3 comments about Sax for Lovers.

1. The entire CD is great but the 9th song, For All We Know, featuring the dynamic Mr. Whalum on tenor is the best instrumental recording I have ever heard. If you're in love and you really listen to this number, you might find a tear in your eye!



2. OK, serious jazz enthusiasts, this compilation is worth acquiring and definately makes a thoughtful and unique gift. In addition to just being a wonderful collection of sensual music, its a sampling of some of the great jazz musicians of all times. If you only read the back of the CD or even the list of cuts here on Amazon, you wouldn't know that in addition to the featured artists are people like Art Farmer, Milt Jackson, Bob James and more. This one is a winner.



3. I am a massage therapist and am always looking for great relaxing instrumental music that is not in the vein of New Age or Nature (i.e. ocean sounds), and invariably most stuff ends up with a vocal or two on it so that it disrupts the smooth flow of the massage experience. With this one, my clients literally drift away on the mellow notes, and HANDS DOWN -- at the end of the session a client will ask WHERE I got the CD and if they can SEE THE LABEL so they know what to look for. This is GREAT anytime listening music and I'm going to order 1/2 dozen copies so I can have one available the next time I'm asked where someone can get it. Includes the BEST of the older musicians e.g. Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan, as well as more recent notables like Kirk Whalum and Grover Washington, Jr. GET IT -- YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!!!!!

5 comments about The Complete Cole Porter Songbooks.

1. The set is exactly as it is billed: a compendium of Cole Porter covers by VERVE jazz artists. Want Frank's cover of Under My Skin? Don't like Ella's live performance in the VERVE set? Then burn your own CD. In doing so, the VERVE set will be an invaluable resource.



2. First off, this is a 'Verve' jazz box set of Cole Porter tunes. Verve. The jazz label. Which means the box probably has jazz tunes on it. Right? Jazz renditions of Porter tunes. Now use that brain folks, God didn't put it there to keep the wind from making a whistling sound through your head... if you want original Porter tunes done pre-1940 in that scratchy 78 revolutions sound stay far away from this compilation (try the excellent 'You're The Top: Cole Porter In The 1930s' box instead). Classic Verve jazz fanatics know what they will find on this set, beautiful renditions of Cole Porter standards by 'jazz' (there's that jazz word again) greats. Renditions. Not tinny Artie Shaw recordings (don't get me wrong, I love Artie Shaw too) off of wax cylinders. Look at the listings, Louie Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Clifford Brown, Roland Kirk... no Frank or Dean or Tony BECAUSE they didn't record for Verve. It's a 'Verve' box set. And what you get is an extraordinary collection of jazz performances of Porter tunes.



3. If you are looking for the quintessential Cole Porter collection, keep looking. If you're looking for some classical renditions of Cole Porter favorites keep looking. What this is, in my opinion, is a collection of songs that were obviously easy to get royalty wise. A bunch of scat singing on the vocals by Ella Louie and Mel, and a bunch of challenges to the musical scales by improvisation-happy saxophonists. No Frank, Dean, Perry, Tony. In this collection you get Cole Porter lyrics but not enough Cole Porter music. Cole must be spinning in his grave so fast he could reach the center of the earth in a New York minute if he was interred vertically.



4. No lover of American song should be without these terrific Verve box sets. I agree that the Verve catalog is more jazz-oriented than some others. Listeners who prefer more straight-up renditions of the American song standards might prefer the "Capitol Sings" series. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!

   The Verve sets aren't just for the jazz afficionado. Goodness gracious, there are performances by Fred Astaire, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald on these disks -- I love all of them, but I would hardly call them avant garde.

   True, the instrumental disks (one in each 3CD set) bop a little harder. That's why Verve wisely also sells these songbooks as separate CDs, too. Buyers who prefer the vocal versions can save a little money by buying a la carte. The vocal CDs do mix in some Shirley Horn and Betty Carter, and other "progressive" artists, to good effect. Those less-familiar versions only serve to refresh the timeless wonder of of the talents of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and our other great songwriters.




5. While I can appreciate the opinions of the other reviewers I just had to write and disagree. Maybe I'm just not as much of a purist as the others, but it seems to me that music should be reinvented from time to time. It's what keeps it alive and vital.

   The performances and performers on this CD are top-rate. It was in fact this collection of such talent that introduced me to Porter in the first place and I'm grateful to it's makers. Since first listening to it a few years ago I've developed more of a taste for thirties style musical numbers, but some of these tracks are still my favorite takes on his music.

