No comments about This Is Gold.

2 comments about Distance to Goa, Vol. 4.

1. The previous review stated that if you havnt heard this album you dont know what true goa is! Yeah right! Dont get me wrong this is an awesome album but I can think of dozens of goa albums from 95-97 that are just as good, like the tantrance, goa-head, pulse,travelling,global psychedelic trance, destination goa and rest of the distance to goa series all the early ones are pure gold!



2. What can i say? If you haven't heard this CD, you don't know what true Goa is. I am inlove with it...Really.

3 comments about Young Tony.

1. My mother used to play this song for me when I was a chubby little girl. I have been a Tony Bennett fan ever since. Long after my mother died I remembered this song and searched for it. Who knew it wasn't spelled Sugar? I purchased this collection for that one song. This collection is wonderful because they are the original recordings and are packaged in duplicates of the original vinyl covers. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who wants to hear his sweet pure young voice that is as excellent yet different from his voice now.



2. With eighty tracks, seventy of them recorded between 1950 and 1956, this collection contains all the essential tracks (unless you count as essential two minor British hits that aren't here, Close your eyes and Come next Spring) and many obscurities from the first seven calendar years of Tony Bennett's recording career. Many singers peak at the beginning of their career but not so Tony, who was only really just warming up for what followed despite the quality and success of his early music. Fifty years after the last of these recordings were made, Tony was still performing and recording new material and at the time of writing this review, he was still going strong albeit past his peak by then. The final ten tracks in this box date from 1958.
   
   During those early years, Tony was expected to record singles that would climb high in the American pop charts. Mitch Miller, his boss, wasn't necessarily interested in albums, which didn't sell in anything like the quantities that singles did in those days. Albums started to gain popularity with adult customers but it was only in the seventies that they replaced singles as the main unit of music. Nevertheless, Tony was allowed to record the occasional album even in these early years. Plenty of tracks from those albums are included here, together with all of Tony's American hits from the period.
   
   Although Tony's most famous hit (I left my heart in San Francisco) was actually written in 1954, Tony didn't record it until much later, eventually having a huge international hit with it in the sixties. So you won't find it here but Tony's early hits were of an incredibly high quality. He scored three number one hits among over twenty American hits in total up to 1956. He had several failed singles and was nearly dropped from the label before he had his first hit (Because of you), which made number one and stayed there for over two months, selling over two million copies in the process and thereby securing Tony's future. (As a personal aside, I note that it first made number one on the very day that I was born.) Tony's next single (Cold cold heart, a pop cover of a Hank Williams country classic) became another chart-topper and million-seller.
   
   Many smaller hits followed as well as two more million-sellers, one of which (Rags to riches) became Tony's third Ameroican number one hit. The other (Stranger in Paradise) peaked at number two in America, but if Tony felt any disappointment at this near-miss, he was eventually compensated by seeing it go to number one in Britain, where it became his debut hit more than a year after its run in the American charts. Tony's smaller American hits from this period included Blue velvet, a song that became a much bigger and more famous hit when Bobby Vinton recorded it in the sixties. Following his early success with one Hank Williams song (Cold cold heart), Tony scored a further American top ten hit with another of Hank's songs (There'll be no teardrops tonight). Another notable hit (Here in my heart) had to compete with versions by Al
   Martino and Vic Damone, who were both more successful than Tony with this song. (British chart historians know that Al Martino's version was the inaugural number one in the first official British record sales chart and remained number one for several weeks.)
   
   Tony's albums during this period included some compilations that rounded up his singles. Leaving those aside, Tony recorded his cfirst album, Cloud 7, in 1954 although it was actually released in 1955. Whereas Tony's singles were of the easy listening pop variety with jazz influences, this album was more obviously jazz music, both in arrangement and song selection. Tony recorded his second album (Tony) in 1956 and it, too, was jazz, supporting a jazz concert that he was doing at the time. Tony recorded two albums in the late fifties with Count Basie, one for Tony's record label and one for Count Basie's record label. The tracks from the Roulette album (Strike up the band) form the final ten tracks on the last CD here. By including these tracks, Proper breaks with its tradition of only releasing material that is at least fifty years old, thereby making British performance copyright payable for a little while anyway.
   
