Search - Various Artists :: History of Jazz

Great listening and dancing

Linda G. Weimer | Baltimore | 12/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have had untold hours of pleasure listening to the first 3 discs in this collection. I am not a fan of bebop, perhaps because I love to dance, and the changing rhythms and/or frantic tempos of disc 4 turned me off. However, the first 3 CDs have about 75 numbers on them, all the original recordings from the great small groups and big bands from about 1920 thru the early 1940s. They include many numbers of the PBS History of Jazz shown in the early 2000s(?). Thus, a curious person can get a rough intro. to jazz history thru listening and reading liner notes.

The first 7-8 numbers of "Early Years" disc 1 dont have great sound quality since recording was a new science at the time. But begining with cut 9 - Trumbauer and Beiderbecke's Carinet Marmalade, the quality improves."