Sweet Valley

10-CD box set that contains 250 original Rockabilly recordings. Featuring Jonny Cash, Carl Phillips, Johnny Horton, Marty Robbins, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Bill Haley & The Saddlemen and many others. All the tracks were recorded between 1947 and 1960 but with the vast majority coming from the 1950's.

This glorious 10-CD box set contains 250 original Rockabilly recordings featuring Jonny Cash, Carl Phillips, Johnny Horton, Marty Robbins, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Bill Haley & The Saddlemen and many others. All the tracks were recorded between 1947 and 1960 but with the vast majority coming from the 1950's.

This album is of historic interest as it comprises the only studio recordings made by the Johnny Hodges band while John Coltrane was a member, most of the other sidemen being former Ellingtonians or guests from Duke Ellington's orchestra. The music is excellent: Johnny Hodges is on superb form throughout; all of Harold Baker's trumpet solos are exquisite, as is Jimmy Hamilton's clarinet playing on "If you were mine",while Louie Bellson demonstrates that he was surely the best drummer ever to play with Ellington.
The CD is marketed under John Coltrane's name. However anyone who buys this record expecting to hear any solos by Coltrane will be disappointed; Coltrane is the one horn player in the band who does not play any solos.