   Perhaps these early years aren't absolutely the best of Tony's long and distinguished career, but there's a lot of great music here for his fans to enjoy.



3. This beautifully annotated 4 CD set includes Tony's complete 1950-1954 Columbia recordings, all in one place. This includes the complete CLOUD 7 album.
   Then, 10 of the 12 songs from the TONY album (1957) are included. That album has never been on CD. The rather common Roulette album with Count Basie (1959) is included to finish off disc 4. There's also an interesting live version of "In The Middle Of An Island" from the Nat King Cole show, in which Tony sings some special lyrics as a tribute to Nat.
   
   The downside is that through 3 discs, it's a nice complete chronological history, but then it skips numerous singles from 1955/56 that have never been on CD, using up the space with the Roulette album, which has been licensed and released often on budget CD's and doesn't belong here.
   
   A 43-page booklet with complete history, recording data, and numerous vintage pictures is included.
   
   Tony Bennett completists and fans will love it.
   
   Now if only Sony/Columbia would release the 16 or so Tony albums from the 50's and 60's that have never been on CD !

2 comments about 50 by Bobby Short.

1. Out of all the CD'S I have of Short; 50 by B.Short is one of his best! Very Tight! Perfect Timing! To me, he is at his best in this collection. You get a myriad of years to listen to. About 1954 to about 1980. You will delight! David Thomas



2. This is one of my all time favorite CDs. The craftsmanship of the selections is excelled only by their scope.

5 comments about MJQ: 40 Years.

1. This isn't much of a review, I just downloaded the 47 tracks of 'MJQ: 40 Yrs', and it sounds GREAT!. I am amazed that Amazon is posting six reviews of A DIFFERENT ALBUM under this product listing. All 6 reviews are for an MJQ album called "Collaboration", which is by the same artist, but is definitely NOT the product listed, namely "MJQ: 40 Years". Since there are ZERO reviews of the actual item, at this time, I wanted to at least let you know, it's quite fine! That's very succinct, I know, but at least I'm talking about the actual item listed, not SOME OTHER ALBUM !!!



2. A reviewer here said: "My vinyl copy of this recording has endured over thirty-six+ years of playing and can finally be retired." I say: keep the vinyl too, now that I see that this CD is not currently available for purchase! In fact, make a back-up copy of the CD and put it in the safe deposit box. This music should be preserved and enjoyed as one of the best "collaborations" in history. Unfortunately, Brahms and Heifetz never recorded together on piano and violin. Fortunately, the MJQ and Almeida did! Dumb example, but it just says: this is one of the best of the MJQ, and I've been an MJQ fan since high school in the sixties.



3. now I had spent a week to find this recording again and I'm so happy to have it. Even listening to the little samples just brings me back in my youth as this record used to be my favourit for blue hours. Reading the other rewiews I see I'm not the only one! Now I hardly can wait to get my new example of this marvellous composition of formidable musicians playing on my soul.



4. When I read the other reviews for this album, I was amazed at the passionate tone of the praise for it; having finally listened to its tracks, in particular the last, I now understand and fully concur.

   The rendition of Rodrigo's Concierto De Aranjuez by Laurindo Almeida and the MJQ is simply put, ineffably beautiful. In the liner notes, the artist himself recognizes that "it is one of the best things I ever did". To my ears (untrained as they are)the artist succeeds in bringing out the fire and soul of this piece, playing every note as if his fingers were fused directly with that Universal element which we call "Music". Only later does one realize the technical brilliance: the guitar has seldom if ever been played with such nuance and rich tonality. ( No wonder Sharon Isbin cites Almeida as a prime influence. )

   Brilliant! Fantastic! A Joy!




5. My vinyl copy of this recording has endured over thirty-six+ years of playing and can finally be retired. After having waited for this album to be re-released on CD, the event has happened. It was and remains one of the finest albums in recorded music. MJQ and Laurindo Almeida are at their masterful best -- it is pure magic and always has been -- their version of Rodrigo's "Concierto De Aranjuez" is worth the price alone, it should be required listening. Each piece on this recording seems to have been so carefully selected that they build on one another -- the result is an awesome experience, something that makes your life better.

3 comments about Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words From the Harlem Renaissance.

