1 comments about Urban Blues Singing Legend.

1. I have been a fan of Jimmy Witherspoon for years and it was very hard to find any of his music, thanks to Amazon I have all but the religious one .
   I rate this very high. I would compare him to a little like Brook Benton.

No comments about The Illinois Jacquet Story.

3 comments about The Complete Gershwin Songbooks.

1. While each of the three discs can be purchased separately, their individual strengths make "The Complete Gershwin Songbooks" very worthwhile. Since the music of George and Ira Gershwin has been recycled so many times, what makes this collection so valuable? This question can be answered with two words: quality control. The vintage musical choices are stellar. Many of the versions are sublime. The performers are first rate featuring Bing Crosby, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald, Clifford Brown, Art Tatum and so the list of luminaries goes on. In terms of genres, the music could be described as straight jazz, not excluding a jigger of croonerism and big band. This compilation will resonate with jazz purists who find the original stage versions a tad corny. "'S Marvelous" and "'S Wonderful" feature vocal interpretations. There are several candidates for definitive versions. Armstrong & Fitzgerald's 'Let's Call The Whole Thing Off,' Holiday's 'Nice Work If You Can Get It' and Armstrong's 'There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon' may be the ultimate versions of these standards. Those who believe that Sinatra performed the conclusive version of 'A Foggy Day' should listen to Dinah Washington's rendition. "'S Paradise" features instrumental music. Bill Evans and Jim Hall shine on the elegantly somber 'My Man's Gone Now.' Expectedly, Oscar Peterson dazzles on 'Strike Up The Band.' Featuring each track's personnel and any significant background information, the liner notes are detailed. The box is attractive and features Art Deco flappers painting the town red. The three discs can be individually acquired for a fraction of the box set's price through Amazon's marketplace sellers. "The Complete Gershwin Songbooks" is essential for any listener who appreciates both jazz and the music of Gershwin.



2. This is a great selection on the Verve label of many of their best artists performing George Gershwin's songbook, recorded certainly mostly during the 50's. From Billie Holiday to Louis, Ella, Blossom and Fred. these are classic versions of classic songs, the recording quality is excellent, the programming is spot on and of course the songs are of the best.
   3 Cd's and over three hours so good value, enjoy!



3. This collection exemplifies what made Gershwin so great. A prolific songwriter, Gershwin attracted many wonderful vocalists eager to express their rendition of his works. This collection showcases the talents of some of the greats: Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Holiday, Louis Armstrong and the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald to name a few. A terrific addition to your collection.

No comments about Ain't Times Hard: Political and Social Comment In The Blues.

2 comments about Chattanooga Gal.

1. It was at Columbia Records in the early seventies when I first heard of Bessie Smith. Columbia was assembling her recordings for a reissue set. Curious, I got a set of LPs and discovered one of America's great talents. Since those days, I have always tried to keep a Bessie Smith collection as the recording industry moved from media to media. Normal living expenses often made that this impossible. An even greater problem is the tendency for Bessie to go out of print. This made assembling a good collection almost impossible as I made do with one or two CDs. For several years my collection was The Essential Bessie Smith, two CD set. While this is a good set, it contains only thirty-six tracks, which cannot really convey her talent.
   
   This collection is a gift! With over ninety tracks on four CDs, it satisfies all but the most dedicated of fans. The booklet is a good overview of her life and work. There are ample illustrations and pictures to introduce you to Bessie and her world. The discography is excellent! It contains the dates, locations and personal for each track. See if you can pick out a young Louie Armstrong on the 1925 tracks. Bessie was a major talent and she worked with other major talents making these tracks historical music.
   
   Her songs are here, in excellent quality with that somewhat historical sound of old records. This adds to the charm and keeps the sound true to what people bought during these years. Grab a pig foot n a bottle of beer; you are in for a wonderful listening experience.



2. Proper Records provides an extensive collection of Bessie Smith recordings that is well worth the money. The sound quality is great, especially considering that this set of Bessie's recordings dates from 1923 thru 1933. These tracks recorded for Columbia (and several later on Okeh) may include most of her recordings, if not all of them (but not her duets with Clara Smith). The booklet provides track details as well as an essay about Bessie's Life & recording career, which explains that her last recordings were made in 1933, four years before her untimely death in 1937. Listening to this collection makes it clear why Bessie Smith is considered the "Empress of the Blues"; she should also be regarded as the Mother of Modern Music.
   [Note: my "Chattanooga Gal" boxed set did not include the 48 page booklet, only a Proper Records catalogue. I emailed the company about this and they sent the booklet via post office mail]
   Four discs packaged in separate jewel cases, all of which stack into the cardboard box along with the booklet.

