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Blue Note session · in the studio

September 5, 1954

The Gil Melle Quartet

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ

In the room

The takes

What the numbers mean

BN308-2 is a matrix number: Blue Note gave every tune it recorded the next number in one running series (BN308 is "Humph"), and the figure after the dash is which take of that tune was kept. Early on the series starts each tune's takes at 0, so -0 is usually the first try.

tk. 5 is the take as counted through the whole day, from the first tune to the last: the way the studio's log and, from the mid-1950s, Rudy Van Gelder's tapes number them. Later dates have only these.

On the earliest records (1939–40) the numbers in the matrix place, like 486A-1 or GM535-6, are the masters' numbers from the studios and pressing plants Blue Note used before it had its own series.

Matrix · takeTitleFirst out on
tk. 4Lullaby Of BirdlandBLP 5054
tk. 8Ballade For GuitarBLP 5054
tk. 10MetropolitanBLP 5054
tk. 18Newport NewsBLP 5054
tk. 19Quadrille For ModernsBLP 5054
tk. 20SummertimeBLP 5054
6 takes · the ones we haven't matched yet are looked up on Spotify when you make it

Where it ended up

Together elsewhere

The other albums at least two of these players are on together.

The whole band 1 album

No.TitleLeaderYearWho
BLP 5063Five Impressions Of ColorGil Melle Quintet Vol. 41955Gil Melle, Lou Mecca, Billy Phillips, Vinnie Thomas

2 of them 1 album

No.TitleLeaderYearWho
PRLP 7040Melle Plays Primitive ModernThe Gil Melle Quartet1956Gil Melle, Billy Phillips