Hot Fives and Sevens

Considering the crass rhetoric and posturing of much of modern music and its personalities this is a refreshing and much needed window into bygone age of fantastic artistry which heralded the burgeoning maturity of Jazz.

A rich, most thoroughly recommended, and memorable Package at a brilliant price.

Very Highly Recommended !

Louis Armstrong arguably holds the same position in jazz. In 1924 he was a sideman in King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, playing what was still seen as an underground, “minority” music. By 1930 he had become jazz’s leading artist while jazz itself had crossed over to white audiences to such an extent that, until the advent of rock and roll, it would be the dominant stylistic influence on popular music.

Both achievements are directly attributable to the records Armstrong cut between 1925 and 1929, his first solo recordings, widely known as “the hot fives and hot sevens” after the bands he fronted on them. They are to jazz what Elvis’s early Sun sessions and RCA Victor recordings are to rock and roll music: the core of genre, its central canon, its template. And these discs contain those recordings in their entirety, in the finest available mastering to date. Buy them. Quite simply, they ARE jazz.

Louis Armstrong arguably holds the same position in jazz. In 1924 he was a sideman in King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, playing what was still seen as underground, “minority” music. By 1930 he had become jazz’s leading artist while jazz itself had crossed over to white audiences to such an extent that, until the advent of rock and roll, it would be the dominant stylistic influence on popular music.

Both achievements are directly attributable to the records Armstrong cut between 1925 and 1929, his first solo recordings, widely known as “the hot fives and hot sevens” after the bands he fronted on them. They are to jazz what Elvis’s early Sun sessions and RCA Victor recordings are to rock and roll music: the core of genre, its central canon, its template. And these discs contain those recordings in their entirety, in the finest available mastering to date. Buy them. Quite simply, they ARE jazz.

Not only is the music brilliant, but so too is J. R. T. Davies' remastering. The nstruments sound bright and vivid: to think that these recordings are over 75 years old!! They still burst from the speakers. If you like Louis Armstrong, get this 4-CD set, it's a bargain and is surely one of the best investments you can make. He lacked some of the youthful energy found here when he became a big crossover success in the 40s and 50s. These will provide you with endless fun!