No comments about All the Blues You Need: The Indigo 5th Anniversary Box Set.

5 comments about Legends of Country Blues.

1. But I wish I had known about it before I bought the many CDs I now own that contain these songs! I've bought many JSP collections of other artists and been very pleased with them. On this set, I just see a great collection for anyone just getting into the really old delta blues, without buying at least six different high priced CDs by these artists separately. If you're wanting to get into the delta blues and wondering where to start....JUMP ON THIS!! .....Then buy the complete works of Robert Johnson.



2. There's no denying that the music on these discs is fabulous (although Ishman Bracey is hardly of the same caliber as Skip James or Son House). No, the problem with these discs (and JSP discs generally) is that the sound quality is terrible. Obviously any CDs made from old 78s are going to have loud hiss and pops. That's to be expected. What's terrible here is that JSP's solution has, from the sound of it, been to lop off the higher end of the sound, with the result that everything sounds muffled and distant. It's as though they'd put a heavy blanket over your speakers. I prefer Yazoo's method, which has more hiss and other noise, but infinitely more clarity and presence. The difference between JSP's version of Booker T. ("Bukka") White and Yazoo's is like night and day: you'd never know what a subtle vocalist and guitarist he actually was if all you heard were the versions on these discs. It's even worse with the great Skip James, since in his case the originals are in really bad shape: if you're not careful (and JSP is not), you end up with mud instead of genius. In short, the remastering has real consequences for what you can hear of the music. All the nuance is absent on these discs. Get the Yazoo or the Biograph or the Roots-n-Blues ones instead: you'll have more background noise, but you'll also know why people rave over these musicians in the first place.



3. For me I first began to be interested in blues after listening to Led Zeppelin and wondering what artists inspired them. However concerning this album, I have a warning you better like the blues or else this will not be your cup of tea. First, you need to understand the sound does not suck, it actually sounds great! Keep in mind. just like it states on the box these are PRE-WAR RECORDINGS, which means there won't be that noise-free perfectly crystal clear audio that so many people (especially young people like myself) are use to. So, if you can get past the sub-par audio quality (by modern day standards), you will treasure this collection of some of the best musicians that have ever graced the earth.



4. I have owned many different cd copies of each of these artists on various labels, yazoo, document, ect., but none come close in terms of the sound quality ! I know this can be a very subjective issue, bbut believe me i have been listnening to this music four years and i feel as if im hearing the music anew !so dont just sit there shake your moneymaker on down to the record shop and score yourself a copy, and at this price the music wont be the only thing that makes you smile !



5. This 5-disc boxset is a must-have for anyone who needs to upgrade (or hear for the first time) even just 2 of the artists included. Look at it like this, buying 2 single discs by any of these guys will put you between $25 and $30. The price for this entire set.

   This is the complete pre-war recordings of Skip James, Son House, Bukka White, Tommy Johnson, and Ishman Bracey. In other words, included here is some of the best music America ever produced.

   I will first say that in terms of Tommy, Son, Ishman, and Bukka, this is the best sonic quality in which I have heard them. The Documents and Sony/Columbia releases are not as good as this. Skip's stuff was released by Yazoo so if you have that and love it you may think you don't need this for Skip, which is fine though, because the 4 others still sound much better here.

   Tommy in particular has never (at least beyond hearing his original sides, decades ago) sounded better, in my opinion. Honestly, I will probably always have a tough time deciphering alot of what he is saying, but I can make out alot more of it here than I ever could in the years I owned the Document disc. His guitar playing and tone sound better, fuller, also. I've appreciated Tommy more in the 4 months I've had this box than I did in the previous however many years I had the Document. I must mention that the one minor mistake of the box is on Tommy's disc. Boogaloosa Woman and Morning Prayer are in the opposite order listed on the cd. Not a big deal at all.

