM. Anything with Jim Hall is also nice from Rollins.
Thanks again for the Prestige clarifications Rudolf. For a brief moment there I thought I was going to have to start from scratch !
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