   I will agree that this collection will appeal to you more if you like jazz. If you do though, you can't go wrong with the material that these fine artists have worked with.

1 comments about The Original Jazz Masters Series, Vol. 3.

1. My son, a Music professor in an out of state college asked for this vol.3 of THE ORIGINAL JAZZ MASTERS SERIES, VOL. 3 by various artists to complete his set. He is very pleased that Amazon had it before Christmas 2007.

5 comments about First Lady of Song.

1. "First Lady of Song" is a great starting point for Fitzgerald looking for sampling of her work while on the Verve label from 1956 to 1966; probably her most seminal and memorable work, not to slight her Decca recordings in the decade before. Verve gave Ella the freedom to do what she wanted and Ella pursued that with a vengeance, releasing a series of landmark recordings covering the "Songbooks" of American Pop Standards that may never be equaled. Ella covered them all, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Rogers and Hart, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, and Jerome Kern. "First Lady of Song" covers all those songbooks and whole lot more including her recordings with Louis Armstrong, Nelson Riddle, and others. While this is a great sampler it's more of a survey of what Ella was up to at Verve and if anything only whets your appetite for more. Her vocal prowess, agility, and versatility are neatly showcased here and it makes you wonder if there was anything she couldn't sing. I frequently found myself wishing to hear more of Ella in particular style, be it Ellington, Porter, or even her very swinging Christmas record. True, Ella lacked the drama of Billie Holiday, the sass of Sarah Vaughn, but she more than made up for it in a willingness to take gambles and risks that more often that not paid off. This collection will leave you begging for more!



2. Your rating system does not have enough stars available to rate this collection. The sound of Ella's voice, the music selected to make this compilation and the engineering that has re-mastered her earliest recordings is just simply ten stars!



3. I was torn when trying to choose my first CD by Ella. If funds had allowed I would have gone for a boxset. Still might save my money for awhile and buy the Complete Songbooks Boxset. That one could keep me busy for awile I think. This CD is great fun to listen to. I've only had it about 2 weeks, and already it is one of my favorites. There is not one song on here that I don't sing along to. The music is mostly sunny. There are three Ella and Louis duets here. Ella and Louis are perfection together. I'm glad they recorded together more than once. I have to sing the praises of mp3 downloading right now because without it I don't think I'd have found Ella. A troubling thought! Downloading the songs for free let me listen to an ENTIRE song as much as I wanted and to whichever song I wanted to, before I bought.



4. The world lost a great asset with the passing of Ella Fitzgerald. Luckily her legacy lives on in her recordings. There are a plethora of recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, so why get this one? Because here in a simple three disc set is the great cross section of Ella. There is the soft, cooing Ella who wraps her silky voice around Summertime, Angel Eyes, and How Long Has This Been Going On?. There is the high energy bopping Ella with It Don't Mean a Thing (if it Ain't Got That Swing), Something's Gotta Give and Too Darn Hot. And there is the most personalble Ella doing her fresh and honest attempt at Mack the Knife. There is nothing new here really - most of these songs are available on other CD's. But this is the package that brings so many facets of a great lady together into one extremely loving and listenable package.

   If you don't know Ella - buy this and listen repeatedly to it - you'll be richer for the experience.

   If you know and love Ella - this is simply a great package to put on the stereo, sit back and enjoy one of the finest singers ever to grace us with her voice.




5. Ella Fitzgerald was simply the best. No two ways about it; that's the best way to describe her. And this boxed set showcases nothing but her very best recordings, pulled from the best years of her career at the Verve Jazz label. Starting in 1949 and going through the late '60s, there are three CDs and nearly twenty years of pure perfection to enjoy here.

   All the ones you've always heard about are here. Her heartbreaking "Angel Eyes," "April in Paris" with Count Basie and His Orchestra, and the untouchable recording of "Summertime" with Louis Armstrong. You can't listen to that one and not think, "Wow." Satchmo and Lady Time do one of the greatest duets in jazz with "Can't We Be Friends." Her "Lady Be Good" is included, with the brassy classic "After You've Gone." The two best tracks from her concert set with Duke Ellington at the Cote d'Azur, Jobim's popping "Jazz Samba" and Duke's rowdy "It Don't Mean a Thing," are present also; listen to how saxophone-like she sounds in her scat session on "Samba," and how she wails like one of the trumpets and becomes one of the band on "Don't Mean a Thing." "Let it Snow" represents her 'Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas," one Christmas CD every jazz fan should own; and yes, the legendary live Berlin version of "Mack the Knife," where Ella forgets the words halfway through and goes through a mean scat before launching into her crowd-pleasing Louis Armstrong impression, as well as the unbelievable scatting on the track that followed it, "How High the Moon," which sealed that song into Ella's repetoire along with "Mack."

