No comments about Greatest Voice in Jazz.

1 comments about Let's Swing.

1. the only reason i cannot give this box set 5 stars is because there are only 10 songs on each disk which amounts to about 30 minutes of playtime. so just when you start getting into it, it's over.it should be consolidated into 2 cd's and not be called a"boxset". very disappointed although music selection is outstanding

1 comments about All the Number-One Hits.

1. The set is issued by Goldies Records under license from Intermusic SA and contains Bing's 38 No. 1 hits from the USA charts (as listed in Joel Whitburn's "Pop Memories 1890-1954") plus some bonus tracks. There are no sleeve notes other than the track listing. The quality is excellent throughout although I was surprised to find that some radio tracks had been used on CD3 but frankly they make a welcome change from the more familiar commercial tracks. No other artist has achieved 38 No. hits and this set demonstrates the special qualities Bing Crosby possessed starting with his first solo hits from 1931 and finishing up with 'Now Is The Hour' from 1948. Ideal for those relatively new to the Crosby phenomenon.

3 comments about The V-Disc Recordings.

1. This four-disc compilation represents some of the greatest Benny Goodman tracks ever recorded. There is little new here to Goodman's die hard fans, but for anyone new to the Big Band era, this is an excellent introduction. The one caveat is the sound quality. There is no excuse that these brilliant songs have to be compromised by numerous glitches, scratches and static. I have all of these songs on other CD's and the quality on those discs is superior.

   A strong element of this collection is that all styles of Benny's music are represented: patented swing numbers mixed in with slower tempo ballads and some ballads. Listen particularly to Peggy Lee's brilliant 'Why Don't You Do Right," and the sexy spin she puts on the song.

   If you are serious about Goodman you can do better than this collection with the sub-standard audio, but if you don't mind some bumps and scratches, this is the compilation for you.




2. IF YOU CAN ONLY OWN ONE BENNY GOODMAN CD THIS IS THE ONE. YOU GET QUINTETS, QUARTETS, AND FULL ORCHESTRA. THIS ALBUM HAS BALLADS, INSTRUMENTALS, SLOW, FAST: IN SHORT EVERYTHING. NOTE THAT THESE ARE RECORDED DIRECTLY FROM 78 RPM VICTORY DISKS, AND MAY CONTAIN THE ORIGINAL SCRATCHES FROM WHEN THE GI'S WERE PLAYING THEIR FAVORITES. (FOUR CD'S) MUST HAVE!



3. WITH OUT A DOUGHT THE MUST HAVE BENNY GOODMAN CD TO HAVE. THIS HAS QUARTET, QUINTET, AND FULL ORCHESTRA. SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY. (SOME OF THE CUT HAVE THE ORIGINAL SCRATCHES RETAINED FROM THE 78'S) I PLAY THIS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE HEARD EVERYTHING: OR THOUGHT THEY HAVE.

2 comments about Blue Break Beats, Vol. 1-4.

1. I've never heard anything this good before. I'm a jaded hip-hop and drum & bass DJ. I love many, many genre's of music. And this is the best set of music i've ever heard compiled into a four disc set. If you are a true urban music lover, this will please anyone who's grown up with rhythmic music. These are the roots of urban dance music today.



2. As a rap DJ from New Haven, I realize that this box set is a wealth of stuff to sample. The amount of funk on all of this record is nearly unbeatable definitely so good that I can't stop listening to this.

   Hip-hop gotta give props to the original gangsta funk and the amazon explanation tells it all about various famous groups who sampled from it. Of course, the highlights are Donald Byrd (but actually Places and Spaces for Pete Rock) and Bobbi Humphrey and Monk Higgins and David Axelrod. I would get all 4 volumes as the history of an era which has been lost in alternative music which has no sense of funk left in it.

5 comments about Always.

1. June Tabor has been a favourite artist of mine for over thirty years and while I prefer her folkier material over the later more varied songs, she never lets you down. This box set features a great many rarities and alternates, a well produced book with much information new to me at least. It has been researched by David Suff which should be enough of a recommendation to most. This is a great collection, on a par with the Shirley Collins box set and deserves to be in any collection of good music.



2. One complaint... Why this box full of treasures does NOT bring 'Sudden Waves'? - For me it's a mystery - since it is my favourite June's song! But yes it appears on Angel Tiger!
   Her voice is so deep that can move you to tears and give the strenght that we need everyday - That's why June's a Lady.
   Check out the box from Shirley Collins Within Sound!
   And - of course - all the other CDs by June Tabor!



