West End Blues

Chest of 10 CDs, an essential guide to delve into 'pre-bebop jazz': there are all of them: from the first 'dixieland' bands, including Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver , Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Sidney Bechet, Art Tatum, Louis Prima, Benny Goodman, Django Reinhardt, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Glenn Miller Charlie Christian…

Five stars for Ken Burns on this excellent compilation! I really like that Ken Burns was able to capture jazz from all the major periods of jazz from the traditional to fusion. Some say, as one reviewer did here, that bop was "crammed" in and traditional jazz was represented a little healthy in this series.

Louis Armstrong - The Complete Hot Five And Hot Seven Recordings (2000) {4cd set, 84 page book}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 784 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 577 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 972 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2000 Columbia / Legacy | C4K 63527
Jazz / Early Jazz / New Orleans Jazz / Dixieland / Trumpet

This four-CD set brings together all the recordings made during the period of the Hot Five and Hot Sevens along with all the attendant recordings that Armstrong was involved in during this breakthrough period. Although this material has been around the block several times before – and continues to be available in packages greatly varying in transfer quality – this is truly the way to go, and certainly the most deluxe packaging this material has ever received with the greatest sound retrieval yet employed.

Covering over 50 years of Louis Armstrong's career, this three-CD set from the Verve archives starts in the juke joints and speakeasies of the '20s and ends up documenting his pop hits of the '60s. Chronicling the achievements of a prolific and diverse performer of Anderson's caliber is difficult, but this release gives a strong, broad overview of one of the great pioneers of jazz…