   I was quite looking forward to the Bukka disc because previous to buying this box, I only had his Okeh and Vocalion stuff from 1937 and '40. All the earlier stuff was new to me. Having heard it all now, I think the Okeh '40 is his best. His guitar playing is fantastic during all eras, but I like his voice best in '40.

   Ishman I was the least familiar with, only having heard some of his stuff at an acquaintances place, but never owning it or getting any repeated listenings of my own. There is some good and not so good stuff here, in my opinion. For me, the defining highlight of alot of Ishman's stuff is the mandolin playing of Charlie McCoy. He is captured louder, and has a much bigger presence with Ishman than he ever had with Tommy Johnson and it makes for a great overall sound.

   After buying this in 2003 I checked to see what another site had to say about it, and they said it was great for the blues novice. Hogwash. Whether you never heard of any of these guys before, or have been listening to them since before I was born, this box is a fantastic deal and has great sound (by the standards of what one can reasonably expect when so much of the source material is from Paramounts). The richness and tone of the guitars and voices are there, but without the degree of noise-reduction that flattens the sound. This is an essential box set for any fan of pre-war blues.

   Skip: The haunting ghost-voice of Mississippi. Son: All the fire & brimstone. Bukka: Groove-blues to shake your tail feathers to. Tommy: Drunken, languid pain. Ishman: Sometimes great, sometimes goofy.

2 comments about I Pity the Fool: The Duke Recordings, Vol. 1.

1. Within this 2 cd box lies Vol. 1 of of the greatest blues collection ever packaged and sold in America. This is the music of Bobby Bland recorded mostly during the 50's and 60's for Duke/Peacock Records. The listener will bear witness to the evolution of Bland and his blues band from a Texas twang to a smooth, slick and sophisticated Orchestra utilizing horns, strings and backing vocals. During the 50's, Bobby Bland had the most beautiful and soulful voice of any male blues singer during this period. This is vol. one of 3 double cd sets of Bobby Bland on Duke Records. All 3 sets are superb and the remastering quality is excellent. This set introduces the orchestrations of Joe Scott whose band recorded most of Bobby's Duke records. These collections may be out of print at present but if you ever run across any of these recordings, buy them at any price.



2. As my 12 year old cassette copy of this 2 CD set is getting to be seriously worn, I figured that it was time to finally buy the CD. But unfortunately, it appears that this collection is no
   longer available. This is really tragic as BBBland is second
   to none as an R&B singer in the 1950s (on a par with Ray
   Charles' Atlantic recordings of the same era). There are other collections of BBBland's DUKE recordings, but all of the others are only 1 CD, and lots of great tunes are left out - I can't imagine a retrospective of his work in the 1950s without "Someday"(a tune covered by many bands), yet this is the only collection that includes this gem of an R&B 12/8 ballad.
   Maybe BBBland's horn section wasn't the equal of Ray Charles' but his rhythm section, with such innovative players as Jabbo Starks(the same Jabbo Starks that played on most of James Brown's hits of the 1960 ) on drums and Wayne Bennett on Gtr, was the point of reference for the era ...
   Nuff said... Let's hope and pray that "Someday" again this 2CD set will again be available......

5 comments about Beckology.

1. If you are not familiar with the genius guitar that is Jeff Beck..this is a great place to START...but it is only a start. As you will listen to this and probably decide that you need more. A true classy guitarist that never wastes a note. Take the plunge and add it to your cart; just be ready to search for additional Jeff Beck results, that you'll be snatching up as well



2. this compilation shows why jeff beck was one of the three guitar heroes in the 1960's along with eric clapton and jimmy page. the great tone, the years ahead of everybody guitar leads that put him on a level few could touch. to bad he is tarnishing his current legacy with odd guitar noises and techno babble leads



3. This is a CD spanning Jeff Beck's entire career. It starts with the Tridents and goes all the way through Jeff Beck's guitar shop.
   As you probably know Jeff Beck was with the Yardbirds and later in the Jeff Beck Group along with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.
   He also was with Beck, Bogart and Appice and another formation of the Jeff Beck Group with a different cast.
   With Blow By Blow in the early 70's he started his instrumental phase which he continues to this day.
   Beck has always been known but never in the forefront.
   You get all the classic Yardbirds hits like Heart Full of Soul, I'm a Man, Shapes of Things,Over Under Sideways Down and Happenings Ten Years Ago.
   You also get his classics with Rod Stewart including Jailhouse Rock, Plynth (water down the drain) among others.
   And his work with BB&A including Superstition, Black Cat Moan.
   You also get his instrumental era including Cause We Ended As Lovers,Freeway Jam, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, Love is Green and the Pump from There and Back.
   Also included is his duet with Rod Stewart, People Get Ready, a killer version of Sleep Walk, Big Block and Where Were You.
   This is an Anthology that any Jeff Beck fan should not be without.



