Customer Reviews

Louis Armstrong: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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Considering the many and myriad ways RCA (now BMG-Sony) has parsed and packaged this material in bits and pieces, it is a relief to be able to get it all in one set. You won't hear it in better sound than this, and the material is essential for a comprehensive Armstrong collection. The first two discs are from the early thirties (my favorites), and the last two are recordings from 1946-47. The generous liner notes are by Armstrong authority Dan Morgenstern. If there is a complaint, it would be the relatively minor one of the graphic artist having chosen the large but hard-to-read (Broadway?)typeface for the song titles. And nowhere is there a consolidated list of song titles on the back of the case or anywhere else. No matter. This is great stuff, and not to be missed. This set has been out of print for awhile, and prices are escalating. It's still obtainable used for less than the list price of $40, but don't wait too long.

This is fantastic Satchmo; the man is my hero and I love his early stuff. A complete collection like this is a wonderful thing to own... well, except that as a musician I find it hard to listen to the first two discs. Here's why:

In the 1990s many of the major label engineers who first began working with digital noise reduction (Cedar, Sonic Solutions) focused solely on the noise reduction. They strove to get rid of the scratch and hiss, sometimes with good results, sometimes with disappointing results, as the noise reduction also reduced the sensitive high frequencies of the music itself. Luckily in this case, the tonal characteristics of the music have been preserved nicely. The problems lie elsewhere.

Problem 1: all the records seem to have been transferred at the "standard" speed of 78.26 r.p.m. Victor actually used several other speeds as well, and many or most of these early Armstrongs are running too fast or too slow.

Problem 2: most of the records on the first two discs are off center to various degrees, and the pitch wobbles, making the whole band sound out of tune. This is something that needs to be tackled when the original transfers are made (and it's easy to do) but for some reason these guys didn't do it. Maybe they were working with early tape transfers or previous reissues instead of original discs.

Anyway, put these two things together, and the result (to me) is an almost unlistenable collection of fantastic recordings.

Bummer!

If you don't love the greatest jazz trumpeter ever, not to mention singer, then don't bother. Husband happy.

it is just an all around excellent box set. i recommend it to any jazz fan.