Hot Fives & Sevens [Box set]

Louis Armstrong | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 26, 1999)
• Original Release Date: October 26, 1999
• 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: Jsp Records
• ASIN: B00001ZWLP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,677 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz
  • #4 in Music > Jazz > New Orleans Jazz
  • #4 in Music > Jazz > Dixieland

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. My Heart

2. Yes! I'm in the Barrel

3. Gut Bucket Blues

4. Come Back Sweet Papa

5. Georgia Grind

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Willie the Weeper

2. Wild Man Blues

3. Chicago Breakdown

4. Alligator Crawl

5. Potato Head Blues

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Fireworks

2. Skip the Gutter

3. Monday Date

4. Don't Jive Me

5. West End Blues

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. I Can't Give You Anything But Love

2. Mahogany Hall Stomp

3. Ain't Misbehavin'

4. Black and Blue

5. That Rhythm Man

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Between 1925 and 1929, Louis Armstrong created one of the first great bodies of work in jazz. While he worked regularly as a soloist with big bands, he began his career as a leader with the first all-star studio group in jazz, the Hot Five. The other four musicians were Armstrong's wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, on piano; Johnny Dodds on clarinet; Kid Ory on trombone; and Johnny St. Cyr on banjo. The music's first great soloist, Armstrong was reshaping jazz by sheer improvisational magic, gradually diminishing the role of the traditional New Orleans ensemble with the clarion brilliance of his trumpet. Possessing an uncanny blend of exuberance and creativity, he combined virtuosic declarations with a talent for the subtlest shifts in phrasing and melodic variation, creating rich emotional statements that could hint at loss in the midst of joy or the promise of better things in the most sorrowful blues. The band expands here, to the Hot Seven and larger ensembles, and it gains soloists who applied Armstrong's lessons to their own instruments--musicians such as pianist Earl Hines and trombonist Jack Teagarden--but all come under the imprint of Armstrong's flowering genius, as both trumpeter and singer.

It's almost impossible to overrate this material. It may be the most influential music in jazz history, establishing standards for originality and sustained invention that have rarely been matched. The JSP set is a superb reissue of Armstrong's essential work. The remastering is by John R.T. Davies, widely acknowledged as the dean of engineers in the field of early jazz, and the resultant sound is simply the best this work has ever enjoyed. There are alternate takes of the later material on Columbia Legacy (including Louis in New York and St. Louis Blues), so collectors will want both. But this recording is superior listening, at a price that also makes it an ideal introduction to one of the few titans of jazz. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

161 of 162 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Jazz, November 24, 1999

By 

B. D. Tutt (London, UK.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hot Fives & Sevens (Audio CD)

This four disc set is indispensable to any serious jazz collection. It includes all Armstrong's classic Hot Five performances with Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Johnny St. Cyr and Lil Armstrong, his Hot Seven recordings, and his magnificent partnership with Earl Hines. This is some of the most important and influential jazz every recorded, marking the way ahead away from New Orleans style polyphony to the future dominance of the soloist. The last of these discs is the least essential, as Armstrong returned to commercial big band recordings, where he is often head and shoulders above both his colleagues and his material.

There is so much to savour on these discs: Louis is superlative throughout this set - hear "Cornet Chop Suey" "Potato Head Blues" and "West End Blues", in particular. Johnny Dodds is superb, incredibly impassioned on "Got No Blues" and elsewhere. The Hot Five swings like crazy on tunes like "Once in a While", and listen to "Skip the Gutter", "Muggles" and "Weatherbird" to hear one of the finest partnerships in jazz history, Armstrong and Hines. Hear also Lonnie Johnson's marvellous guitar playing at the end of the second disc. Louis' singing is heard regularly (and his slide - whistle playing once).

These CDs are also highly recommendable because of the quality of the remastering. The sound quality on the first disc in particular is better than in any other issue of these works, putting larger companies to shame.

These are recordings to hear for a lifetime. No-one buying these will ever regret it.

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIVE STARS ARE NOT ENOUGH, November 9, 2000

By 

Donald A. Newlove (Greenwich Village) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hot Fives & Sevens (Audio CD)

I've been listening to this music for sixty years, from wax to LP and CD, and through all known versions, and JSP's is the clearest ever, even better than the French LPs of years past. What's best, aside from the tone of Louis's horn, which is captured as if you stand outside his livingroom window with the window open, is that the surrounding instruments now have a timbre and immediacy that raises them from dullishness. These truly are musicians seeking great tone. Kid Ory's trombone is freshly poured wine. And what delight when Earl Hines's sophisticated fingering replaces Lil Hardin's workaday piano. To be sure, on the first two or three records, the bell of Louis's cornet is too close to the mike and rather blurry. Then he stands back and his tone comes into focus. Also the engineering improves. You may think you know these records, say from the muzzy Columbia set, but you don't. This is dying and going to heaven where the Hot Fives and Sevens are recording just for you. Incidentally, Louis's lyrics are understandable throughout where once one simply had to guess at what the words were. All told, thrilling, and at this price unbelievable---money found on the street. Do not wait for the Ken Burns's version which Columbia is issuing to go with his 19-hour jazz historical on PBS. It can't be better than this.

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Birth of Pop Music, August 14, 2000

By 

James J. McGaw (Portsmouth, RI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hot Fives & Sevens (Audio CD)

Simply put, these are the most important popular recordings of the 20th century. They paved the way for not only jazz, but popular music in general. A note to those who haven't yet purchased any of Satchmo's Hot Fives or Sevens --THIS package is the one to get! Avoid the recordings on Columbia, which did a disgraceful job of remastering. I doubt Columbia's new box set coming out this month will be much better. These JSPs are so superior to the Columbias that they sound almost like completely different recordings. One customer's review, complaining about poor sound quality, is absurd. Obviously, he doesn't listen to much pre-Beatles music. The sound is excellent for the times. [...] Buy it -- it will be the greatest thing in your collection.