1. The quality of music and poetry in this boxed set is superlative. It's so good, in fact, that it turned me on to early jazz after a lifetime of listening to other, largely unrelated, musics. This music is the roots of much of today's contemporary jazz, pop, soul, and r'n'b, and it still sounds sensational. My only gripe would be with Rhino's overfussy packaging, in which the discs are housed in elaborate and flimsy individual holders; Rhino should take a hint from Hippo's (Universal) beautifully compact packaging for Louis Armstrong's "An American Icon" box set.



2. "Before I was an African-American, I was a black kid living in Los Angeles who wanted to be a rock 'n roll star. Then I discovered Harlem, and ever since, I've wanted to be a Negro." Shawn Amos, remarkable young producer of this great project, writes in "Notes from a Wanna-Be Harlemite, " by way of introducing this CD set.

   This is a project that is so generous, so full, and so nicely focused that all one can do is read the booklet, and listen to the readings and the music in a sort of awed appreciation - for the greatness of it. Amos was painstakingly thoughtful and careful, and it shows at every turn. The essays are informative, thoughtful, and utterly absorbing. All the poetry and short story excerpts are included, too. So it's a field day for lovers of liner-notes and lyrics.

   The music is thrilling. Much of it will be familiar, some less so. (Mastering Engineer Patrick Kraus weighs in, too, in a note regarding changes in sound quality over the years.) The pieces are arranged chronologically, and sensitively. Spoken word compliments music and song. This is something that requires a curatorial sensitivity that Amos clearly possesses. My only mild gripe is that I longed for several additional seconds of silence after each of the spoken-word pieces, before the music started. The power of the poems, for example, requires a little awed silence (the listener's) afterwards. Alfre Woodard's interpretation of Georgia Douglas Johnson's gorgeous, erotically triumphant poem "I Want to Die While You Love Me," deserves those seconds of silence. After Quincy Jones' interpretation of Langston Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," you want some extra time, too.

   Eartha Kitt interprets Cuban-born Marxist poet Nicolas Guillen's "Sensemaya - Chant for Killing a Snake" and it is spellbinding.

   The terrific poems and short stories that are read in this compilation were for the most part recorded by Amos himself. He crisscrossed the country, LA and NY, at least a few times to do it - taping in an attic (Branford Marsalis) and in a variety of venues. The performances are fantastic.

   These four CDs knocked me out. I've listened to them repeatedly, with no loss of enthusiasm. Buy this box set - a very good value considering the high quality of the book that comes with it - if you have an interest in the fabulous sound of the Harlem renaissance, and in an artful and wonderful project.




3. Wow, what a resource for history and language classrooms! That and a great look and listen besides. I'm a resource librarian for a public school system and this set doesn't stay on the shelf long enough to gather dust.

1 comments about The Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury, Vol. 2 (1950-1952).

1. If you understand and appreciate the musical genius of The Queen, you will add this series of discs to your collection as quickly as is humanly possible. Listen to her, and you will feel the joy, pain, hope, and heart ache of a master. She left us too soon.

1 comments about Happy Birthday, Duke! the Birthday Sessions, Vols. 1-5.

1. Licensed by Mercer Ellington and recorded during a seres of birthday celebrations in the far West, the album boasts stellar performances and sound quality easily comparable to Victor and Columbia recordings from the same period. My only complaint is that the bottom of the sound sometimes gets lost in all the mid-range, but that's only a minor complaint. Brief but authoritative notes by Stanley Dance help place these performances in the context of Ellington's later career. All the favorites are here, fom A-Train to Satin Doll, but so are less-recorded jewels performed by some of the Ellington greats, including Paul Gonsalves, Clark Trry, Rick Henderson and others. The performances surpass those the Duke recorded on the Cote D'Azur, and are easily competitive with landmark recordings at Newport and other venues. If the LaserLight label causes hesitation, hesitate no more. This is a terrific deal. I will be exploring more LaserLight rarities in the future.

5 comments about The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings.

1. Of course, the hits speak for themselves. But for me, the best part of this 20-CD set is the inclusion of those rare 45 sides never before on any domestic LP or CD. Many fans today have never heard tracks like "Say Hello," "I Sing The Songs (I Write The Songs)," "Night and Day (Disco Mix)" and "The Only Couple On The Floor" unless they own this collection.



