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Music : The Hot Fives & Sevens
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The Hot Fives & Sevens by: Louis Armstrong |
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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0788065010027 Format: Box set Label: Jsp Records Manufacturer: Jsp Records Number Of Discs: 4 Publisher: Jsp Records Release Date: October 26, 1999 Studio: Jsp Records Sales Rank: 39060 MPN: 100 Disc 1:
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Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Between 1925 and 1929, Louis Armstrong created one of the first great bodies of work in jazz. While he worked regularly as a soloist with big bands, he began his career as a leader with the first all-star studio group in jazz, the Hot Five. The other four musicians were Armstrong's wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, on piano; Johnny Dodds on clarinet; Kid Ory on trombone; and Johnny St. Cyr on banjo. The music's first great soloist, Armstrong was reshaping jazz by sheer improvisational magic, gradually diminishing the role of the traditional New Orleans ensemble with the clarion brilliance of his trumpet. Possessing an uncanny blend of exuberance and creativity, he combined virtuosic declarations with a talent for the subtlest shifts in phrasing and melodic variation, creating rich emotional statements that could hint at loss in the midst of joy or the promise of better things in the most sorrowful blues. The band expands here, to the Hot Seven and larger ensembles, and it gains soloists who applied Armstrong's lessons to their own instruments--musicians such as pianist Earl Hines and trombonist Jack Teagarden--but all come under the imprint of Armstrong's flowering genius, as both trumpeter and singer. It's almost impossible to overrate this material. It may be the most influential music in jazz history, establishing standards for originality and sustained invention that have rarely been matched. The JSP set is a superb reissue of Armstrong's essential work. The remastering is by John R.T. Davies, widely acknowledged as the dean of engineers in the field of early jazz, and the resultant sound is simply the best this work has ever enjoyed. There are alternate takes of the later material on Columbia Legacy (including Louis in New York and St. Louis Blues), so collectors will want both. But this recording is superior listening, at a price that also makes it an ideal introduction to one of the few titans of jazz. --Stuart Broomer Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Rockin' the HoovervilleThe stateside legality of this box set may be a bit dubious- this music is public domain in England, where copyright laws are a bit less stingy- but I don't think that you need to worry about federal agents kicking down your door. Like most import compilations of American pre-war music, these four discs live in a legal grey area here in the states, and it's a fairly light grey, at that. And there's hardly anything immoral about it: The people who created this music don't have much use for royalty payments, what with their being dead and all. In any case, purchasing this box set instead of the inferior and overpriced Sony package sends a good message to the big companies while providing monetary support to one of the greatest reissue labels in ... Read More: Rating: - Is this the best available hot five and hot seven box?Frankly, I don't know. I still have two hot five and hot seven audio tapes bought in the late 1980s (edition CBS masterpieces) and they also sound pretty good (and I didn't drink no gin... sorry for the lame "Monday Date" joke). Basically, all I can say is, these cds sound great on my quite average cd player, confirming everything I have known about Armstrong before (and about Jimmy Dodds, Zutty Singleton, Baby Dodds, Kid Ory , Lonnie Johnson and others, while I must admit I'm only starting to get (and enjoy) Earl Hines. Aditional, non hot five and non hot seven tracks certainly augment my understanding of Satchmo and his golden era, with adittional thrill of Jack Teagarden, Eddie Lang or Hoagy Carmichael on some tracks. ... Read More: Rating:  - LOVED the first 2 disks......though the 3rd was so-so and the 4th was barely listenable...the tunes degenerated from classic New Orleans jazz/blues/swing on the first two disks to big band pomposity and Lawrence-Welkish corniness by the 4th disk. Your mileage may vary of course if you actually enjoy the big-band style of Armstrong's later work. The audio quality is fine, it's obviously not ideal but really for this type of music there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, you hear the occasional scratches, crackles and pops in between tracks but the good tunes still sound plenty good as far as I'm concerned. Would much rather have an ok recording of brilliant music than a brilliant recording of crappy music! Rating:  - Don't touch the hiss!If it was just the music I'm rating, it would of course get a million stars. However, the music is on a remastered CD. "Remastered" generally means getting your oldie jazz sounding as if it's being strangled in a can. Granted the sound here is "clear" and the bass is a bit boosted. The acoustics, reverb, are however to an extent thrown out with the hiss. Again, I've heard a lot worse than this. But generally, French jazz re-issues are better (though they can be a mixed bag). Why? Because they leave more hiss!! The catch? The French CD's are either expensive or they contain fewer songs for your money than these cheapo boxed sets. Addition a few months later: have now had the chance to compare this remastering to that of other ... Read More: Rating:  - Music is cornerstone...but the sonics? Mixed feelings.I'm not going to labor on the fact that this music is fantastic, cornerstone of jazz, indispensible, blah, blah, blah. We all already know that. I want to talk about the sonic quality of these recordings. I read so much about this John RT Davies guy, who mastered this box set. I heard so many positive things about his skills, particularly in this boxed set, and how the sound is allegedly far superior to the Columbia version. I had to get BOTH to compare. I bought this JSP box set, and the newly revised 2006 edition of the Hot sessions released by Columbia/Legacy/Sony/BMG (the official edition). The late John RT Davies, who mastered this JSP set is considered so good, that people on Amazon claimed that he mastered this collection ... Read More: |
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