The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings [Box set]

Louis Armstrong | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 2000)
• Original Release Date: August 22, 2000
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004WK37
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,686 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Gut Bucket Blues

2. My Heart

3. Yes! I'm in the Barrel

4. Come Back Sweet Papa

5. Georgia Grind

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Put 'Em Down Blues

2. Ory's Creole Trombone

3. The Last Time

4. Struttin' With Some Barbecue

5. Got No Blues

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Willie the Weeper

2. Wild Man Blues

3. Alligator Crawl

4. Potato Head Blues

5. Melancholy

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Fireworks

2. Skip the Gutter

3. A Monday Date

4. Don't Jive Me

5. West End Blues

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy production, horrid sound (but a nice book), November 13, 2000

By 

Allan Sutton (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings (Audio CD)

The reprocessing on this (...) compilation is among the worst in years: thin, harsh, and (on the first two CDs) with nearly overwhelming surface noise. Take it from a collector who owns original copies of many of these sides: The originals do NOT sound this bad! Some selections on the first CD were obviously taken from old tapes (a telltale "pre-echo" is clearly audible) rather than being freshly remastered. The noise problem abates somewhat on CDs 3 and 4, but the transfers remain curiously thin and harsh with an inexplicably weak bass compared to the brilliantly recorded originals. Incidentally, all four CDs had glue on the playing surfaces (removable with alcohol; but why should one have to clean a $ set?). The accompanying hardcover book is visually stunning if you can overlook the warped binding boards, and it's not without some sloppy discographical errors. (Among other gaffs, Sony apparently is trying to rewrite record-industry history, making the ludicrous claim that they -- rather than Columbia and Okeh -- produced the original issues!) A far better alternative, at half the price, is JSP's Hot Five/Hot Seven set, masterfully reprocessed by John R.T. Davies. You won't get a book, but you'll get clean, richly detailed transfers that do justice to these historic sides in a way that this set does not.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bypass this set - go for the JSP box set instead..., December 24, 2003

By 

"willtb2004" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings (Audio CD)

Columbia missed a trick with this one. Although they succeeded in removing most of the snap and crackle of the original 78s, the resulting sound quality is flat and lifeless. I suppose Columbia was aiming this product at a general listening audience as opposed to a dedicated afficionado of oldie jazz. Perhaps Columbia reasoned that the average listener would find the surface noise distracting. But this music should sound better than it does in Columbia's presentation of it. Yes it sounds clean, but it also sounds dull. There's no bloom on the trumpet tone!

JSP's (much cheaper) issue of this wonderful music is also available on Amazon. The powerful sound of Louis's trumpet comes through much better on their box set.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb music, slipshod packaging, October 12, 2000

By 

C. Williamson (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings (Audio CD)

First of all, the music is five stars plus. I've had these tracks in many different configurations over the years, and they sound better now than ever before. The packaging looks good, and the booklet is informative and classy, but Columbia did us a great disservice by the shabby packaging of the discs themselves.

The discs are where the music is, folks, the heart and soul of any package, and they should be protected. When those discs are slipped without protection into cardboard half-sleeves held to the "endpapers" of the book by a glue that appears similar to rubber cement, the CDs get scratched, and the glue adheres to the CD edges, even making their way onto the surface. Bad, Columbia, bad. This is like when record companies used to put LPs into a cardboard sleeve without a liner.

When you get this set, take the CDs out, clean off the glue, and put them in protective inner sleeves before reinserting them. Fortunately, my CDs seem to play all right, but my CD player is excellent at error correction.

This would be a five-star review, were it not for the packaging. This is like shipping a priceless crystal vase in a cardboard box without padding.