   Good helpings of Ella's 'Great American Songbook' series are here. Her treatment of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot" matched with that great arrangement is jazz perfection. From her kingly Duke Ellington Songbook album, "Just a Lucky So and So" is one of Ella's best, bluesy and soulful, with letter-perfect solos by Duke and the marvelous Johnny Hodges. She has great fun on "Get Happy," and the beautiful arrangement of Arlen's "Heart and Soul" (you know, the song from 'Big'), with its heavenly waterfall of strings in the intro, gives Ella just what she needs to make this one a keeper. Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" is Ella at her finest, swinging free and easy, as the song starts off light and builds to a screaming climax.

   Along with the famous ones, this set is also notable for so many great Ella recordings that cannot be found on CD elsewhere. This includes the stomping eight-minute-plus Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars version of "Perdido," with Roy Eldridge, Charlie Parker, and a bandful of greats backing Ella, a gorgeous live "Lullaby of Birdland," a Latin cover of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" from the 1950s, the breezy "Swingin' Shepherd Blues," and Ella's superb "Don't Be That Way." Other not-so-well-known treats are a smooth, poetic "Night in Tunisia" that rivals Dizzy's wild original; Ella blowing every other version of "Black Coffee" out of the water; sugar-rush scatting on "Air-Mail Special"; the blues with Wild Bill Davis on organ with "Hear Me Talkin' to Ya"; and a seductive and swinging "Hernando's Hideaway," with lyrics set to the tune of the popular tango melody. Ella's "Makin' Whoopee" is, I guarantee you, one of the funniest songs you'll ever hear. It goes on and on, drawing bigger laughs with each verse, and Ella sings it with a wink and milks it for every laugh, especially that last verse! Perhaps the best, and most sadly little-known, recording here is Ella wailing through a bold, brassy arrangement of "Can't Buy Me Love." While Ella's reading here is nowhere near the golden treatment she gave it on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1964, the arrangement never fails to stun, and is still one of the best jazz arrangements I've ever heard.

   There will never be another Ella. Buy this set, and see just why.

5 comments about Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones.

1. Beautiful music. This is lovely bio-discography. Jazz, movie, pop, funk .... for all kind of music, he is #1 . Fans of Q, u have to buy it !



2. I had no idea who Quincy Jones really was until I watched a PBS special the other night called American Masters. I am a big fan of his album "Big Band Bossa Nova" and I was amazed to see that he did a great deal of big-band styled music. This box set encompasses so many different aspects of his career. Big band music, movie & television scores, to producing some of pop music's greatest stars. I am extremely pleased with this purchase. There are so many great songs on these 4 discs they will be in heavy rotation on my MP3 player for quite some time.



3. This collection runs the gamut of pop and jazz musical styles. When songs differed between the single and album version, the single version is used. For a Rhino box set, this title has excellent remastering. Instead of the usually over-bright presentation, Bernie Grundman is the remastering engineer here -- and he treats these tracks with a slight hand, allowing the original musicality of the master tapes shine through. You probably don't have these tracks sounding this good elsewhere in your collection (unless you own the Grundman remastered Michael Jackson albums).



4. The wide array of music in this collection is amazing - I've always enjoyed his later albums (The Dude, Back on The Block) but this collection opened up the depth of his earlier work to me. I had originally ordered this from Amazon, but cancelled it after I found it at a discount club (Costco)...



5. Jones's musical biography is a history of American music. The variety and depth of the music compiled on these CDs is amazing.

2 comments about The Complete Fantasy Recordings.

1. More emotionally naked than his recordings with other labels. Some of his work for Riverside sounds a bit too abstract, though brilliant, compared to this Fantasy set. Good examples are the surprising passion of Gloria's Steps or honest lyricism of But Beautiful. And you cannot miss the duet tracks with Eddie Gomez. The music is as overwhelming and heart-wrenching as the extremely personal liner notes.



