This first disc in an eight-CD series (available separately or as a box set), released 80 years after the Original Dixieland Jazz Band cut the first jazz record, is the strongest of them all. Series producer Steve Gates did an expert job of picking out 25 of the finest vintage recordings in RCA's vaults, which are reissued here in chronological order. All but the first three numbers (by the ODJB, the Original Memphis Five and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings) are actually from 1926-29, a period when Victor was the leading jazz ...
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This first disc in an eight-CD series (available separately or as a box set), released 80 years after the Original Dixieland Jazz Band cut the first jazz record, is the strongest of them all. Series producer Steve Gates did an expert job of picking out 25 of the finest vintage recordings in RCA's vaults, which are reissued here in chronological order. All but the first three numbers (by the ODJB, the Original Memphis Five and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings) are actually from 1926-29, a period when Victor was the leading jazz label. Classic selections are included by the three groups already mentioned, plus Jelly Roll Morton (a trio of very different numbers), Bennie Moten, Jean Goldkette, Red Nichols, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Paul Whiteman, Joe Venuti, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Charlie Johnson, Eddie Condon, Earl Hines, the Missourians, Red Allen, Fats Waller, King Oliver ("Too Late") and the Mound City Blue Blowers ("Hello Lola"). Not only is this CD a fine sampling of RCA's holdings of early jazz, but it is a superior introduction to 1920s jazz in general. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi
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