3. June Tabor,is in my mind,one of the great interpretors of song.Some will say that she places too much focus on dark and sombre subject matter.I say that life is serious and who better to recite these words than this woman,a former Oxford librarian,who can imbue a lyric with the gravitas that the topic requires of it.Not only does Tabor choose relevant material,but her timing,emphasis,arrangements are impeccable.To use a term from Brian Eno,Tabor displays "a keen sense of the appropriate".You'll find no overproduction here.This four cd set is what I've been waiting for for years.It chronologically spans JT's career,all the way from her earliest days as a student at Oxford,to her latest chamber folk projects with Mark Emerson and Huw Warren.There is a good deal of otherwise unreleased material here.This music is timeless,and it will endure the test of time with grace.My life is better for having discovered this singer.



4. Having almost every one of June Tabor's albums on vinyl, CD or both, I hesitated ordering this boxed set, because the song list included very few of my all-time favorites. What tipped the balance in favor of buying this was the generous inclusion of many previously unreleased studio and live tracks, and several selections from currently out of print recordings. These turned out to be well worth the hefty price, so my recommendation is intended for die hard June Tabor fans like myself. Overall, however, this collection is somber and so, so serious, with very few uptempo tunes to break the monotony, and I doubt that this set will win her many new fans. I realize that these kinds of songs are Tabor's forte, and every one of them has much to offer in both lyrical content and melodic beauty. I just wish there were a few more rhythmic tracks to give this project more variety. Some of the best tracks from Tabor's record with the oyster band, FREEDOM AND RAIN, were not chosen (my favorites of the left-out numbers are "Dark Eyed Sailor" and "Night Comes In"), and there are several duets with Maddy Prior from the two Silly Sisters albums that would have helped to bring some light and air to these proceedings. Thankfully, there are some tracks from the above releases, plus a few Tabor/Prior collaborations that are heard here for the first time. ALWAYS is a MUST if you are a major fan.



5. June Tabor is my favorite folk singer, and I own all of her individual CDs. I got an e-mail from Amazon.uk about this release and immediately went to the site and ordered it. It's a little cheaper if you order from the UK site, and mine arrived 5 days after I placed the order!
   
   If you don't own any of June's CDs, or just have a couple, this set is a great introduction. It covers her entire career, from the Silly Sisters album with Maddy Prior right up to tracks recorded in 2004. If you're like me and already own her entire catalog, this set is still a must-have. It has many live & unreleased tracks and songs taken from various collections (many that I already have, but a bunch I'd never even heard of before). It's a great way to get all of the stray tracks together.
   
   The booklet has a timeline of sorts, which includes exerpts from many interviews June has done over the years. There are also comments from June on every track in the collection.
   
   The set contains 4 discs in individual jewel cases, all in a long box with the booklet.

No comments about This Is Gold.

5 comments about Say It Loud! A Celebration of Black Music in America.

1. Isn't this a bit silly? Black music is the basis for a lot, if not most, of the American music we cherish today. Limiting it to 6 CDs just seems disrespectful. It would take someone's entire collection to do justice to black music, which is American music itself, at its finest and most original.



2. When I found this collection on Amazon.com, I nearly cried (okay, I did cry). This includes much that anyone who truly loves African American music could ever want. It's not only entertaining, it's educational. How pleased I was when it arrived that there were not only six exceptional CD's, but a beautiful book included also. Additionally, I love the excerpts of famous speeches and quotes, etc. that are included between songs. If you truly love R&B as well as it's roots, buy this compilation and be satisfied that this was money well spent.



3. To any black person who wants educate their child musically, this is a must have, yes there are some omissions, but the depth and breadth of the artists represented is astonishing. I will listen this with my child very often, as a history lesson.



4. Stevie Wonder has to be the epitome of stylistic uniqueness among song writers, African-American or otherwise. He is also one of the most proliferate, with a body of work that spans nearly 4 decades. The influence of his genius upon the music world is unquestionable. How, then, could this musical phenomenon been omitted from an otherwise outstanding collection?



5. They really have a History of Black Music Compilation and leave out James Brown? No James Brown? Uh...what's going on here? One of the most important figures in music of this century and he's excluded...for shame

4 comments about The Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury, Vol. 6.

1. One of the great singers of the 20th century. This series is definitely COMPLETE with excellent sound quality considering many of these tracks are over 40-60 years old.
   
   It's a bit over-whelming with casual fans as each disc in the series has up to 70 tracks ... but she never phones any performance and offers her unique interpretation on each track, you'll find something to like in everything but they are slightly different.
   