2. This set represents all of the recordings made for Fantasy Records from 1973 through until 1979. The recordings are primarily in trio format, with one solo set and two quintet sets. The Bill Evans/Tony Bennett Album is also included in full.

   Over this period of time Bill Evans was reportedly drug free and his playing repartiore is greatly enhanced. However, despite new material, Evans failed to grow much musically. The playing is these 9 discs is technically near-perfect with multiple highlights. The music is typically mellow and complex in the style of Evans, with the solo set really showing the depth of Bill Evans as an jazz pianist.

   Overall, these recordings are both interesting and enjoyable. The recording quality is consistantly good, even in the live situations. As a bonus, the ninth disc represents a 1979 interview with Marian McPartland. I found this interview to be very information and of great interest. These recordings represent Bill Evans in a transitional stage which eventually led to his more aggressive approach over his last year of performance. This set comes recommended to both Evans fanatics and general jazz listeners.

4 comments about From Spirituals To Swing.

1. To me all the gold is in the prewar Count Basie Orchestra and this is the glue that holds together these recordings. Purely from the standpoint of Basieism, this is a crucial and important record.
   
   
   The way that the sound has been remastered and recorded in this edition of the recordings, gives us the best real view of the Basie Orchestra on any live album I have ever heard that was cut before WWII, and better sound than some postwar live shots. Part of this is because of the superb natural acoustics of Carneige Hall. Part of this is that these concerts were recorded with actual recording equipment, while all the other live prewar Basie I know of are home wire recorder recordings of radio broadcasts.
   
   
   We get to hear the full extent of Joe Jones' hard drumming with the band, something that doesn't come through even on studio recorded Decca and Columbia sides during the 1930s and 1940s. Joe's reputation as little more than a time keeper playing in unison with the rhythm section will die after you here the full Basie band selections on this CD. He is constantly dropping bombs and beating the heck out of the bass drum, without spoiling the perfect swinging time, he is famous for.
   
   I really love the great solos by Lester Young on the big band pieces and am glad that we have a full version of One O'clock Jump, as most live versions of the tune are short sections of the tune that Basie used as an introduction or a sign off.
   
   A lot of the richness here is in the mixtures of Baseities and the other musicians. We hear Helen Humes singing with James P. Johnson, whom she had recorded with in the 1920s, accompanied by Basieites. Likewise, veterans of the band filling out a band for the great Sydney Bechet.
   
   The treat here is the selection of small group Basie tunes both from the Spiritual to Swing concerts and from recordings John Hammond Sr. falsely put on the previous two-lp version of Spirituals to Swing that Vanguard issued in the 1950s. The actual concerts included the Kansas City Six, a small band of Basieites and electric guitar wizard Charlie Christian. Christian, from Tulsa, had broken into Jazz in Kansas City and in his native home of Tulsa Oklahoma. He'd known the Kansas City rhythmns and some of these musicians for years. He picked up electric guitar from Eddie Durham, who played standard guitar, National steel guitar, and trombone for the Bennie Moten Orchestra, Jimmy Lunceford, and for Basie.
   
   In fact during this period, Bennie Goodman tried to discourage Christian's jamming with the guys from Basie's band, because he was afraid he would leave Goodman's band and join his old compatriots. Goodman used Christian, and other black musicians such as Lionel Hampton and Fletcher Henderson recorded in his small jazz combo which you hear on these recordings. Goodman kept his big band all white to make segregated movie and hotel engagements that would not have permitted a mixed band at the time.
   
   A less glorious legacy here are the Kansas City Five recordings. These are three studio recordings John Hammond made of members of the Basie Band led by Lester Young, probably in early 1938 when the Baseites were still under contract to Decca and not Columbia where Hammond was an A & R man. In an LP version of these concerts in the 1960s, Hammond added some of these KC 5 recordings as being part of the concerts complete with a faked introduction with his voice electronically alterted to sound young and fake applause. They are really nice smooth swinging music well recorded.
   
   Someone should have the brains to select both sets of small group Baseite recordings on these CDs, the small group Basie recordings made for Decca and Columbia, and the 1930s small group Kansas City recordings made for Commodore and put out one CD. Hmm, can't may computer make that mix?
   
