This is a bit special. If you wanted to track down an original Prestige label first pressing of this collectable 1956 Mobley date you would require trouser pockets of a rather substantial depth. Copies are far from easy to find in near mint or even excellent condition, that's if you want to battle it out on eBay auctions, but if you are lucky expect to pay between £750 and £1000 for a copy in top condition. Mobley's Message was the tenor saxophonist's fourth album and his first for Prestige: a pleasing Rudy Van Gelder engineered mono recording that found him evolving from high-spirited bop romps across Bud Powell and Monk standards and a Parker blues towards his own creations, ‘Minor Disturbance’ and ‘Alternating Current’: his distinctive, slightly reserved melodic sound developing towards the hard bop heroics of his Blue Note period, where he cut 25 albums from 1957 until he retired due to ill-health in the mid-1970s. Though not talked about musically in the same league as Coltrane or Rollins, Mobley occupies his own space as one of hard bop's most characteristic composers, forever to wear Leonard Feather's sobriquet, “the middleweight champion of the tenor”, but nowadays easily the most highly priced in collectors’ circles. This reissue is the first jazz vinyl release from the Electric Record Company who specialise in very high-end audiophile analogue vinyl recreations of classical music recordings from the original master tapes, using 1950s rebuilt and restored tape machines, amplifiers and Scully lathe cutters, pressed on heavyweight virgin vinyl with original cover artwork recreated from scratch by artisan typesetters and printers. It's the very first time Concord have sent the original Prestige master tapes to the UK and the result is simply staggering. A warm, rich, punchy sound with resonant woody bass, articulate pinging ride cymbal and sizzling hats with an immediacy and engaging presence you only get with the first 1950s and 1960s original pressings, which neither CD or contemporary vinyl reissues can match. And the sleeve artwork and inner sleeve are equally impressive too, like a painstakingly detailed and handcrafted limited edition artist's print, and impossible to find in any original approaching this condition. Sure, it's an indulgence if you have the money at £300 a pop, but it's restricted to a limited run of 300 copies (each copy certificated) and is about a third the price of an original, if you can find one. The classical market seems impressed as most ERC reissues have sold out quickly. Will jazz fans have big enough trousers to follow?