4. This was a great purchase foe even tho I already have every Jeff Beck cd!(Except the newer rematsered "Truth" & "Beck-Ola")
   
   Buying this you'll get a great sampling from almost every period
   of Beck's muscial career up until after "Guitar Shop". Jeff Beck has always been a guitar pioneer! He revolutionized the way the electric guitar sounded influenced by his idol Les Paul! Jeff even played Gibson Les Paul guitar's until deciding on going with the Stratocaster. He made his 1st electric guitar or at least altered it & did alter his amp re-wiring it so it would produce strange sound effects like Les Paul!
   
   Beck has always reinvented himself throughout the yrs! From the begining w/the "Tridents" & "Yardbirds"(my fave guitarist of the 3 Yarbird bands)& then thruoughout "Jeff Beck Group #8"! He almost aslways used Marshall amplification(he strayed away a few times but always came back to Marshall's)& this can be heard thruout these recordings. I w have been lucky enough to see almost every incarnation of the differing Jeff Beck Groups 'live' & saw the incredible power trio "BBA" live from 10 feet away! Incredible! Some of that material is available here. I had to order my dbl vinyl "BBA LIVE" from Japan in 1974!
   
   So almost every period of his brilliant career is heard here! While 1 disc is almost entirely made up of "The Tridents" & "The Yardbirds" which some find unecessary, I like it. Sure some of his greatest tunes werew left off but hey you'd have to buy a 30 disc set to get almost everything!! I miss "Spanish Boots" & Ron Wood's incredible bass solo which that song fades out during just as Ron was getting going! A shame. However, you do get unreleased cut's like, Tident songs & others & the cuts only available before if you bought soundtract albums! Plus B sides of 45's most people reading this will have never heard before.!
   
   Jeff is 1 of my fave artists & guitarists & belongs on a Mount Rushmore for Guitarists! He is still innovative & new & I just got a dvd of his 60th Bithday Concert(boot)that is great! It features Jan Hammer & special guests!
   
   If you like Jeff Beck this would be a great purchase for you! EXCELLENT 3 disc boxed set with a great booklet that features a "Timeline" that shows the progression of Jeff's bands & the groups the memebers he used,in his bands came from. The entire ine-up's of both! Superb feature for history buffs of musicology! BUY THIS!



5. I think the thing I love most about Jeff Beck is that even though he doesn't play a million notes a second like most so called "guitar heros", his solos are always intriguing and in great taste. He never did the "finger tapping" thing or the "sweep arpeggio"...he ingnored most trends through the years and did things entirely his way. The mark of a true artist!
   
   Getting back to this three disc set, I agree 100% with the other reviewers with the fact that there is much too much space dedicated to the Yardbirds....they aready have too many "Best Of the Yardbirds" CDs.
   
   It gets a star taken off for omitting my all time favorite Beck jams..."Blue Wind", off of the Wired album. Also, just one track off "There and Back" doesn't cut it. They should have dedicated all three discs to his solo career from Blow by Blow, to the Guitar Shop album.
   
   They did a great job on the remastering, however. "Going Down", sounds like it was recorded yesterday, with none of that nasty shrillness and compression that you hear on so many of those CBS albums from the 60's and 70's.

5 comments about The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music.

1. I was assigned this CD and Book collection for a class at my university. I must say that I am throughly impressed at all the historiacl information and woderful songs that were chosen. This is an indept look at Black music from Africa to present.



