Status

Status, a short-lived budget label launched in late 1964 by Bob Weinstock, for reissue mainly of Prestige and New Jazz recordings. Most Status issues have a orange label with a stylised “S” logo.

Discogs: “Status releases are also found on the Prestige blue trident label and the Prestige yellow fireworks label. Status also sold overstock Prestige and New Jazz LPs by adding the black stylized S sticker to the front of the jacket covering the original Prestige or New Jazz label name. A number of Status issues are repackaged older sessions, and a few released on Status for the first time”

Of interest to the audiophile collector is the use of Van Gelder legacy metal for Status pressings. Many reissues in the later 60s and 70s were simply remastered from copy tape, standard industry distribution practice at the time (with progressive loss of fidelity). Status pressings are mostly, possibly all, pressed directly from Van Gelder stampers.  This gives them – theoretically, – direct sonic lineage to the original first release on Prestige or New Jazz.  

Illustrated below a Status reissue of a New Jazz title, Jackie McLean’s Long Drink Of The Blues. The runout shows all the hallmarks of the original mono pressing: a Van Gelder hand-etched NJLP catalogue number, the RVG stamp, and for those familiar with it, the Van Gelder signature Scully lathe three-ring lock-groove.   

Most original Prestige records – in the late 50s/ early 60s were pressed at Abbey Mfg., NJ. to a top quality standard. Though some Status were also pressed at Abbey Mfg. (initials AB etched in the runout), many were not, and pressing for this budget label put out to various plants, on a competitive  price basis. Thus some Status issues are found pressed with low cost “hissy” vinyl – adulterated impure recycled vinyl containing paper fragments from record labels not fully punched out. (Adulterated vinyl is also found on some original New Jazz and Prestige pressings from around 1963, in pursuit of manufacturing cost reduction)

Low cost manufacture  – insufficient vinyl cooling time after pressing, over-used stampers, and not fully clean working environment – introduced additional quality problems which the use of original Van Gelder stampers did not overcome. 

 Catalogue Numbers Reassigned

Illustrated below, the original stamper matrix on Van Gelder metal for Prestige  PRLP 7114-A  has been scratched out and assigned a new Status catalogue number, ST 8312 A. This ensured process control at pressing plant level, to ensure the correct selection and matching of stampers sides A and B for the same record. The practice was also followed on many later Prestige reissues on the blue/silver trident label, when recordings were assigned a different catalogue number to the original release.

Some status titles reused the original Prestige catalogue number, swapping the prefix from PRLP to ST 

Status for Collectors

Proceeding with care, collectors can find high quality reissues of important Prestige and New Jazz recordings, with the audio quality of Van Gelder engineering,  at a fraction of the price of collectible originals.