Comments on: Are We Seeing a Shift in Value of Jazz Promo LPs?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:58:32 +0000

In my research, the White labels/Promo pressings are the first ones. DJs are issued those copies, and they took excellent care of their vinyl. How embarrassing it is to have a record skip during a radio broadcast.

By: Aaron Wase

Aaron Wase — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:31:25 +0000

Roland Kirk ” Triple Threat ” on E-bay Starting Bid 1,000. 2nd Time Ever To Be Auctioned!

By: Gregory the Fish

Gregory the Fish — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 18:45:43 +0000

too funny, al! hahaha.

By: Al

Al — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:34:18 +0000

Well, there it is. Learn something new here at Jazz Collector every day.

By: bill

bill — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 02:13:34 +0000

Al. If you do a search today on eBay for WLP under records, you get 18,978 hits.

By: Joe L

Joe L — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:22:29 +0000

WLP = white label promo. I think it’s fairly common?

By: Al

Al — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:23:47 +0000

You guys are talking about WLPs and I’m trying to figure out what the hell you’re talking about. It’s like the great line in the Odd Couple when Oscar rants at Felix something on the order of:
“You leave little notes all around the house. ‘We’re out of cornflakes. — FU.’ It took me three hours to figure out that FU was Felix Unger.”
So WLPs are White Label Promos? Please tell me this is not a commonly used set of initials and just appears here on Jazz Collector as an aberration.

By: Joe L

Joe L — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:44:46 +0000

Rich is right on. Plus, WLPs are super cool! However, eBay advertising notwithstanding, Rich is also correct that they are not necessarily indicative of the earliest possible pressings. I have a number of Columbia 6-eye WLPs (including a mint Mingus Ah Um that I love like one of my children), and most of them do NOT have 1A, 1B, or 1C stamps. In fact, one has 2B/3B stamps and another has 2AA/2B stamps. Those two LPs are from the collection of a famous (now deceased) jazz DJ, who definitely got them directly from Columbia (or a Columbia distributor). And they were obviously not the very first pressings off the presses. To me, they sound just as good, but no better, than a regular 6-eye. They are very cool though!

By: Rich (DG Mono)

Rich (DG Mono) — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 16:57:28 +0000

And Dave: There’s really no guarantee that they didn’t just run the press through all the way for the entire first pressing, then at the end they randomly grabbed a bunch of copies for promotional use. 😉

By: DaveS

DaveS — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 15:42:45 +0000

Agree 100% with Rich DG Mono. Columbia is also fairly unique in the jazz world with the Mother/Child stamper nuances. Most interestingly, neither BN or Prestige arguably the most collectible labels, didn’t have WLPs. While we all have our share of records stamped with Not for Sale or Audition Copy, it is hard to know for certain in there was any advantage to these records coming off the press first.