2. Frank Sinatra once sang these immortal lyrics:
   
   "There ain't no love at all
   Without as song!"
   
   If this is true, then this set offers all the love in the world. 450 absolutely magnificent recordings that define popular music as an art form, sung by the medium's Picasso.
   
   This collection features every recorded Frank made at Reprise from 1960 to 1988, in chronological order (those expecting to hear the songs in the same succession as on the original albums will be disappointed) and with excellent sound quality. These songs sound better than ever!
   
   It was at Reprise, in my opinion, that Frank truly grew as an artist. If the Sinatra at Columbia was the young upstart who made bobbysoxers cry themselves to sleep each night, and the one at Capitol a slowly maturing interpreter of adult pop music, than the Sinatra at Reprise is an older statesman of the music world, who knows his craft like the back of his hand, who had seen it all and done it all, and let his reflect in his music.
   
   Furthermore, the techniques that made Frank's vocal stylings so unique and effective - his phrasing, his breaht control, his timing, his range - were all perfected at Reprise. He also began to take more risks with his material. He moved away from the Big Bang / Swing / Jazz - type sound hew was known for and by the late 1960s' he was experimenting with Bossa Nova, R & V, Soul, Folk, Blues, and Rock And Roll (he even got into Disco in the 1970s'). His sources for material also grew to become more diverse, shying away from the showtunes, Great American Songbook standards, and the latest Cahn / Van Huesen numbers that had shaped his catalogue up to that point. Not many artists can sing both Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays" and Lennon & McCartney's "Yesterday" with the same amount of conviction and passion, but Frank makes it seem effortless.
   
   To accurately analyze the 28 year period at Reprise, one has to divide them into three separate stages. The first is from 1960-1966 and is covered on Discs 1-10. This is essentually an extension of his Capitol years. The majority of the songs are either showtunes or from the pens of Great American Songbook laureattes Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Johnny Burke, Hoagy Charmichael, Rogers & Hart / Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, Carolyn Leigh, Cy Coleman and Jule Styne. He also generally stuck with the same arrangers from the previous period: Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, and Billy May (by the late 1960s', Don Costa entered the picture and turned this Terrific Trio into The Fantastic Four of Frank's arrangers). Most telling, many of the recordings present on this half are rerecordings of songs he had previously attempted (and more often than not defined) at Capitol.
   
   Not that any of this is a bad thing. Frank attempted many wonderful songs he had never done before: Porter's "You'd Be So Easy To Love," Berlin's "Let's Face The Music And Dance," the classic saloon song "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody To Loves You," Mercer & Arlen's "Come Rain Or Come Shine," Frank Losser's "Luck Be A Lady," Kern & Fields' "The Way You Look Tonight," his turbo charged rendition of Bart Howard's "Fly To Me The Moon," (done with legends Quincy Jones and Count Basie), and his showstopping version of Coleman and Leigh's "The Best Is Yet To Come" (again with Jones and Basie).
   
   Also, the rerecording are all just as good and more often than not better than the Columbia and Capitol renditions. Take, for example, Don Costa's slow, moody, string driven 1961 arrangement of Cole Porter's masterpiece "Night And Day" and compare it to Nelson Riddle's uptempo, swingier, horn driven 1956 arrangement and tells me which one nails the obsessive longing nature of the song better. The answer is quite obvious on first listen, especially when Frank sings the song's rarely heard opening verse: "Like the beat of the tom tom....". The result is an eerie yet beautitful masterwork that ranks as one of Frank's finest achievements.
   
   Similarly, the Reprise versions of "Witchcraft," "(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know," "I've Got You Under My Skin," and "Come Fly With Me" benefit from pumped up, more energetic arrangements that leave previous whitebread renditions in the dirt. His first solo # 1 record, "Oh, What It Seemed To Be," goes from a tender recollection of puppy love to a dusky, almost eerie reflection of a love long gone (intended or not, that's the feel it gives), giving an almost ghostly vibe in which you can picture Frank somberly walking around an empty dance floor thinking of his missing love.
   
