Hot Fives & Sevens | ||||
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Box set by | ||||
Released | August 22, 2000 | |||
Recorded | Nov 12, 1925 – Apr 5, 1930 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 276:23 | |||
Label | JSP | |||
Louis Armstrong chronology | ||||
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Hot Fives & Sevens is a 2000 box set collection of recordings made by American jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five, Hot Seven, and other groups between 1925 and 1930. First released on JSP Records on 22 August 2000, the set was subsequently reissued on Definitive in 2001. A four-disc compilation, the set has received a "crown" as an author's pick in The Penguin Guide to Jazz and is also included in the book's "core collection" recommended for jazz fans. [1] Allmusic concurs that it is "beyond indispensable", suggesting that "you can't have a Louis Armstrong collection without this historic set" or "any kind of respectable jazz collection" [2] Alternatively, Ben Ratliff, writing in 2002, preferred Columbia's release The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings. [3]
The box set consists of four compact discs. The first and second discs, and part of the third, comprise the Hot Five and Hot Seven recording sessions from 1925 through 1928. [4] [5] [6] The third and fourth discs compile tracks recorded by Carroll Dickerson's Savoyagers, Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, and Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five (with Earl Hines [7] ) between 1928 and 1930. [6] [8]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz |
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The collection has generally earned praise. Music critic Cub Koda, writing for Allmusic, notes that "Although this material has been around the block several times before -- and continues to be available in packages greatly varying in transfer quality -- this is truly the way to go, and certainly the most deluxe packaging this material has ever received with the greatest sound retrieval yet employed." [2] The Penguin Guide to Jazz included Hot Fives & Sevens in its "Core Collection," and assigned its "crown" accolade to the album, along with a four-star rating (of a possible four stars). [1] (The first three discs from this set, JSP CD 312 – 314, individually received four-star ratings, and are also included in the Core Collection. [1] ) Penguin editors Richard Cook and Brian Morton remarked, "John R. T. Davies's remastering for JSP is superlative. Armstrong scholars argue over whether the Columbia 'definitive' edition – mystifyingly delayed – is superior, but it's hard to see anyone being disappointed with either." [1] 2008's Jazz : The Basics is not as effusive, suggesting that other remasters may sound better and other packaging may be more complete, but the lower price of this set made it "an attractive package for recordings that are a necessary part of any CD collection." [9] Ben Ratliff, by contrast, found the collection only a "tolerable alternative to Columbia's muffled-sounding initial CD reissue", but preferred Columbia Legacy's The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (C4K 63257) for its greater "bright and present" sound. [3]
Except where otherwise noted, all songs composed by Louis Armstrong.
Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wrote many tunes still played today, including "Dippermouth Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal Street Blues", and "Doctor Jazz". He was the mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong. His influence was such that Armstrong claimed, "if it had not been for Joe Oliver, Jazz would not be what it is today."
The Hot Five was Louis Armstrong's first jazz recording band led under his own name.
Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven was a jazz studio group organized to make a series of recordings for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois, in May 1927. Some of the personnel also recorded with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, including Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Armstrong (piano), and Johnny St. Cyr. These musicians were augmented by Dodds's brother, Baby Dodds (drums), Pete Briggs (tuba), and John Thomas. Briggs and Thomas were at the time working with Armstrong's performing group, the Sunset Stompers.
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The New Orleans Wanderers was the name under which Lil Hardin recorded with members of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five on a 1926 session for Columbia. Armstrong himself was unable to appear since he was under contract to Okeh, although he collaborated with Hardin on three of the four songs. Four further songs were released by the same musicians under the name New Orleans Bootblacks. His place was taken by George Mitchell.
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"Muskrat Ramble" is a jazz composition written by Kid Ory in 1926. It was first recorded on February 26, 1926, by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and became the group's most frequently recorded piece. It was paired on the flip side with another one of Armstrong's hits, "Heebie Jeebies." It was a prominent part of the Dixieland revival repertoire in the 1930s and 1940s, and was recorded by Bob Crosby, Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Muggsy Spanier, Chet Atkins, Lu Watters, the Andrews Sisters, Harry James, and Al Hirt, among others. It is considered a part of the jazz standard repertoire.
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The Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven Sessions were recorded between 1925 and 1928 by Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five and Hot Seven groups. According to the National Recording Registry, "Louis Armstrong was jazz's first great soloist and is among American music's most important and influential figures. These sessions, his solos in particular, set a standard musicians still strive to equal in their beauty and innovation." These recordings were added to the National Recording Registry in 2002, the first year of the institution's existence.
The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz is a six-LP box set released in 1973 by the Smithsonian Institution. Compiled by jazz critic, scholar, and historian Martin Williams, the album included tracks from over a dozen record labels spanning several decades and genres of American jazz, from ragtime and big band to post-bop and free jazz.
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Jacky June was a Belgian jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.
A Study in Frustration: The Fletcher Henderson Story is a box set compilation surveying studio recordings of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from 1923 to 1938, released in 1961 on Columbia Records, CXK 85470. It initially appeared as a four-album set produced by Frank Driggs and assembled by John Hammond, both of whom also wrote the liner notes. The set was part of a Thesaurus of Classic Jazz series on Columbia which included King of the Delta Blues Singers also worked on by Hammond and Driggs and released in 1961, the first album reissue of songs by blues legend Robert Johnson.
Salute to Satch is a tribute album to Louis Armstong by jazz trumpeter Joe Newman and His Orchestra recorded in 1956 for the RCA Victor label.
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"Georgia Grind" is a jazz and dirty blues tune, written by Spencer Williams and copyrighted by him in 1926. The lyrics were added by Bud Allen. A recording was released by Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five by Okeh Records on a 78 rpm, mono 10" shellac single record in April 1926. The melody was the same as used in the song, "Shake That Thing", written in 1925 by Papa Charlie Jackson.
The Chocolate Dandies was the name of several American jazz combos from 1928 through the 1940s. The name was an outgrowth of the Broadway production, The Chocolate Dandies, that debuted in 1924.
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