   VOLUME 4: Offers Dinah Washington more bluesy and jazz swing vocals.
   
   VOLUME 5: More mainstream swing, some brilliant torch tracks and the beginning her ballads period.
   
   VOLUME 6: Her ballads period including her standards-setting interpretation of MANHATTEN and WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES (of course, I could list another 20 :-)
   
   VOLUME 7: A new phase in her career where they seem to add a lot of strings and backup singers but not necessarily making her recordings better. Of the recordings on these discs, some are remade with more strings and backup singers - softening them and making them a little more pop and a little less jazz. Whether you consider that an improvement or not is your call.
   
   Personally, I believe Dinah Washington;'s strength are doing sparse ballads - her voice range, timber and her performances somewhere between Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald ... she's not quite as haunted as Billie Holliday but without the range of Ella.
   
   My personal favorite is Volume 6 with its mostly ballads and her standard setting vocals.



2. Dinah Washington is indeed the undispuited QUEEN OF THE BLUES!!!!!!!!!!! such emotion she is the Real thing!!!!!!!!!!!! OTHERS MIGHT BE ABLE TO FAKE IT GOOD BUT DINAH SHE IS THE BLUES !!!!!ALL HAIL THE QUEEN. on the song Habour Lights in dis3 WOW!!!!!!! my heart literaly missed a beat what she delivers is just beyond words .special note listen on dis 1 to I Understand now this is some heavy stuff i can feel i mean FEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! THE emotional pain IN IT . WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



3. Dinah Washington's 7 box sets on Mercury are lovingly restored and compiled, producing a vast and memorable collection of blues, jazz and pop singing of the highest order. Interesting aspect of these box sets is that they're all so different from another as Dinah's style and choice of songs changed over the years. This set captures Dinah nearing the end of her spectacular run at Mercury. The collection of songs on this set is very good, most of it due to the soulful delivery of Ms. Washington. It's only taken into context when set alongside the previous 5 box sets that it starts to pale in comparison.

   The problem lies in the choice of arrangements; it's too uniform and lacks the diversity of her previous box sets. The one instrument that keeps coming to mind after listening to this extensive set is violins, violins, and more violins. Some tracks are so overly-saturated with violins that you feel the songs were stuck in syrupy goo. The jazz combo/trio backup to some of Dinah's most memorable earlier hits are missing. With 73 tracks listed, you get the feeling not even at the half way mark, the attack of the violins starts to hit you. Dinah's singing itself remains soulful, urgent and mesmerizing as ever, but unfortunately, the arrangements do her in. Still, there are several hits and outstanding tracks that are not to be denied---her most recognizable recording, "What A Difference A Day Makes", is here along with her other R&B hits, "This Bitter Earth", "Unforgettable" (yes, that Nat King Cole song, but done Dinah's way). One of my favorites is the song later made famous by Nancy Wilson, "Don't Go to Strangers". You can feel the pain and heartache in each of the words phrased wonderfully by Dinah. For some who like their songs piled high with violins/strings, then you would definitely enjoy this box set.




4. This is the next-to-last of the 7 triple-CD sets, and unlike the earlier volumes, which were mastered from original 78's (or possibly metal parts), this set was remastered directly from the original master tapes. The sound quality is quite nice, full bass, sharp brush sounds, and more well-rounded vocals. Most (if not all) of this is in stereo.

   Valuewise, this is a bonanza. Three discs, 73 tracks, and over 200 minutes of music. As with the other volumes, the insert booklet provides the usual track information (title, time, composer, players, recording dates), all researched and compiled by Kiyoshi "Boxman" Koyama. Plenty of previously unissued tracks, as well as a few things previously only issued as singles.

   At this point in her career, after having waxed hundreds of sides for Mercury (all of them chronicled on the first 5 volumes of this series), Washington finally became a real recording star. These tracks show Washington off much more as a balladeer, something her expressive vocals are really well-suited for, rather than the Queen of the Blues. Included herein is one of her most stunning achievements (and the 1959 Grammy winner for best R&B performance), "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes." Also included is her million-selling duet with Brook Benton, "Baby (You've Got What it Takes)."

   A lot of this material is carried solely by the strength of Washington's ability to sing past Belford Hendricks' hackneyed arrangements. Were these violinists and choral background singers relatives, or what? Too bad Dinah didn't hook up with Nelson Riddle or Billy May. On a few of the tracks Hendricks manages to use the orchestra and backing singers sparingly, framing Washington's vocals nicely. But an annoying number of the cuts have the same zipping violin lines and useless wonderbread background vocals. Even worse, they often start out promisingly with some understated backing, maybe bass, guitar and bongos, and grow into full-blown string and chorus monsterpieces.