2. Valentine Pringle's "John Henry" and Cortez Franlkin's "Stagolee" is easily worth the price of admission.



3. I am an average white guy in his forties who purchased The Long Road... when it first came out in'01. Please read the other reviews for facts, details and editorials... I am here to warn you. If you are prone to being emotionally effected by beautiful, soul piercing harmonies performed by a tribe of professional and basic folk then avoid this musical journey. If you hate tears of awe rolling down your cheeks every time you experience a number of songs especially from disc 2 and 5...while I'm listening, my eyes well up just in anticipation of hearing "We look like Men of war" or "All Round' de Glory Manger"... then steer away. Many of these tunes play in my head especially during particularly tough days at work. Play it LOUD or avoid at all costs.



4. My boyfriend gave me this collection last year. He's a musicanwith a deep love of all roots music. I'm black; he's white. We listened to this together and we both found it to be a revelation.
   If you are looking for field recordings, this is not the collection for you. The sound is not quaint and tinny (although I love those recordings too). Instead, this is a collection that shows how 'black' music (that is, music from the African Diaspora to America) changed and grew over time, and produced sounds that we still hear today. The selection ranges from Louisiana Creole (the ancestor to today's Zydeco) to Civil War tunes (contrary to the information you'll find on the web and other places, not all black Civil War music was in dialect, and the marching songs are rousing in their patriotism and pride), to good-time music (the ancestor to hip-hop, R&B, and modern pop). The most disturbing piece is the slave sermon, which should probably be played in every classroom in America during discussions of the Revolutionary War, which is followed by a worship service similar to the types held by slaves in private, and acts as a good counterbalance to the prior piece.
   
   My boyfriend and I found ourselves bonding over the Civil War music, as he is an avid bagpiper and very much into Celtic culture. We talked about the roles of Irish and black soldiers in the Civil War and what they had in common in terms of not being viewed as human by most of society. We also enjoyed hearing people like Brownie Magee, not on a fuzzy old recording, but in a living, vibrant fashion.
   
   People who think that 'black music' is only for black people must also think only Italians should listen to opera and that Jimi Hendrix wasn't really a rock musician. This is _American_ music, and as such, should be in the collections of anyone interested in American history, 20th century music, or African-American culture. American music has had a variety of influences, and these recordings could help younger people and even a lot of adults become interested in music history, just as did 'Down From the Mountain'. In many ways, this music is more 'roots' music than anything in ' O Brother, Where Art Thou?', because it truly tries to go back to the source. As an anthropologist I might quibble over the inclusion of the African section without qualifying it as possibly being ahistorical (we don't actually know if those exact songs were sung in the time before slavery, but it's likely that are similar ones contemporary to the time), but other than that, I'm very happy. For once we have a music collection that does not focus solely on slavery and misery. There's a lot of joy and hope here, and a strong sense of reliance, which is perhaps the best trait that Americans have as a whole.



5. There are lots of reviews or word of mouth on this CD box set that, quite frankly, focuses on all the wrong things. To pigeonhole this box set a "must for black families" vastly understates the raw power and broad appeal of this collection. This box set is bigger than that; it's much more than just a quaint time capsule for blacks to listen to. It's fun, entertaining, and can go toe-to-toe with any of the best new music releases out there right now.

   This music is basically the foundation of ALL popular music celebrated in the Western world today. Rock, Top 40 Pop, Salsa, Gospel, Blues, R&B, Hip-hop, Country, Bluegrass, they ALL owe an immeasurable debt to the music and culture brought over to the Western hemisphere by African slaves.

   The collection starts with African chants and tribal music, and some of the instrumental and vocal arrangements could easily be from modern pop music. As it moves from the African black music experience over to the early Black American music experience, it's easy to hear how African music evolved in America to become the modern American pop, rock, hip-hop and R&B music we know today. People always mention how African music is the roots of pop, rock, soul and Afro-latin music, but this collection really drives the point home when you listen to old tribal music and hear beats and vocals that sound uncannily like those heard in today's modern music genres. There is no modern popular genre that doesn't owe a great debt to African-based musical sensibilities, and although we hear it said all the time, this box set actually illustrates the point better than a million articles and academic speeches ever could.

   This collection is more than a history lesson or a source of pride for blacks. That almost makes it sound cold and academic. This collection has WARMTH and personality; it's great entertainment and just plain incredible music. Listen to it regardless of your race, political orientation, or ideology. Buy it and enjoy it because you love good music and want to hear the roots of it straight from the source, not just as a source of racial pride or as an acedmic study in music history.