Funny and Mysterious Reissue of Blue Train John Coltrane by King Record
FRP 5-4
FRP 5-4
What a design!Prestige has many great jacket designs but this album, Red Garland All Mornin’ Longis one of the best in album design.Picture, fonts, color they used…wow, everything is great.And, this particular reissue by Victor Music Japan, SMJ series did a great job to restore the original design, really.This SMJ is the only available reissue here…
I don’t know you guys still remember I did this OBI Poll.I selected 3 types of OBI by King Record, all Blue Note reissues. I know, many of you contributed to vote, right?But!! I must admit that our customer base is small, and in total, 44 people voted (including me! haha). Thank you very much!!Now,…
Not many Jazz collectors know this album, the album Toshiba EMI for the 1st time in the world produced and issued.Hank Mobley Quintet Featuring Sonny Clark Blue Note BNJ 61006If you look at the jacket, obviously this is identical with Blue Note BLP 1560, right?But this album is an unissued sessions of Hank Mobley in…
Jazz drummers have very few leader albums apart from Art Blakey.Art Taylor also made few leader albums like thisArt Taylor AT’s Delight on Blue NoteVery organized and well made album. But it is not that popular…Talking about reissues of this title here in Japan. Both King Record and Toshiba EMI reissued it.BUT…King Record reissued it…
This great album,Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners Riversidehas an interesting reissue history in Japan.Brilliant Corners was released by Riverside US in 1957 and the 1st Japanese reissue of this album was released in 1958. Very quick release! The company reissuing this 1st Japanese reissue is King Record. Interesing, right? They did not use the Riverside master…
Nowadays, the price of these Toshiba EMI Blue Note Premium Reissue titles is skyrocketing on the market here in Japan…the series isBlue Note Premium Reissue SeriesThese reissues were released in 2004 in Japan. The unique point of this series is that they usedThe RVG MasterWhen I saw that for the 1st time, I thought that…
Hello Takashi
Yes, I do know about those rare King FRP issues! During the mid-1980’s, when I was living and working in Singapore, I used to visit Tokyo every 3 months or so in order to attend boring business meetings. On every visit, I carried with me an empty suitcase which I would bring back home full of lovely King (and, sometimes, Toshiba-EMI) Blue Note Lp’s purchased at Wave and/or Ishimaru.
On one of those trips, I came across – in Wave – a couple of Blue Note boxed sets manufactured by King Record Co., called “Blue Note Jazz Best Collection Vols. 1 and 2”. Each box held 7 Lp’s. I didn’t buy the sets because, as it happened, I already owned the Lp’s they contained – which, apart from the FRP code and not having an OBI, seemed to me to be identical to the same King GXK BN’s (most with OBI) that were on sale in that same shop. Besides, the boxes were not very attractive – plain black with a single photo on the front…
Also, why did some guy at King Record Co. choose that unique ‘one-off’ FRP code? My guess is “Famous Recorded Performances”. Maybe. Who knows?
In any case, those King FRP sets are not listed in my reference Cuscuna-Ruppli BN Discography – nor anywhere else as far as I know. However, as it happens, at the time I did list the LP titles they contained (I added the GXF, GXK and equivalent BLP code just today) so my list now reads as follows:
FRP-5, Vol. 1, Blue Note Jazz Best Collection
FRP-5-1 Cannonball Adderley, Something Else GXF-3001 (GXK-8042) (BLP1595)
FRP-5-2 Art Blakey, Moanin’ GXF-3002 (GXK-8044) (BLP4003)
FRP-5-3 Sonny Clark Trio GXF-3005 (GXK-8051) (BLP1579)
FRP-5-4 John Coltrane, Blue Train GXF-3010 (GXK-8055) (BLP1577)
FRP-5-5 Miles Davis Volume 1 GXF-3011 (GXK-8056) (BLP1501)
FRP-5-6 Horace Silver, Song for My Father GXF-3017 (GXK-8047) (BLP4185)
FRP-5-7 Wayne Shorter, Super Nova GXF-3019 (GXK-8048) (BST84332)
FRP-6, Vol.2, Blue Note Jazz Best Collection
FRP-6-1 Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’ GXF-3004 (GXK-8043) (BLP1588)
FRP-6-2 Sonny Rollins, Live at The Village Vanguard GXF-3007 (GXK-8101) (BLP1581)
FRP-6-3 Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch, GXF-3009 (GXK-8046) (BLP4163)
FRP-6-4 Bud Powell, The Scene Changes, GXF-3013(GXK-8075) (BLP4009)
FRP-6-5 Thelonious Monk, Genius… Vol 1, GXF-3014 (GXK-8058) (BLP1510)
FRP-6-6 Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder GXF-3015 (GXK-8045) (BLP4157)
FRP-6-7 Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage GXF-3020 (GXK-8050) (BLP4195)
One question (important to us collectors at any rate) remains: were the issues in those boxes GXF or GXK? I suspect that they may be the later-issued GXK (if so, of less collector value than the earlier GXF) but I don’t know for sure… perhaps someone else does? In any case, it’s all good FUN finding out!
Kind regards, Eric
Eric
Sorry about the late response! I was blown away by the comment of yours and did a research on my side as well. But…nothing was found…really mysterious pressings, really. I just shot a video on this and really appreciate that you shared this!