When RCA assembled this excellent 22-track compilation in 1990, it had one of jazz's most ambitious reissue programs -- not only for hard bop, cool jazz, and post-bop, but also for swing, classic jazz, Dixieland, and stride. The RCA Victor and Bluebird catalogs boasted the cream of the jazz crop, and collectors loved the fact that most of RCA's reissues offered comprehensive liner notes and fine digital remastering. Hardcore collectors, however, weren't necessarily the target of The Bluebird Sampler 1990. Offering 22 tracks ...
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When RCA assembled this excellent 22-track compilation in 1990, it had one of jazz's most ambitious reissue programs -- not only for hard bop, cool jazz, and post-bop, but also for swing, classic jazz, Dixieland, and stride. The RCA Victor and Bluebird catalogs boasted the cream of the jazz crop, and collectors loved the fact that most of RCA's reissues offered comprehensive liner notes and fine digital remastering. Hardcore collectors, however, weren't necessarily the target of The Bluebird Sampler 1990. Offering 22 tracks from various reissues that RCA had put out on Bluebird in the late '80s or in 1990, this CD was perfect for novices who needed an introductory sample of what the program had to offer. Pre-bebop jazz is dominant, and the list of artists reads like a who's who of the 78 era. If the purpose of this CD was to make novices want to run out and buy a bunch of Bluebird reissues, the label did the right thing by choosing five-star material by heavyweights like Duke Ellington ("Caravan"), Glenn Miller ("Sunrise Serenade"), Sidney Bechet ("Indian Summer"), Louis Armstrong ("St. Louis Blues"), and Fletcher Henderson ("Hocus Pocus"). The oldest track is King Oliver's 1930 recording of "Struggle Buggy," and the most recent is Sonny Rollins' 1964 version of Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time." Post-swing jazz is not a high priority, but the disc does contain a few fine examples of bop, including "Now's the Time" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia" from 1946. Meanwhile, Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan's 1962 interpretation of "All the Things You Are" is the essence of cool jazz; the changes are bop changes, but they are played in a subtle, restrained fashion. There are no duds on The Bluebird Sampler 1990, which paints a consistently attractive picture of RCA's jazz reissue program. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi
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