   Frank's diversity also begins to show its early stages here, such as his 1962 album "Great Songs From Great Britain," which includes his majestic rendition of "If I Had You" and his definitive recording of "The Very Thought Of You". He experiments a bit with the doo-wop on his great 1965 single "Available," and by the end of Disc 10 is experimenting with 1960s' pyschedelic pop with takes on Burt Bacharach's seductive "Call Me" and his "groovy" cover of Petula Clark's "Downtown".
   
   Discs 11-15 (1966-1971) reflect a period of change. Frank's typical sound was falling more and more out of fashion, and he knew that to keep his star burning brightly, he had to update his sound. That transformation began with "That's Life," a tride and true Sinatra classic that defines his attitude and philosophy. The song is very reflective of the Soul / R & B of the time with its prominent organ, female backing vocals and its horn vamp on the bridge.
   
   While this period marked a commercial dry spot for Frank (save for his # 1 hit with daughter Nancy, "Somethin' Stupid"), it's quite possibly the most intriguing and diverse period of his career. "This Town" and "The World We Knew" are solid attempts at channelling the rock movement, while "My Way Of Life" is Frank at his most powerful and soulful. His 1967 collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim and his one-off affair with Duke Ellington the following year marked returns to form for Frank, and rank among his best works, especially the Jobim sessions, which are beautiful from start to finish.
   
   1968 saw Frank experimenting with folk on the album "Cycles," which among other gems includes its pensive and beautiful title track and solid takes on "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," "Gentle On My Mind," and "Both Sides Now." Also of special mention is the song "Star!," which Frank sang at the 1968 Academy Awards Ceremony. It's very much a Sinatra song, a classy swinger with The Voice in fine form and backed by a swaggering Nelson Riddle arrangment.
   
   By 1969 Frank was still very much in control of his powers. It was around this time he recorded his anthem, "My Way," as well as several other classic recordings, including his Jobim reunion "Wave," which illustrates Frank's range as a vocalist quite well.
   
   Frank also took a stab at some of the biggest hits of the day, all of which did justice to their originals: Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We" is given a smoky, after hours treatment that makes a "One For My Baby" - type masterpiece out of a decidedly second rate composition. The Beatles' "Yesterday" is given a hauntingly beautiful treatment, while Frank roars on Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" and Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life," and his version of "Mrs. Robinson" is a gasser!
   
   But by 1970, Frank was beginning to think of throwing in the towel. Good material was running dry, and he had been reduced to second rate material like "I Will Drink The Wine" and "Feelin' Kinda Sunday" that did not do his talent justice. There were some gems present during this time, however: his 1970 concept album, "Watertown" (with songs by Jake Holmes and Four Seasons wizard Bob Gaudio) has some excellent material, and his Billie Holiday tribute "Lady Day" is haunting. "Close To You" is a solid cover of the Carpenters, and Frank even makes the "Sesame "Street" staple "Bein' Green" a powerful and uplifting recording.
   
   By 1971, this period of Frank had come to a close. His voice was worn and he was nearing 60. With this in mind, Frank retired.
   
   This leads to our next period (1973-1988). Frank's retirement was short lived, and by 1973 he was back in the studio with the "Ol' Blue Eye Is Back" album. Frank's voice sounded more powerful than it had in 1970-71, and the material was a lot better, with Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang," Joe Raposo's "You Will Be My Music" and "There Used To Be A Ballpark", Stephen Sondheim's masterful "Send In The Clowns," and Paul Anka's "Let Me Try Again" being among the best material from the album. Also of note are Kris Kristoferson's "Nobody Wins," the haunting "Winners" and the lovely "Dream Away."
   
   However, Frank had a long way ago before he regained his footing. The period of 1973 to 1977 was a period of inactivity for him, and most of the songs recorded then are hardly among his best.
   
   That being said, there are some gems buried throughout these sessions. His 1974 album "Some Nice Things I've Missed" includes the masterpiece "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life" as well as solid takes on Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and his endearing cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life." "Just As Though You Were Here" is a sad but beautiful number with a flawless reading by Frank. Paul Anka's smooth "Anytime (I'll Be There)," "The Only Couple On The Floor," the Christmas singles "A Baby Just Like You" and "Christmas Memories" and Neil Diamond's bouyant "Stargazer" and powerful "Dry Your Eyes" (the latter one of Frank's most impressive latter day performances) are all solid if second rate Frank recordings.
   
