Music » Box Set Jazz Music

This wonderful five-disc box is an indispensable collection of prewar, prebop jazz that belongs in the company of your finest Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman sets. Technically, this isn't a true box set--it merely collects five single-disc compilations under one slipcase--but it is infinitely rewarding nonetheless. Disheartened by what he thought were sonically subpar Reinhardt collections, Ted Kendall undertook an ambitious mission to find the best original sources for this classic material and then meticulously remastered them. He wisely opted to leave in some of the surface noise to maintain the clarity and integrity of the music. And what glorious, jubilant music it is! Dating to the very first Quintet of the Hot Club of France sessions in September 1934 (before they'd even established that moniker), the collection includes all the landmark recordings Reinhardt made for Ultraphone, Decca (its English and French labels), and HMV up through the Quintet's 1939 breakup on the eve of World War II. Reinhardt's guitar work is spirited and adventurous throughout--lightning-quick runs, insistent rhythm work, and hybrid "riffs" that seem to split the difference. Nearly all the cuts feature the elegant but vivacious violin work of his most famous foil, Stephane Grappelli, who certainly deserves co-billing on the set. The way the two feed off each other's energy is magical. Despite their well-documented personality clashes, the twosome remains perhaps the most synergistic in jazz history, constantly engaging in their incredible cat-and-mouse games. Often overlooked are the songwriting talents of the two musicians, who contributed several standards to the jazz canon. Though mostly focused on the Quintet recordings, the set detours for such oddities as a pair of solo Reinhardt cuts from 1937 and collaborations with Coleman Hawkins. Simply delightful from beginning to end. --Marc Greilsamer

These four discs collect the material on six long plays of trios and solos that Oscar Peterson recorded in Villingen, Germany, between 1963 and 1968. On standards galore, Peterson never lets up in his rigorous, swinging approach. He is at his prime on these recordings, as he himself noted later. The improvisations range from extraordinary to awe-inspiring. The lyricism of Nat King Cole is in there, along with Art Tatum-esque rococoisms and Bud Powell-like attack. Which partners best complemented Peterson's girth, and bowed to it least, is always in dispute. On six tracks here, Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen lay claim against the earlier Brown-Herb Ellis unit. The set comes with a 32-page booklet containing black-and-white historical and original-cover photographs, and a detailed discography. --Peter Monaghan

Ellington's band had more grace and sophistication, but no big band swung harder than the incomparable Basie band. Recorded between 1937 and 1939, these 63 classics feature a cornucopia of legendary musicians: Herschel Evans' big-toned, earthy tenor balances Lester Young's ethereal tenor. Harry "Sweets" Edison's soaring blares complement Buck Clayton's muted trumpet. Jimmy Rushing's nasal, booming operatics contrast with Helen Humes's precise elegance. The Freddie Green-Walter Page-Jo Jones rhythm section flawlessly anchors the driving 4/4 rhythm. And, of course, there's the leader's minimalist piano, using just the right, essential mix of boogie-woogie and stride. These three CDs are peppered with what would become jazz standards and should be a cornerstone of any music library. --Marc Greilsamer

UK budget-price 4CD box-set. Includes 52 page illustrated booklet. 93 tracks in all including 'Misty Mornin', 'Slippery Horn', 'Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart', 'All Too Soon', & 'Creole Love Call'. Packaged in a slipcase with standard jewel cases. 2001.

UK budget priced box-set for one of the giants of the jazz piano of whom Bill Evans said 'His insight and talent were unmatched in hard-core, true jazz'. Bud Powell has also been described as being the most brilliant of bebop pianists, the only modern jazz musician who equalled the supersonic speed and creativity of Charlie Parker. Four discs, 'Blue Garden Blues' featuring material recorded between 1944-46, 'Bud's Bubble' 1946-47, 'I'll Keep Loving You' 1947-50 & 'So Sorry Please' 1950, featuring 86 digitally remastered tracks compiled by Joop Visser. Includes 48 page illustrated booklet.

This 75-track, three-CD set from Duke Ellington's RCA dates from 1940 to 1942, was culled from the massive, 1999 Bluebird mega-set. It's named for bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. Blanton's astonishing technique made him one of the greatest bass players of all time, and Webster's warm, raw-boned tenor tones inspired future saxophonists. Along with the famous Ellingtonians, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges, trumpeter Cootie Williams, violinist Ray Nance, and trombonist Tricky Sam Nanton, the addition of Blanton and Webster, along with the arrival of composer/arranger/pianist Billy Strayhorn, make this aggregation Ellington's first "superband." All the vivid and varied dimensions of Ellingtonia are included in this digitally remastered set, with songs written by his son, Mercer. There's Ellington's silky blues numbers such as "Jack the Bear" and "C-Jam Blues." The Puerto Rican valve trombonist Juan Tizol's "Conga Brava," "Moon Over Cuba," and "Bakiff" contribute Latin and Middle Eastern colors. "Harlem Airshaft" and "Sepia Panorama" are but two examples of Ellington's tonal portraits. The legendary Ellington/Blanton duets, with the bouncy "Pitter Panther Patter" and the emotive "Sophisticated Lady" still sound modern. Webster's surging, pre-bop solos drive the George Gershwin-based "Cottontail," and soulfully signature Strayhorn's ballad "Chelsea Bridge." This set also marks the introduction of other Strayhorn's classics, including "Take the 'A' Train" and "Johnny Come Lately." All told, these World War II-era sides are essential for the Ellington canon. Eugene Holley, Jr.

