Search - Louis Armstrong :: Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings

Classic Recordings

Charles Calvert | Bellevue, WA United States | 10/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are classic recordings and centrally important to jazz history. The quality is fine considering the price and that one is hearing music from the 1920's, though you should be aware of the existence of the Columbia and well regarded JSP recordings of this same material.



The music is soulful and full of life. Contemporary jazz is sometimes technically brilliant but icy cold. This is true at both ends of the spectrum, whether one is listening to the avant-garde or more traditionally flavored jazz. Not all contemporary jazz is that way, but there is certainly enough that is lacking in deep emotion. That's not a problem here. Louis Armstrong exuded a sense of warmth, of fun, of humanity. At the same time he was inventing, or recording for the first time, many of classic moves that would form the repertoire of what we call contemporary jazz.



There really is no need for me to spill more ink praising these classic sides; they have been discussed in depth elsewhere. I only wanted to say that the quality of the recordings is reasonable. These sides sound fine and the quality is good enough for most ears, though you should compare with the other releases of this material."