   By 1977, Frank had whipped his voice back into shape and reuinted with Nelson for the ultimately scrapped "Here's To The Ladies" sessions. The 6 songs from the sessions ("I Love My Wife," "Nancy," "Emily," "Linda," "Sweet Lorraine," and "Barbara") find Frank in excellent voice and Riddle's arrangements are in the pocket. It's a shame this album never materialized.
   
   By the time Frank released his 1979 album "Trilogy," he had his voice fully back in force, and he punches out songs like "The Song Is You," "All Of You," "More Than You Know," "They All Laughed," "Let's Face The Music And Dance" and "Street Of Dreams" with the same energy and force as 25 years ago. He imbues a similar amount of force into more contemporary material such as "You And Me (We Wanted It All)," "Summer Me, Winter Me," "That's What God Looks Like To Me," Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are," a haunting version of The Beatles' "Something," and of course, "New York, New York."
   
   Disc 19 begins with the 6 tracks (in the same order as the original album) from the "Future" section of "Trilogy." These are arguably Frank's most quirkiest set of songs, but his voice is excellent and the orhcestrations are excellent. We then move onto the great 1981 saloon song album "She Shot Me Down." Some absolutely fantastic songs were culled from these sessions, among them "Everything Happens To Me," "I Loved Her," "Bang Bang," (a different recording but essentially the same arrangement of the 1973 version) and "Good Thing Going." But the highlight is the medley of "The Gal That Got Away / It Never Entered My Mind." Frank's final recording with Nelson Riddle, this haunting melody features Frank in perfect voice, bulldozing through two classic saloon songs like a prize fighter, knocking out notes and verses with an edge never heard before or since on any of his records. By the end of the song, you're left breathless.
   
   Disc 20 represents the final years of Frank as an artist. This includes great recordings such as "Searching," the exciting "Here's To The Band," the lovely "It's Sunday" and the gentle "All The Way Home."
   
   We then get to the infamous 1984 album "L.A. Is My Lady," which could've been a masterpiece had Quincy Jones not dressed it up with a bunch of cheesy 1980s' production values. There are, however some excellent recordings, including "Until The Real Thing Comes Along," "It's All Right With Me," and "Stormy Weather." "Mack The Knife" is sadly a wasted opportunity.
   
   We then reach the very end of this collection, as we get the three final official tracks Frank recorded for Reprise. The first two are from October of 1986. Up first is "The Girls I Never Kissed," an excellent reflection of lost youth and regret that suits Frank perfectly. Next comes the triumphant swinger "Only One To A Customer." Frank has a ball here and Bill May's arrangement explodes with joy.
   
   Then comes the closing number for this collection, "My Foolish Heart." This is an utterly fantastic recording. The arrangement bounces along, Frank sounds great and the result is a wholly triumphant and fitting close to a wonderful career.
   
   The packaging for this cd is great, and the accompanying booklet makes for a great read. This may be a bit pricey, but it's an absolute must for any music fan.



3. When it was first released , this was the most expensive box set I had ever purchased...look at the $ now. Would I sell ? NEVER , it is Sinatra after all. The complete Reprise albums (later career). Not a wasted moment on these fantastic recordings....Personal fav from this set : "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" , an album that set out to prove exactly what it did prove....Sinatra was STILL the Chairman.



4. I remeber buying this set. It was my biggest purchase ive ever made and ive never regretted it. I listen to the cds once a day and its just a wealth of music. One reviewer hates the fact that songs seem out of place. When you buy a product, read the instructions. The reason for them being out of order is because they release the songs the way they were recorded. While some songs are not his best, the good songs outweigh the bad songs. A good investment for Sinatra fans or music fans in general.



5. like the Charles Mingus Complete Atlantic Recordings, WHY CHANGE THE ORDER OF THE SONGS. these were albums that fit together. what idiot run these companies? do they just put the stuff on random play for the order? i would live to have these because some of these recordings are hard to find. his label, but some of his stuff is hard to find. doesn't make sense, does it?

4 comments about A Study in Frustration/The Fletcher Henderson Story/Thesaurus of Classic Jazz (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces).