This 7 CD set traces the rise of tenor saxophone giant Sonny Rollins from a talented neophyte with a big beat and a big sound, to one of the most commanding melodic and rhythmic innovators of the 1950s. Inspired by R&B/Blues master Louis Jordan, Rollins soon fell under the spell of tenor saxophone trendsetters Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, gravitating to the enormous sound of the latter, and the spacious phrasing of the other. And finally, there was the grand rhythmic/harmonic mastery of Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and (especially) his elder Thelonious Monk and contemporary Miles Davis. You can hear an earnest, inexperienced but shockingly self-composed Rollins navigate the brisk boppish environment of Davis's "Conception" on disc 1, while demonstrating his West Indian rhythmic roots ("Mambo Bounce") and dry bluesy humor ("Shaddrack") on disc 2. But by disc 3's sessions with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk in 1953-54, Rollins is improvising with spacious, magisterial authority and composing three jazz standards ("Airegin," "Oleo" and "Doxy") for Davis, while proving the perfect rhythmic humorist and melodic foil for Monk on "Friday The 13th." By the time of his collaboration with trumpet master Clifford Brown and drummer Max Roach on "Pent-Up House," Rollins had achieved a comprable level of technical and emotional mastery, but he hit a conceptual peak on his calypso hit "St. Thomas" and "Blue 7," where his mastery of melodic riffs and thematic motifs set an artistic standard that remains imposing-even for Rollins-some 40 years later. --Chip Stern

This eight-CD set captures Miles Davis's second great quintet at its fiercest, loose with both the blossoming of familiarity between the players and the broadness of its attacks on the mostly well known tunes the group called during two nights at Chicago's Plugged Nickel in 1965. And you can hear it all, from "The Theme" that closed the quintet's sets to multiple, radically different takes of several tunes. Davis formed this band with just its heated potential in mind, opting for youth in Wayne Shorter's tenor sax, Herbie Hancock's piano, Ron Carter's bass, and, especially, Tony Williams's unlocked rhythmic energy. It does the mind good when listening to these takes on "If I Were a Bell," "Stella by Starlight," and the polarizing "All Blues" and "No Blues" that Williams was under 20 when punching this group's forward motion. These live shows make clear that Davis was a savvy cat, sticking to the tried 'n' true when playing live and then indulging new tunes that eschewed formulaic jazz structures on the string of his new quintet's explosive studio recordings that began months earlier with E.S.P. (all of them found on the Grammy-winning Complete Columbia Studio Sessions, 1965-'68 box set). But the Plugged Nickel tunes show that familiar or not, these tunes are platforms for scrappy creative apexes when played live. Davis's trumpet is typically midrange, except when he deconstructs even his own range limitations with squawks and artful miscues. Shorter braves convolutions that tear into his tone, taking his solos far afield from the harmony and melodies at hand only to reshape the tunes. As live jazz, this collection is possibly some of the best in recorded history, adventurous without leaving the ears boxed and powerfully enlightening about where Miles Davis would go in the 1960s. --Andrew Bartlett

Release Date: 2000-09-12, Audio CD, Ecm Records

Bill [Evans] was being recorded once a year, if that, notes Mike Harris, who surreptitiously recorded all of the music found on this revelatory eight-CD collection, "and this incredible music was just going up in the air 363 days out of 365." Thanks to the sheer devotion (obsession?) of Harris, it wasn't. Harris and his wife were always front-and-center at New York's Village Vanguard whenever Evans brought his trio in for a run, tape machine humming. Evans was notoriously reluctant to record, so, moral issues aside, the release of secret Evans recordings carries even more weight than it would for nearly any other jazz musician. Evans always made bold decisions at the piano in terms of chord voicings and rhythmic innovation--these elements are on display across his body of recorded work. On this set, however, the music itself--the nature of the actual notes and chords that he chooses and the resulting "sound"--is often quite bold, as is his expression and execution (touch) of them. Long pigeonholed as a "cool" pianist, Evans even sounds like Bud Powell at moments! Of course, Evans's amazing beauty and subtlety is in boundless display as well. Spanning 1966 to 1975, the set features the technically stunning Eddie Gomez on bass for all but 8 of the 104 cuts, plus a rotation of seven drummers, each one pushing the music in new directions. Of special note are the nearly two discs' worth of 1967 material with the great Philly Joe Jones at the kit. Dating back to their very brief tenure together in Miles Davis's late-1950s sextet and also Evans's own albums like Everybody Digs and Interplay, the aggressive Jones seemed to inspire the pianist more than any other drummer. Also illuminating is the repetition of favorite numbers throughout the box; to hear Evans reinvent these songs (his own as well as standards) almost every year (if not every month) is nothing short of fascinating. Like that of any other genre, jazz's history is written primarily by famous recordings, but since jazz is based on improvisation, its recorded history tells a mere fraction of the story. Evans's two classic 1961 Vanguard recordings--Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby--are considered by many to be some of the most wonderful piano-trio recordings in history, yet who's to say the trio (with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro) didn't improve on them the next day or the next week or even the day before? This collection minimizes that risk, as it were, brilliantly showing the development and progression of a great musician. Evans's genius may be the least obvious of any jazz musician, but it emerges clearly and definitely throughout the course of these eight CDs. "You're never going to hear on record what you may hear live," Evans himself said shortly before passing away. "Our best performance is gone into the atmosphere. We never have really gotten on record that special peak that happens fairly often." Not true, thankfully. --Marc Greilsamer