   Tracks like "Come On Home" start out with a nice bluesy feel, both in the vocals and the accompanying guitar, only to be undermined by the sappy string arrangement. Otherwise nice version's of Mercer and Van Heusen's "I Thought About You", Gordon's "Unforgettable" and Young and Heyman's "When I Fall in Love" are spoiled by the weepy violins and background choruses.

   Washington's take of "Cry Me a River" is preceded by an interesting clip of in-studio dialog. Washington asks the producer if he'd like her to sound like Julie London (who'd had a hit with the title), and he says he wants her to sound like Dinah Washington. She asks about another name, and eventually says "I could sound like... anyone." I'm not sure whether she was just playing with the producer, or was maybe unhappy about recording this song. In the end she does sound like Dinah Washington, interplaying sung and spoken passages, giving the song a sound very unlike Julie London's.

   Other favorite tracks include "It Could Happen To You", "I Remember You" (no yodeling though), "Bad Luck", "Crazy Love", "Daybreak" (with a really cool guitar break that has elements of country, rockabilly, jazz and r'n'b all mixed together), and "Misery".

   Overall I'd say I like the vocals and song-selection on this volume, but the arrangements make it difficult to track through. Good for radio play, making tapes, or mixing it up in your CD changer.

5 comments about The Complete 1959 Columbia Recordings.

1. I love Mingus, but as many critics including Martin Williams pointed out, the edited versions are superior. Buy Ah Am and Dynasty and skip the Complete Versions. I had a record called Nostalia in Time Square, recordings from '59 but released in '79 with many solos that were originally edited out, and believe me, even Mingus bands were capable of uninspired and flawed work. That's why they waited 20 years to release them, when we were all crying because there'd be no more, good or otherwise. Buy Mingus in Wonderland, while you're at it. The original edits are the best, don't fool yourself.



2. The original 1959 session captured here produced two albums, "Mingus Ah Um" and "Mingus Dynasty." "Ah Um" is one of the greatest records in jazz history and is perfect in every way, and the latter is not too shabby either.

   Now comes this complete set, restoring all original edits and including alternate takes. It's great to have this music, but the result is a bit strange. The restoration on "Ah Um" show how smart the edits were, because the restored version is not as good, in comparison, the the original issued. It's a question of tightness. For example, one tune has the first chorus that Booker Ervin took on a solo, which had been cut out of the record. It was cut out because it wasn't that good; Ervin was a great player when inspired, but wasn't always *on,* and on the particular track it takes him time to find his way. One of the pleasures of "Ah Um" was how tight and concise it was, and these sessions aren't quite the same. Still fine music, but without the edge that made the original so astonishing.

   [Lest anyone object that this is a case of an artist vision being compromised in the past and now restored, blah blah blah, that's not true. Mingus was constantly involved in the recording process and like Miles Davis and even Glenn Gould used editing to make the best record he could].

   "Mingus Dynasty" does not suffer by comparison in the same way, since the original, while good, wasn't the same sort of masterpiece that, in the guise of completeness, is now flawed. That CD is still quite strong in this set. The final disc is alternate takes, interesting to listen to but definitely inferior to the masters.

   If Mingus is important to you, and the history and process of jazz interests you, this is a great set to have. If you are a jazz fan and don't need the complete everything, you'd do just fine buying "Ah Um" by itself - in fact, you're not a fan if you don't have it!




3. Having amassed a fairly large Jazz collection over the past few years I have to say that this reissue of Ah Um & Mingus Dynasty is easily one of the best collections you could buy. The playing and composition is outstanding and the best of Mingus' work easily stands its ground with Miles and Coltrane in their prime



4. Having just got into Jazz over the last six months and having some spare cash I decided that I wanted something special to add to my collection. This was my choice and it was worth every penny. The music is gripping. With Mingus's verbal direction being audible you feel that you're there in the studio with the guys. The cover photos and notes are superb. The end result is something which satisfies at both the gut and the intellectual level. So you think that the Alternate Takes sounds like a rip-off.Not a bit of it.Every track is worthy of being played time and time again. Inspirational!!!!



5. for those that love Mingus, this inspired and historical release is a real gift. very few of his comtemporaries so aptly continued the Ellington tradition of arrangement, instrumental color and sheer beauty. if Mingus AhUm and Blues N' Roots get you fired up, this one will knock your socks clear off. our porkpie hats off to Charles Mingus. when he played, he really MEANT it!