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Hot Fives & Sevens

Louis Armstrong

Jsp Records

• List price: $28.98
• Lowest new price: $20.98
• Lowest used price: $14.75

1. My Heart
2. Yes! I'm in the Barrel
3. Gut Bucket Blues
4. Come Back Sweet Papa
5. Georgia Grind
6. Heebie Jeebies
7. Cornet Chop Suey
8. Oriental Strut
9. You're Next
10. Muskrat Ramble
11. Don't Forget to Mess Around
12. I'm Gonna Gitcha
13. Droppin' Shucks
14. Who' Sit
15. He Likes It Slow
16. King of the Zulus
17. Big Fat Ma and Skinny Pa
18. Lonesome Blues
19. Sweet Little Papa
20. Jazz Lips
21. Skid-Dat-De-Dat
22. Big Butter and Egg Man
23. Sunset Cafe Stomp
24. You Made Me Love You
25. Irish Black Bottom
26. Willie the Weeper
27. Wild Man Blues
28. Chicago Breakdown
29. Alligator Crawl
30. Potato Head Blues
31. Melancholy Blues
32. Weary Blues
33. Twelfth Street Rag
34. Keyhole Blues
35. S.O.L. Blues
36. Gully Low Blues
37. That's When I'll Come Back to You
38. Put 'Em Down Blues
39. Ory's Creole Trombone
40. Last Time
41. Struttin' With Some Barbecue
42. Got No Blues
43. Once in a While
44. I'm Not Rough
45. Hotter Than That
46. Savoy Blues
47. Fireworks
48. Skip the Gutter
49. Monday Date
50. Don't Jive Me
51. West End Blues
52. Sugar Foot Strut
53. Two Deuces
54. Squeeze Me
55. Knee Drops
56. Symphonic Raps
57. Savoyagers' Stomp
58. No, Papa, No
59. Basin Street Blues
60. No One Else But You
61. Beau Koo Jack
62. Save It, Pretty Mama
63. Weather Bird
64. Muggles
65. Hear Me Talkin' to Ya?
66. St. James Infirmary
67. Tight Like This
68. Knockin' a Jug
69. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
70. Mahogany Hall Stomp
71. Ain't Misbehavin'
72. Black and Blue
73. That Rhythm Man
74. Sweet Savannah Sue
75. Some of These Days
76. Some of These Days
77. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)
78. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)
79. After You've Gone
80. Ain't Got Nobody
81. Dallas Blues
82. St. Louis Blues
83. Rockin' Chair
84. Song of the Islands
85. Bessie Couldn't Help It
86. Blue Turning Grey over You
87. Dear Old Southland
88. Rockin' Chair
89. I Can't Give You Anything But Love

Average customer rating:

fahrenheit 451!

There are very few box sets that I can stand to listen to wire to wire. That being said, this is one of them. This is plain and simple just great music that goes with anything. Come rain or shine, blue skies or grey, this music never gets old. Hour after hour it plays on, singing a lilting melody that drifts from light sprite chipper forest birds to low down in the gutter blues and back into the drifting cotton clouds. Ahhhhhh.

The Benchmark and the Rosetta Stone of Jazz

When I first heard these recordings I was stunned by the ferocity of the playing and the remarkable sound quality. I later heard the Columbia records releases and was appalled. I guess that Columbia has improved on their recordings but this company (JSP) really does something magical with old recordings. I primarily like jazz of the fifties and sixties but these recordings when you listen closely to the playing are every bit as modern as later bands. I am now a huge fan of Armstrong and these recordings are still my favorite. I can not believe the price on this box set, either. This is a steal. I was so inspired by the sound quality of these recordings and the JSP box sets of Joe VenutiThe New York Sessions 1926-1935/Eddi Lang and Jelly Roll Morton that I recently played an hour of music from the 1920's on my local radio show. I primarily used recordings from this fabulous label with a very heavy rotation of tracks from this amazing collection.

As good as classic jazz gets

Prior to purchasing this set, I read a lot about the competing versions of the complete hot fives and hot sevens. Reviews and articles seemed evenly divided, with about half preferring this set, and about half preferring The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings. In the end I chose this one because the reviews were slightly more favorable, and the packaging fits well with my collection, whereas the other set was said in some cases to have even faulty packaging. I would have to say that as far as I am concerned, the "quality of recording" issue was a non-starter. Sure there are occasional snaps and glitches and runs of white noise, but I have a lot of recordings that are far, far worse than these, and to my ears, these sound pretty clean overall. As for the music itself, well, it's Satchmo at his best mostly accompanied by the group that helped him make his name. Of course the songs are quaint and dated now, but I found everything quite entertaining nonetheless. (If you're a jazz fanatic, you know: you can't listen to the same kind of stuff all the time; you've got to mix it up!) All four CD's have a good mix of songs, even including some background (or up-front) studio talk, and the liner notes are generous and educating. Lots of classic songs, classic performances, and a wide-open window looking into the history and evolution of the American art form that is jazz. This set has a great return on investment and hours of enjoyable music. It's wonderful!

One out of four have Louie's voice

Three of the four CD's have very little vocals on them. One of the four CD's is worth the price because Louis sings on it often. I like his voice as well as his magnificent horn.

Armstrong's hot 5 and hot 7

What can I say - it is Armstrong's groundbreaking period in Music history.
There was no band before, that played this way, making Armstrong a musical innovator. So simply for his awesome music (Gully Low Blues, Skid Dat De Dat, Cornet Chop Suey, Potatoe Head Blues, Melancholy Blues, the list goes on) 5 stars!
As for the sound quality - people keep arguing about this box set and the Columbia set, which I unfortunately have not heard. Those judgments ALWAYS depend on the sound equipment (mainly loudspeaker system) one set might sound better on one system as the other. Then again not quite as good on another system, while the other set sounds better, simply depending on the mix of each set and what frequencies each sound-system "favors"- generally I don't think there's too much of a difference in sound, to significantly make a difference, especially not with average Sound equipment. And don't forget "Modern" technology can only do so much with a single track recording - push it toward the mid, high or low (there's more to it, but you get the idea) - so go ahead and pick up this CD-Box set for yourself - you won't regret it - unless you're a sound maniac in which case you simply have to get both CD-sets.
J.S.