.It seems well established among collectors that the very first pressings of 1577 had a distinction on the label in that the “47 West 63rd” address for Blue Note Records appears on the label instead of merely listing NYC as the address. This distinction is noted in Jerry Osborne’s book “Official Prices guide to records”, 18th Ed, and shows a substantial price difference between the two labels. Indeed, eBay auctions drive the “47 West 63rd” versions typically to the $1000 range. (I’ve also noted some eBayers listing the fact that there is no registry R under the E of “Blue NotE” on the label – but I cannot tell if this is a feature of all “47 West 63rd” versions, or a subset of those). I realize the “47 West 63rd” labels do not represent a separate issue of Blue Train, but this distinction is clearly very important to collectors, so my question is why The Reference does not include a note on this label variation.

We appreciate the valuable information which Tim has provided here. As to the question of why such information is not included in The Reference , the answer is simply that this level of detail is beyond the scope of the work. We have addressed Coltrane's music from a discographical and chronological point of view. While we've listed all known issues, and have attempted to identify the initial issue and approximate date of issue, we simply could not catalogue the different labels and their importance, or other specifics of how the music was issued. We will of course happily include such information here online, where space and deadline considerations are much less rigid.
(7/6/08)