   Just one note here on a completely different subject. We see the kind of paternalistic stereotyping of Black musicians, especially bluesmen, as primitives, in the introduction of Big Bill Broonzy at these concerts. Broonzy is introduced as an Arkansas farmer who had to buy his first pair of shoes to make it to Carneige Hall. Of course, Broonzy had been making blues recordings in Chicago for about 10 years before the Spirituals to Swing concerts. All the sides he cut for Bluebird's Chicago Blues straw boss Ezra Melrose, all the bar, theater, and house party gigs Broonzy had cut in Chicago must have bought a lot of shoes.



2. Wonderful performances by an all star line up. I agree with the previous reviewers, but would just point out one thing. Stride piano great James P. Johnson gets a lot of exposure here, playing in the Bechet / Ladnier group, guesting with Count Basie, and playing three solos. The performances of "Carolina Shout" and "Mule Walk" are well known and much re-issued, but the performance of "Blueberry Rhyme" has never appeared before on LP or CD. It is one of Johnson's most beautiful pieces, a gentle melodic delight which is given a wonderful reading here, on a par with the 1939 studio performance and better than the 1943 version.

   Recommended to all jazz lovers, and to Johnson fanatics in particular!




3. This 3 CD set includes the two "from spirituals to swing" concerts of Dec.23,1938 and Dec.24,1939 in Carnegie Hall, produced by JOhn Hammond.Just a glance at the artists : Count Basie's orchestra,with Hershell Evans,Lester Young,Buck Clayton,Shad Collins,Harry Edison,Jo Jones,Walter Page,and Hot Lips Page;Helen Humes with the Kansas City Five (Basie,Lester,Jones,Clayton,Page);Albert Ammons,Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis;Big Joe Turner;Sister Rosetta Tharpe;the New Orleans Feetwarmers (Sidney Bechet,Tommy Ladnier,James P.Johnson,Jo Jones,Walter Page);Big Bill Broonzy;Sonny Terry;James P.Johnson;Jimmy Rushing;the Golden Gate Quartet;the Benny Goodman Sextet,with Charlie Christian,Lionel Hampton,Nick Fatool,and Fletcher Henderson !!! Buddy Tate,Ida Cox,and Mitchell's Christian Singers.Even Robert Johnson should have been there,but he died unfortunately shortly before the first concert.There are definitive masterpieces by Basie and his men,by Lester's Kansas City Five,by James P.,Big Bill and Benny Goodman in this set.It includes also a three tracks studio session from June 3,1938 by the Kansas City Five ("mortgage stomp","allez-oop" and "lady be good").2 hours and 51 minutes of very great music,with 23 previously unreleased tracks.Plus and interesting 45 pages booklet, and a fac simile of the Dec.23,1938 program.Let's remember that this 1938 concert was the first one presenting on the prestigious New York scene some of the greatest black musicians of the century.A great date in the history of jazz,and a great moment of music.



4. I owned this in record form in the late 50's when it first appeared, and have been waiting for its CD version for a long time....especially since my vinyls have long since given up the ghost. What a range: from a capella gospel to Basie to Hot Lips Page, this is one tremendous and historic set of music played right before the war: hot, jumpin' jive with some of the biggest names (and some long forgotten, for shame!). It is, as I have proven, MEMORABLE music. If you like the sound of American jazz, from New York to Kansas to New Orleans, get this set! It includes many more cuts than were on the original 2-record LPs. Can't wait to put it on and feel happier each morning!

5 comments about Self Portrait.

1. So says Artie Shaw in the booklet, when summing up his gestalt.
   Nuggets like "Benny Goodman was the better clarinet player, and I the better musician", gives you an idea of the offbeat mercurial character and restless spirit that had the opportunity to compose a self portrait of himself and his greatest sides spanning 1936-1954, choosing when he was in his early 90's.
   Looking back, a handsome man portrayed handsomely within, the packaging is elegant in a classy box with an informative not too colorful nor sentimentalizing portrayal letting the music speak the rest.
   And it does.
   Eschewing for the most part "big Band" vocalists in lieu of the musician/instrumentalist he was, this chronological overview does justice to his highly emotive playing, brilliant flourishes of texture and strings,as Shaw sees himself(noting that a couple of the famous numbers were put in)as one great bandleader iconoclastic-ally destroying concepts and categories defining music in an undefinable mode as was Shaw.
   A highly listenable affair throughout, those needing the vocalists should check out the stellar collection on Bluebird "Begin The Beguine" as well as his collected sides with "chirper" Helen Forrest on Jasmine records, his swinging harpsichord sides with trumpet player Roy Eldridge(found here as well) on his Gramercy recordings, and a really fine 3 cd box set of more Live Radio broadcasts on Hindsight records.
   This self portrait is a great snapshot of this man and his music that lives on with great sound and quality.



