The Jazz Singers 1919-1994 [Box set]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Singing begot jazz. Sure, that's a vast oversimplification, but there's probably no better way to say it. The voice as the foundation and essential instrument of jazz's evolution is expansively presented in this five-CD box set compiled by Robert O'Meally, biographer of Billie Holiday. His goal, he writes in an accompanying 100-page booklet, is to show the sweep and the development of jazz singing in all its permutations, including blues, bebop, and scat, from the greatest figures--Bessie Smith, Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Jon Hendricks-to smaller or newer gems like Mildred Bailey and Cassandra Wilson. O'Meally has also endeavored to represent styles related to or dependent on jazz voicings, so the likes of soulful Marvin Gaye and June Christy are also represented. This set handily orients listeners and entices even more exploration. --Peter Monaghan

Vibe
The Jazz Singers may not be quite what you expected or hoped it to be--no Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, Al Jarreau, or Dianne Reeves--but it will damn well rock your lil' world.

The Jazz Singers 1919-1994 [Box set]

Tracks:

West End Blues - Eva Taylor
In The House Blues - Bessie Smith
Blues - Louis Armstrong
I Left My Baby - Jimmiy Rushing
'Taint Nobody's Business If I Do - Billie Holiday
Blues With Helen - Helen Humes
I Won't Be Here Long - Hot Lips Page
Jelly, Jelly - Billy Eckstine
Lotus Blossom - Julia Lee
Goin' To Kansas City - Jimmy Witherspoon
Goin' To Chicago - Joe Williams
She's Got To Go - Ernie Andrews
Never Make Your Move Too Soon - Ernestine Anderson
D.B. Blues - Lorez Alexandria
Come On In My Kitchen - Cassandra Wilson
Nobody's Fault But Mine - Blind Willie Johnson
One Day - Angelic Gospel Singers & Dixie Hummingbirds
I'm Going To Live The Life I Sing About In My Song - Mahalia Jackson
Gimmie A Pigfoot - Bessie Smith
Doctor Jazz - Jelly Roll Morton
Shakin' The African - Don Redman
It Don't Mean A Thing - Ivie Anderson

Tracks:

The Man From Harlem - Cab Calloway
Let Me Off Uptown - Anita O'day
Saturday Night Fish Fry - Pearl Bailey & Moms Mabley
Hogwash - Louis Jordan
Good Rockin' Tonight - Wynonie Harris
All Of Me - Louis Armstrong
Top Hat, White Tie & Tails - Louis Armstrong
I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Ethel Wates
I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Billie Holiday
These Foolish Things - Billie Holiday
Me, Myself & I - Billie Holiday
Lover, Come Back To Me - Mildred Bailey
Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Al Hibber
You're Driving Me Crazy - Joe Turner
Don't Be That Way - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstong
Night & Day - Frank Sinatra
Some Of These Days - Jimmy Rushing
Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams - Sara Vaughan
I Get A Kick Out Of You - Dinah Washington
There's A Small Hotel - Joe Williams
Just You, Just Me - Nat ''King'' Cole

Tracks:

Give Me The Simple Life - Dakota Staton
Love Me Or Leave Me - Nina Simone
You Are My Sunshine - Aretha Franklin
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
I'm Gonna Lock My Heart - Etta Jones
Yesterdays - Billie Holiday
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
You've Changed - Billie Holiday
Someone To Watch Over Me - Ella Fitzgerald
Until The Real Thing Comes Along - Ella Fitzgerald
Until The Real Thing Comes Along - Fats Waller
You Don't Know What Love Is - Dinah Washington
For All We Know - June Christy
Angel Eyes - Chris Connor
In The Still Of The Night - Billy Eckstine
Save Your Love For Me - Nancy Wilson
Travelin' Light - Shirley Horn
Prelude To A Kiss - Sarah Vaughan
My Little Brown Book - Gloria Lynne
Lush Life - Johnny Hartman
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) - Carmen McRae

Tracks:

