Miles Davis BITCHES BREW Columbia GP 26 1970 1/1/1/1 Press EX/EX+ Gatefold 2LP

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32

Many rare vintage JAZZ LPs in Phase 2 of my Spring/Summer series.
Bop, Soul-Jazz, Post-Bop, Free Jazz, Avant Garde, Jazz Funk, Spiritual Jazz, Fusion and more
All in SUPERB Condition; most with EX+ to NM+ Vinyl
Mostly 1st PRESSINGS, including a large amount of PROMO LPs.
Many, many others still in SHRINK WRAP. Several STILL SEALED.
Quite a few WLP, Sterling, RL, Masterdisk and Audiophile import pressings in the mix!
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Most of these from a fanatically well-kept collection of a long-time former DJ
also a number of rarities (a few signed) from the AUSTIN WELLS* Estate collection.
*Austin Wells was a well-known west coast soul-jazz player who had many LPs autographed by the artist.
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Following Soon:
Phase 3 with More vintage and classic SOUL, GOSPEL, R&B, BLUES, JAZZ and JAZZ SINGER LPs
...then Phase 4 to follow, with a large collection of REGGAE and INTERNATIONAL (Afrobeat, Latin, Caribbean, Brazilian, etc.)
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USA Shipping: FREE
International Shipping Worldwide -at EXACT POSTAGE Only cost
Combined Shipping Discounts

This auction is for:
Miles Davis
BITCHES BREW
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.COLUMBIA Records GP 26
1970 1st Year issue • Stereo 2LP
1D/1D/1D/1D PRESSING

VINYL is EX/EX+
Very glossy vinyl shows a few very light inaudible sleeve marks/hairlines between the 4 sides under hard bright light. LP plays EX+ to NM throughout. Labels are pristine all sides.
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COVER is EX+
Thick gatefold cover is bright, vivid and super clean with just a ghost of ringwear crescents at extreme top/bottom, front. A little more on back, still far, far better than most with this title's cover that is prone to quick wear. No creases, writing, soil or other marks. Inside gatefold also superclean. Sharp corners and straight edges all around. Seams and spine completely intact with no wear or splits.

STRICT CONSERVATIVE GOLDMINE GRADING
NM / EX(VG++) / VG+ / VG

VERY early Press with 1D/1D/1D/1D/1D matrix numbers.
2nd labels - Columbia introduced the "Orange/Red" label the exact same
year (1970) that Bitches Brew was issued. Very few actually got the 2-eye
labels - very interesting and informative discussion on this below*
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MATRIX NUMBERS
?Side One: XSM152412-1D
?Side Two: XSM152413-1D
?Side Three: XSM152414-1D
?Side Four: XSM152415-1D

Note that Record 2 (sides 3 and 4) have slightly varied font/text than Record 1 labels.
Since all 4 MATRIX #s are a definitely, exactly matching sequence, the sides obviously
belong together and are from the same original set. Pressing plant vagaries, too deep
for me, no doubt involved. Again refer to the * labels discussion brought over from the
Discogs forum (below) if this interests/concerns you.

Miles Davis' iconic, groundbreaking 1970 Electric Jazz/Rock/Funk fusion masterpiece.
Miles and stellar crew simply turn the jazz / rock world upsidedown on this brain bending set!

Featuring
Wayne Shorter
John McLaughlin
Jack DeJohnette
Joe Zawinul
Larry Young
Chick Corea?
Dave Holland
Benny Maupin
Lenny White

Produced by TEO MACERO
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a Beautiful original 1970 copy of this extraordinary record!

Discs inside anti-static poly inner sleeves.
Album kept in a protective, poly outer-sleeve.
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*Re. 2-Eye and Orange/Red labels on earliest 1970 pressings
from Discogs MILES DAVIS BITCHES BREW discusion:

Columbia introduced the "Orange/Red" label the exact same year (1970) that Bitches Brew was issued.

Here is something that many inattentive collectors will miss: When record companies retired a label format, the earliest titles [to get the new label] - especially those that were pressed in large numbers by a giant such as Columbia Records with pressing plants from Santa Maria CA to Terre Haute IN to Pitman NJ and numerous small houses (Monarch, Specialty, Precision et al) that would handle their overflow for huge jobs - would frequently have a number of LATER initial "first" pressings bearing the just-retired label - and a number of EARLIER initial "first" pressings bearing the new format label. [due to varying label stock at company pressing plants throughout the country].

When an order and plates arrived at a plant, the mix of label / matrix depended greatly on how many of the older labels were still in-house. If very few "2-Eyes" were present, they were onto the "Orange/Red" labels very quickly - or vice versa if they had a lot of 2-Eyes still in stock to use up. BITCHES BREW is a fairly famous case of this happening. I have seen the 2-Eye label on pressings with Matrix #s as late as XSM 152412-3G - and (like the one in front of me right now) Orange/Red labels on a pressing as early as XSM 152412 1-C.

When you take into account that this was a double LP (4 plates to press per album) with such a huge market expectation as Bitches Brew, it is really no great surprise that this happened. Another well-documented case for Columbia was the 1955 "Charlie Christian With The Benny Goodman Sextet" album (Columbia CL-652) that was the very first LP slated for release to bear the new-in-1955 "6-Eye" label. Some were pressed also on the former "Red" label, (for reasons as above) with similar matrix results.

Re. BITCHES BREW: If you are the kind of collector who feels most comfortable looking at a 2-Eye label in your collection, that's fine. But ALWAYS keep those matrix #s in mind. As the saying goes: "MATRIX DON'T LIE". If you really, truly want that revolutionary, amazingly expansive, wide-open feel and sharp soundstage separation that Miles and Teo Macero achieved here you want nothing later than "-1J" ending all 4 matrix #s on your copy. They had begun crafting this sound with "Filles De Kilimanjaro" and even more with "In a Silent Way" but it reached an auditory zenith with Bitches Brew.

For very precise info on start-dates and much more in-depth info on hundreds of major and smaller USA labels, check out VINYLBEAT.com. Also, scattered across the web are many forums and blogs where a huge amount of historical vinyl pressing information, lore and even anecdotes from the old-timers who worked or ran the plants can be found. Fascinating and illuminating material that will tell you everything you would ever want to know about those "funny marks on the vinyl around the labels": Mastering houses, engineers' initials (WAY beyond "RVG" and "RL"!), job #s, prefix codes and much more.
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Please see my other listings for more
Vintage Collectible Soul, Funk and R&B LPs
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