2. I bought this set recently and was very pleased with it. The compilation is great, featuring many of his greatest works without getting too bogged down with any specific period in his career. The reproduction is great but these tracks were copied from the original 78s (so don't be surprised by the occasional scratch and the lack of stereo recording) Though not an all-inclusive look at his career it hits many of the high-points making it an excellent value.



3. There was no one like Artie Shaw and, throughout the Swing Era and beyond, there were no sounds like those that emanated from the succession of orchestras and small groups he led. As a clarinetist, Shaw was in a class by himself - his approach to music was far different from that of his contemporaries, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman. And Shaw's bands, which he led from 1936 until 1954, were equally distinctive.
   
   Shaw's battles with celebrity and the music business are well documented. After a meteoric rise to fame, repeated success with material that bored him and a string of temporary retirements from the performing life, Shaw walked away for good at 44 - at the pinnacle of his musical and creative powers.
   
   He lived for exactly half a century after that, dedicating himself to other passions (with varying degrees of success) and occasionally reflecting on his career and accomplishments as a musician. Although he never played the clarinet again, Shaw made peace with the idea that he'd added a unique and lasting contribution to American music and popular culture. This 5-CD collection represents Shaw's attempt, a few years before the end of his long life, to showcase that contribution in a way that would reconcile with his legendary perfectionism.
   
   Conceived and issued in 2001 with Shaw's full involvement and collaboration, "Self-Portrait" brings together performances by every one of his recorded bands, and provides listeners with a comprehensive overview of his musical career. The 95 selections were personally chosen by Shaw and assembled as "a summing-up, a retrospective of what I consider my best work regardless of label, an overview of my entire career an clarinetist-bandleader." In every way, they amount to a collection that is as unusual, eccentric and irreplaceable as Shaw himself.
   
   Of course the set includes Shaw's timeless signature recordings: "Beguine the Beguine," "Frenesi," "Stardust," "Summit Ridge Drive" and others, which are by all standards models not only of the band he was leading at the moment, but of the musical genre of their type. Conspicuously and deliberately missing, though, are the dozens of Roman-candle pop tunes, mostly vocals, that Shaw was forced by his record company to wax for commercial reasons. (His popular collaboration with singer Helen Forrest is completely absent.) The few vocals that are included here stand as milestone recordings, with singers like Billie Holiday, Hot Lips Page and Mel Torme.
   
   Shaw makes his strong presence in this project felt by including exciting, little-known band performances from live radio broadcasts, which he thought often came closer to capturing his musical intent at the time. You'll hear an entirely different level of energy, drive and excitement in these selections. And you'll hear his band members (and Shaw himself) taking musical risks they would not have taken in the studio, where pressure loomed to cut a record by completing a perfect take.
   
   As you work your way through these discs, you'll witness the Swing Era at the height of its jitterbug mania; Shaw's progression to lush, shimmering orchestrations with strings; his small combos later probing the more complex harmonics of early be-bop; an acclaimed, modern-sounding 1949 orchestra that Shaw loved but the public hated; and, finally, some of the most intricate, emotional small-group jazz that Shaw produced with his last band, the final aggregate of his Gramercy Five that delivers you to the doorstep of the contemporary jazz era.
   
   Those career-closing recordings, which went unreleased at the time, captured the musically mature Shaw with progressive young musicians (including Hank Jones and Tal Farlow) in a particularly creative and fertile period. Even now their performances sound astonishingly complex, sophisticated and fresh.
   
   All the selections in this set are threaded, of course, by Shaw's clarinet, which is breathtaking. His ideas are framed with equal measures of imagination and discipline. His tone and style, especially as his career progressed, have a luscious liquid quality that sounds luxurious, dreamy and romantic. Shaw once stated that his approach to the clarinet was less about swing and more about musicianship. These performances bear him out. You'll hear how his solos became increasingly melodic and expressive (check out the different versions of "Stardust," recorded over a 16-year span). By the time of Shaw's final recordings, his playing is exquisitely intimate.
   
