OLIVER NELSON The Blues & The Abstract Truth (1961 US first issue 6-track mono LP, on an orange & black label with four Impulse! logos & 'RVG' [Rudy Van Gelder] machine stamped in the run-outs. The title was later echoed by Leon Thomas in his Blues & The Soulful Truth mini-masterpiece. Blues & The Abstract Truth captures Nelson at his most modern alongside Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, George Barrow, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers & Roy Haynes, & was clearly an influence on future modernists [such as Thomas]. Comes housed in a heavy duty front laminated & internally pasted gatefold sleeve. The cover shows just the lightest spot of corner scuffing or faint wear to the laminate, & the vinyl is a clean EX/EX- with merely a couple of faint paper hairlines not affecting play. Recommended A-5)