The Jazz Age

Dixieland Jazz - This Was The Jazz Age 10 CD set gathers 200 all-time Dixieland Jazz favorites from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s in a collector's dream set! This is an incredible collection that any fan of Swingin' Dixieland music will want to own. Included are the biggest stars, their signature songs and standards that made New Orleans the music capital of the Deep South. Includes tracks from, Armstrong, Red Nichols, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Jack Teagarden, Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet, Bix Beiderbecke, Bobby Hackett and many more!

This unique album is a wonderful snapshot of American jazz in an orchestral setting. Most classical music aficionados are familiar with George Gershwin and his works such as Rhapsody in Blue, but there are also a number of less-famous composers who wrote around the same time who are no less brilliant. These composers also interacted with and influenced each other. For example, James Price Johnson also wrote a rhapsody, entitled Yamekraw, Negro Rhapsody, which is a sophisticated work full of tempo changes, varied rhythms, and various moods and character. (William Grant Still orchestrated this piece.) Yamekraw swings and is syncopated, giving it a very dancelike feel, and the Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra does an excellent job bringing the music alive without ever making it rigid. Not only do it play beautifully on this first piece, but also through the rest of the album, where it truly captures all the moods jazz pieces require while never losing strong classical technique. It is much to conductor Richard Rosenberg's credit that all of the pieces have energy and good musical taste.