1. I've owned this excellent compilation on vinyl for over 40 years. However, after placing an order with Amazon for the CD boxed set in May & waiting over 4 months only to have the order repeatedly rescheduled & subsequently cancelled by Amazon, I'm forced to state my dissatisfaction with your company in the only apparent forum for communication offered by your company. Over the years, I've spent thousands of $ with you.... but consider me a very disappointed non-customer from this point on!
   I anticipate your non-response to this communication. G.Madore



2. The other reviewers' comments about Fletcher Henderson's music are generally accurate, and I will let those speak for themselves.
   
   This SHOULD be a definitive collection of Fletcher Henderson's music. It is intelligently selected, programmed, and annotated, as was the original issue of this set, in 1961, when it was a box of 4 LPs on the Columbia label. I have that set.
   
   Unfortunately, this 3 CD version suffers from the same EXACT problem as that set and a later (1970's) 2-LP Smithsonian collection based on that set. The mastering on the 1961 version was inexusably bad, the worst I have ever heard on a major-label compilation of recordings of 78's. Amazingly, this set uses the same exact transfer tapes as the original, in spite of the existence of far better source discs.
   
   The original engineer apparently took it upon himself to remove the clicks in the 78's by making small cuts in the tape, which sounds much worse than any original scratches. (Alternately, I suppose the transfer tapes may have been damaged and simply spliced to piece them back together....unlikely given some of the editing choices.) The problem is worst on the earlier material, but the edits continue even through some of the late 1930's recordings.
   
   The result is that band appears to momentarily lose their sense of rhythm: uncannily, in perfect sync. This may account for the descriptions, over the years, of the band lacking a "sense of swing" in the early years. These transfers have been, for the last 44 years, the most accessable and listened-to recordings of the early orchestra. In addition, some pretty lousy EQ'ing was done on many of these recordings, making them sound much tinnier than necessary.
   
   For comparison, listen to a 3-CD collection called "The Complete Louis Armstrong with Fletcher Henderson" on the Canadian Forte Records label, mastered, masterfully, by John R.T. Davies. Compare take 4 of "Alabamy Bound" on that collection (disc 2, #22) with the same exact performance of "Alabamy Bound" on this set (disc 1 #8). The Forte transfer is has a full frequency range (given that it is a 1925 acoustic recording) and no edits. The Columbia transfer sounds like an old telephone, and is missing several complete beats from :32 through about :55 in the recording. I count 24 to 28 tracks on the CD with this same editing problem to varying degrees; 4 on Disc 2 are subtle and questionable, and I have nothing to compare them to. That's roughly 40% of the recordings in this collection.
   
   I'm a sensitive guy, but everytime I hear the rhythm skip on this set I feel pummelled. When better transfers exist, there is no excuse for this in such an expensive set by a major label.
   
   This is a complete listing of the tracks where I notice the problems. There may be more skips in each cut than the ones I noted:
   
   Disc 1: 13 problematic tracks.
   Shanghai Shuffle (1924) [edit 2:00]
   Copenhagen (1924) take 13928 [bands' pauses edited at very end, making band appear to speed up]
   Alabamy Bound (1925) [take 4, extreme edits at :32 -:50 & 2:37, poor EQ. This is the worst of a bad lot.]
   T.N.T (1925) [poor edits & EQ]
   The Stampede (1926) [bad edit at 1:31 etc]
   Jackass Blues (1926) [1:22 bad edit]
   Henderson Stomp (1926) [bad edit at 2:22]
   The Chant (1926) [poor edit at 1:10]
   Rocky Mountain Blues (1927) [poor edit at :28 seconds]
   St. Louis Shuffle (1927) [poor edit at 2:34]
   I'm Coming Virginia (1927) [violent cut at 1:11]
   Variety Stomp (1927) [beat missing at 0:13]
   St. Louis Blues (1927) [possible minor glitches at 1:26 and 1:37]
   
   Disc 2: Somewhere between 7 and 11 problematic tracks
   King Porter Stomp (1928) [edits at :12 and 1:10]
   Old Black Joe Blues (1928) [rather abrupt cutoff at end]
   Easy Money (1928) [edit at 1:26]
   Come On Baby (1928) [edit at :25]
   Raisin' The Roof (1929) [minor edit at :23]
   Blazin' (1929) [edit at 2:31]
   Wang Wang Blues (1929) [are they edits or actually sloppy performance? maybe the latter.]
   My Gal Sal (1931) [almost subtle edits at :22, 1:25 and 1:46]
   Clarinet Marmalade (1931) [1:22, perhaps?]
   Comin' And Goin' (1931) [BAD skip at :03-4 and possibly at 1:25 & 1:56 & 2:21 & 2:56]
   Sugar (1931) [possible small jumps at 0:25 and 0:57]
   