   After he quit, Shaw mused that he'd accomplished everything possible with a clarinet. "Anything more would have been less," he said. His pronouncement may seem jarringly arrogant at first, but after listening to these discs and absorbing his many achievements, you get a sense that he was probably right.
   
   If you're at all interested in jazz, the Swing Era, the history of American music or the career arc of a brilliant, restless creative talent, you'll want to own this set. You'll return to it again and again for the abundance of pleasures it holds.



4. When I heard on December 30th, 2004 that Artie Shaw (AS) died at the age of 94 and that he was the last of the four top leaders of the big band era, that included Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey, and as a long time fan of big bands, I immediately agreed and decided to go online and learn more about AS.
   
   His first big hit, Begin the Beguine, came out in 1938 a few month before I was born. But I never really knew about him until my clarinet-playing junior high neighbor chum played some of his dad's AS 78s for me. His favorite, Traffic Jam, became one of mine. In more recent times I picked up some cassette tapes that were re-issues of AS hit recordings. In addition to those, I have a lot of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, nearly all of Glenn Miller, and lots more.
   
   I'm a French horn player in community concert bands and orchestras and a brass quintet. In high school I had a mediocre four-piece dance combo in which I played my French horn. In college I had an 8-piece Dixieland combo at the frat house that I organized and led.
   
   So much for my background. I'm listening to Disc 3 of the 5-CD set right now. It's my second time through the set. I'm hearing things I didn't hear the first time. This set includes about 95 recordings that were chosen for inclusion by AS when he had just turned 91 but still had his full mental capability. It's called "self-portrait" because he chose only those selections that would put his best foot forward. And he chose the best of the available versions, giving preference to the live broadcasts over the studio recordings, for reasons you can learn by reading the great booklet.
   
   The latter lists all the credits and includes a detailed discography and a narrative by AS, with comments intermixed from a long-time close friend and admirer of AS's who is a trumpeter and music historian. It's great reading for any fan of the big band era. I read most of the AS obituaries on the Internet. (That's how I learned about the 5-CD set.) Each had a different slant. Reading the booklet gave me yet another slant on AS and a better feel for the big band era and his playing. AS was an innovator besides being a great leader and performer. While these recordings cover the period from 1937 to 1954, the quality is quite good compared to a lot of the other big band recordings available for the big bands of that period.
   
   I plan to share my views on AS and this set with my clarinet-playing friends, which is why I decided to write this review. I think it is significant that AS participated in the compiling and the production of this set. That is what sets it apart from similar compilations, such as "The Complete ___" and "The Best of ____" sets. While Benny Goodman lived a pretty full life, I don't think he ever participated in any project like this. And with Glenn Miller disappearing in his forties and Tommy Dorsey's dying in his fifties, they had no opportunity to do a "self portrait" either.
   
   The last thing I'll comment on is what I consider to be the biggest reward of owning and listening the this set. It's hearing AS play the clarinet over a period of about 17 years and reading, in the booklet, about the feedback he received on his playing from Benny Goodman and some leading classical players who have contacted him. He was really good! He gave it up at the young age of 44 in 1954, saying things like he went as far as he could with it, and that he couldn't play it like he would like to. My wife heard on the radio that he may have had a problem with his teeth. Maybe so. In the booklet he mentions a dental problem in 1949 that caused him to dub a recording.
   
   If you like big band or play the clarinet, and even if you already own some AS recordings, get this set. You wont be sorry. If you know a big band fan or a clarinet player you might consider getting this to give as a gift.
   
   Last but not least, disc 5 is all Gramercy 5 tracks, 12 of them, that are about double the length of most of the rest of the tracks. For the most part all of the selections are in chronological order. Enjoy!



5. I have always loved "big band" music. I believe it has a lot to do with the actual sound. By that I mean its archival, low-fi quality. Sadly one of the all-time greats is now gone. It would have been an incredible experience to watch masters like Shaw, Miller, and Goodman do their thing. Of all the releases put out with Shaw's name on it, this has to rank among the best, if it isn't the best already. It is loaded with dozens of classics and it comes in a cool little box. It's also available in a pared-down single highlight disc, but you don't want that. You want this one.

4 comments about 32 Gems from 32 Jazz.

1. This gets five stars for the volume of quality music you get for the low price. God bless 32 jazz. Anyway, like 32's other compilation, this has a nice mixture of jazz. I prefer the first disc because i live and die for lockjaw davis, cap'n jack, and grant green.

