Louis Armstrong in digital stereo, Great Original Performances 1923-1931

Editado originalmente en formato LP en 1985 por cuenta de BBC Records (pero sólo con 16 temas) ésta es la edición digital de 1997 de la que resulta ser, para mucha gente, la mejor restauración sonora de las fundamentales grabaciones de Louis con sus Hot Five, Hot Seven y demás formaciones a finales de los años 20.
O quizás, simplemente, la más asequible a oídos "modernos". En realidad, de ninguna manera cambiaría, personalmente, esta recopilación por la integral de cuatro CDs de JSP, pero el caso es que nada nos impide disfrutar también de los controvertidos experimentos sonoros del ingeniero Robert Parker (y su "estéreo virtual"), habida cuenta de que los resultados son en algunos de los casos sinceramente espectaculares ("Willie The Weaper", "Potato Head Blues", "S.O.L. Blues", "Hotter Than That", "West End Blues"). Como lo es la propia música también, evidentemente. En realidad, y salvando solamente la ausencia de tres o cuatro temas que deberían ser inevitables en cualquier recopilación de este período ("Big Butter and Egg Man", "Cornet Chop Suey", "Weather Bird", "Beau Koo Jack"), yo diría que está muy cerca de ser la perfecta antología/introducción, en un sólo disco, del Evangelio del Jazz.

-Jay Bee Rodríguez

01. Wild Man Blues
02. Snake Rag
03. Muskrat Ramble
04. Willie the Weeper
05. Alligator Crawl
06. Potato Head Blues
07. Melancholy Blues
08. Weary Blues
09. Twelfth Street Rag
10. Keyhole Blues
11. S.O.L. Blues
12. Gully Low Blues
13. That's When I'll Come Back to You
14. Ory's Creole Trombone
15. Struttin' With Some Barbecue
16. Hotter Than That
17. Symphonic Raps
18. West End Blues
19. Muggles
20. Save It, Pretty Mama
21. St. James Infirmary
22. Knockin' a Jug
23. St. Louis Blues
24. Lonesome Road

hotjazzandcoolblues

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Bix Beiderbecke - Singin' the Blues [1927]

Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke's greatest recordings were mostly made in 1927. This definitive CD (reissued in 1990) has most of Beiderbecke's best-loved work, including "Singin' the Blues," "I'm Coming Virginia," "Ostrich Walk," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," and his solo piano classic "In a Mist." Most of the recordings were cut with Frankie Trumbauer's Orchestra, although there are also two titles from the Broadway Bellhops, a similar group. The beauty of Beiderbecke's horn outshone virtually every other brassman in the 1920s other than Louis Armstrong, and he never sounded better than on these records. Beiderbecke is joined by such notables as C-melody saxophonist Trumbauer, guitarist Eddie Lang, clarinetist Jimmy Dorsey, trombonist Bill Rank, and clarinetist Don Murray, among others. In addition to the titles mentioned, the renditions of "Clarinet Marmalade," Hoagy Carmichael's "Riverboat Shuffle," and "Wringin' and Twistin'" are among the other highlights. Essential music that in one form or another belongs in every serious jazz collection.

-Scott Yanow

01. Trumbology
02. Clarinet Marmalade
03. Singin' The Blues
04. Ostrich Walk
05. Riverboat Shuffle
06. I'm Coming Virginia
07. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
08. For No Reason At All In C
09. Three Blind Mice
10. Blue River
11. There's A Cradle In Caroline
12. In A Mist
13. Wringin' And Twistin'
14. Humpty Dumpty
15. Krazy Kat
16. The Baltimore
17. There Ain't No Land Like Dixieland To Me
18. There's A Cradle In Caroline
19. Just An Hour Of Love
20. I'm Wonderin' Who


Credits
Cornet - Bix Beiderbecke
Banjo - Eddie Lang (tracks: 19, 20) , Howdy Quicksell (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 7) , John Cali (tracks: 17, 18)
Clarinet, Saxophone [Alto] - Jimmy Dorsey (tracks: 1 to 3)
Clarinet, Saxophone [Tenor], Saxophone [Baritone] - Don Murray (2) (tracks: 4 to 7, 9 to 11, 14 to 20)
Directed By - Sam Lanin (tracks: 17, 18)
Drums - Chauncey Morehouse (tracks: 1 to 7, 9 to 11, 14 to 16, 19, 20) , Vic Berton (tracks: 17, 18)
Guitar - Eddie Lang (tracks: 3, 8, 9 to 11, 13 to 16)
Piano - Bix Beiderbecke (tracks: 13) , Frank Signorelli (tracks: 14 to 20) , Itzie Riskin (tracks: 4 to 7, 9 to 11) , Paul Mertz (tracks: 1 to 3)
Saxophone [Alto] - Bobby Davis (4) (tracks: 14 to 20) , Doc Ryker (tracks: 2, 9 to 11)
Saxophone [Bass] - Adrian Rollini (tracks: 9 to 11, 14 to 16, 19, 20)
Saxophone [C-melody] - Frankie Trumbauer (tracks: 1 to 11, 13, 17 to 20)
Trombone - Bill Rank (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 7, 9 to 11, 14 to 20) , Miff Mole (tracks: 3)
Trumpet - Hymie Farberman (tracks: 17, 18) , Sylvester Ahola (tracks: 19, 20)
Tuba - Joe Tarto (tracks: 17, 18)
Violin - Joe Venuti (tracks: 14 to 20)
Vocals - Irving Kaufman (tracks: 17 to 20) , Seger Ellis (tracks: 10)
Arranged By - Bill Challis (tracks: 4, 5, 7, 9 to 11) , Don Murray (2) (tracks: 6, 15) , Fud Livingston (tracks: 3, 14) , Paul Mertz (tracks: 1)

All tracks recorded in New York, Feb. to Sept. 1927.

hotjazzandcoolblues

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