   Disc 3: 4 problematic tracks.
   Yeah Man (1933) [decently timed but audible edit at 1:57]
   Stealin' Apples (1936) [edit at :53 or :54]
   Back In Your Own Backyard (1937) [edit at 1:50]
   Sing You Sinners (1937) [small edit at 2:06]
   
   
   Unfortunately, I don't know of another set that is this comprehensive, and I don't even know of a single other set that has _all_ of the listed cuts in one place. The other options tend to be collections with every single take of every single song from a given period. From sampling tracks on Amazon, it appears that the Classics sets actually use some of these same edited versions. As does Ken Burns' recent Henderson collection.
   
   Whoever packaged the set did a beautiful, beyond-fetishistic job of including every single photo and every line of text from the original package. Even notes containing information that was out-of-date after 1961 were re-included and carefully dated: The statement "A tome about Henderson is in the works" was true in 1961, but the book eventually came out, so updated notes correct the information elsewhere. It's too bad that the "authenticity" of the reproduction extended to the wretched sound of the original set.
   
   Buyer beware.
   
   (Update: Decent alternatives to the many of the 1920's era recordings found here are on "The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions, Vols. 1 & 2." These were mastered by John R. T. Davies and sound phenomenal. A few specific performances even overlap with those on this set. It's a better place to start, and has the added benefit of being in print.)



3. This is a wonderful collection, on two levels. First, it contains five dozen excellent prime big band jazz records from the 1920s and 1930s. It makes for great listening on that basis alone.

   On another level, however, "A Study In Frustration" is the story of the evolution of swing music. It begins in 1923. At that time, there were two models to follow, the large dance orchestra, as developed by Paul Whiteman and Ferde Grofe, and the hot jazz band, personified by King Oliver and his protege, Louis Armstrong. Fletcher Henderson and his arranger, Don Redman, started out by using the Whiteman model, but in 1924 Armstrong joined the band for a year and added swing to the mix. Armstrong's influence was absorbed and assimilated by Henderson, Redman, and the many great musicians - listed in the other reviews of this set - that passed through the band.

   For a while, the jazz solos swung, but the band as a unit did not. Gradually, the Henderson band got hotter, and the Whiteman model was discarded. A new style of big band music was coming into being. By late 1932, Henderson had become his band's chief arranger. The band could swing as a unit, and the musical basis for the Swing Era was in place. This set clearly shows that evolution.

   Henderson did not work in a vacuum, of course. In 1923, Isham Jones's band, influenced strongly by King Oliver, could outswing Henderson's. In addition, Henderson's decade-long growth was paralleled by the growth of the Duke Ellington and Bennie Moten Orchestras, both of which were influenced by Henderson, and both of which in turn influenced the swing style. But it was Fletcher Henderson's style that became the style of a generation of big bands, and which is still vital today. "A Study In Frustration" lets us hear it develop and mature. It is musically satisfying and historically significant.




4. Fletcher Henderson was pure and simple the true father of Swing,along with Jelly Roll Morton;actually what Henderson did was to chart Morton's polyphony more effectively than Morton himself did SO this meant that Fletcher put his own ideas over more successfully than Morton articulated his own;Fletcher's strong yet subtle ear and his impeccable taste in arranging is the determining point in the freshness and vitality of his music here;he had an ear for imaginative soloists and Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins are merely two of the parade of ace instrumentalists on hand in this set,-from the early Charleston flavored "Dicty Blues" to Armstrong's precocious choruses on "Sugar Foot Stomp" on to Fletcher's work in the 30s,we are made aware by this set of just how much the Big Band era SHOULD have accorded Fletcher Henderson but that were not to be in a predominantly White band era....this set was actually released a long time ago by Columbia and is herein reissued again,thus,giving a new generation a chance to sample the mind of one of the finest jazz arrangers ever.Bravo!