   For those who weren't around when these cuts were first issued on vinyl, this can serve as a guide to different musicians.




2. If you're new to the wonderful world of jazz, this is a great place to start. This is a 3 disc sampler set at a bargain price. After listening to several very tasty tunes on disc one I was a little disappointed with disc two. Then came disc three - this was the real killer. Groove Holmes, Red Garland, Willis Jackson and Sonny Stitt were all artists I was familiar with. Bobby Hutcherson, Johnny Lytle and Hank Jones were pleasant surprises. My favorite was the final cut - a 10 minute live version of "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver. I highly recommend this collection for great value & great variety. Also, kudos to 32 Jazz for their attractive packaging.



3. You get a lot of music at a low price here. This is a well done three disc set that features some of the greatest musicians in jazz history.



4. Very good sound, very well recorded, excellent selection of songs and musicians. A CD to die for!

5 comments about DGQ-20.

1. As a linear representation of the DAVID GRISMAN QUINTET's musical history this boxed set does a great job of documentation. Musically speaking though, for my tastes, there was a major DGQ lull in the late '80s and early '90s. As I feel the representation of these years on this box illustrates, these years gave us the least inspired music of David's career. Thankfully those years amount to only a small portion of this set, so they don't weigh it down too much.
   
   The early, early-middle and late years though are wonderful. From the very first Grisman composition performed at the DGQ's very first show (track 1, disk 1), to the later stuff with the current DGQ members, along with friends such as Jerry Garcia (track 8, disk 3). Oh, and this entire box is made up of previously unreleased music so there are many gems here that can't be found anywhere else.



2. David Grisman has done for the mandolin, what Bela Fleck has done for the banjo and Tony Rice has done for the guitar--expand the boundaries of their respective instruments beyond the confines of traditional bluegrass to include elements of jazz and swing.

   Grisman calls it "dawg" music and over the course of 3 discs and 39 tracks, he takes you on a dizzying musical trip that will make you a believer. It's hard for me to single out any one Grisman album to represent his career (The Rounder Album is a good traditional bluegrass album, Hot Dawg from '79 features some excellent jazz stylings and Tone Poems, a duet with Tony Rice on vintage guitars and mandolins, covers a wide range of styles), so by default the recommendation goes to this 20-year retrospective. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED




3. David Grisman is THE acknowledged master of the mandolin. This is a fitting compilation of his work. Three disks is not too much: in fact, it is barely enough. Most of these are live, or at least alternate takes of Grisman's work over the years. As noted below, Grisman spawned a veritable who's who of "new acoustic" or "newgrass" performers. Tony Rice, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor and others all cut their teeth with the Dawg. For my money, the best stuff is still the early stuff, mostly the first disk and the first few tracks of the second, featuring the above luminaries. The second disk includes some straight-ahead jazz stuff from the mid-to-late 80s, when Grisman didn't record much, and seemed creatively adrift. The third disk covers his work on his own Acoustic Disk label. It is a special treat to hear many of his early standards, such as EMD & Ricochet, re-recorded by this later-day incarnation of the Quintet, which features Matt Eakle on flute & Joe Craven on percussion & pretty much everything. While I may prefer the original takes on those tunes on the debut album, this disk shows how well they have aged and how Dawg music has evolved over the years. If you have any exposure to Grisman's music, you will want it; if you don't, you will be staggered by the musical brilliance, and want to go out & buy up everything you can (sadly, two of his very best, Mondo Mando & Quintet 80, remain out of print)



4. David Grisman, according to no less than Stephane Grappelli, is a mandolin deity. He has fused blues, bluegrass, classical, jazz, reggae, salsa, flamenco, rock and nearly every other musical style in the acoustic vein. In his career he has performed with a "who's who" of pretty much all the musical styles listed above. Acclaimed instrumental virtuosos such as Mark O'Connor, Mike Marshall, John Carlini, Darol Anger and Tony Rice rose to prominence in his bands. Acclaimed masters such as Grappelli, Doc Watson, Martin Taylor and Earl Scruggs have recorded with him. This "Dawg-gone Good" collection walks you through the various Grisman bands.... and some blisteringly good music rises from these grooves...



5. I can't say I've listened to the album, but I know "Dawgy Mountain Breakdown" by heart-- it's NPR's CarTalk theme song. Listen and enjoy!