This Is Always - Betty Carter
All Of Me - Little Jimmy Scott
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life - Earl Coleman
Your're My Thrill - Helen Merrill
Could I Be The One? - Al Green
Jazz Me Blues - Lucille Hegamin
The Mooche - Baby Cox
Parker's Mood - King Pleasure
Lullaby Of Birdland - Sarah Vaughn
Down For Double - Mel Torme
Jumpin' At The Woodside - Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross
Left Alone - Abbey Lincoln
Stolen Moments - Mark Murphy
Worry Now Later - Jeanne Lee
Get It Straight - Carmen McRae
'Round Midnight - Bobby McFerrin
Doodlin' - Dee Dee Bridgewater
Improvised Scat Song - Jelly Roll Morton
Hotter Than That - Louis Armstrong

Tracks:

Sweet Sue (Just You) - Louis Armstrong
My Honey's Lovin' Arms - Bing Crosby & Mills Brothers
Ool Ya Koo - Dizzy Gillespie
Disappointed - Eddie Jefferson
Them There Eyes - Ella Fitzgerald
The Way You Look Tonight - Anita O'day
This Masquerade - George Benson
Frenesi - Betty Carter
Jazzola - Noble Sissle
Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train - Louis Armstong
Rockin' Chair - Louis Armstong
'Taint What You Do - Trummy Young
Vol Vist Du Gaily Star - Bon Bon (George Tunnell)
We've Got The Blues - Leo Watson
Cow Cow Boogie - Ella Fitzgerald
Babalu (Orooney) - Slim Gaillard
Chi-Chi-Chi-Chicago - Nellie Lutcher
Did You Call Her Today? - Ben Webster
Takes Two To Tango - Lester
Mumbles - Clark Terry
Close Your Eyes (Shut Yo' Mouth) - Slam Stewart & Major Holley

Amazon.com

Singing begot jazz. Sure, that's a vast oversimplification, but there's probably no better way to say it. The voice as the foundation and essential instrument of jazz's evolution is expansively presented in this five-CD box set compiled by Robert O'Meally, biographer of Billie Holiday. His goal, he writes in an accompanying 100-page booklet, is to show the sweep and the development of jazz singing in all its permutations, including blues, bebop, and scat, from the greatest figures--Bessie Smith, Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Jon Hendricks-to smaller or newer gems like Mildred Bailey and Cassandra Wilson. O'Meally has also endeavored to represent styles related to or dependent on jazz voicings, so the likes of soulful Marvin Gaye and June Christy are also represented. This set handily orients listeners and entices even more exploration. --Peter Monaghan

Customer Reviews:

Amazing Box Set.......2005-12-26

This is an absolutly amazing box set of Jazz Vocals. It seems to include just about everyone that you can think of. I especally love that the early recordings were NOT digitally cleaned-up. I really enjoy listing to them exactly how they sounded when they were first released on 78's back in the 1920' & 30's. This box set is a Must-Have for all fans of 20th Century Jazz & Blues.

4 1/2* A Superb Sampler.......2004-04-22

This is an excellent collection of jazz singers, ranging chronologically from Bessie Smith and Eva Taylor to Cassandra Wilson and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Stylistically, it presents classic jazz singers like Holiday, Vaughan, and Fitzgerald, Armstrong, and Billy Eckstine to pop/jazz artists like Sinatra (but no Tony Bennett), blues- and gospel-influenced singers (Bessie Smith; Mahalia Jackson) and a variety of singers very loosely associated with jazz: Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Al Green!.

Of the latter singers, I suppose the producers can co-opt R&B and soul if they want, but to me it's a stretch. On the other hand, these are some of my favorite singers, so I don't mind the producers blurring jazz boundaries a little too much. Robert G. O'Meally, the extremely knowledgeable author of the superb 127 book that accompanies the five CDs, makes a defense: He states that both Gaye and Franklin made at least one straight jazz record (not sure which those would be), and that these songs are included "to indicate that jazz is a rollicking and rowdy river that flows into and out of other styles." Well, ok, but the potential buyer should review all the singers presented here so that he/she knows the breadth of that river.

Sound quality on the older songs is mostly good, though there is no evidence of remastering (listeners of some of the technologies aimed at "cleaning" the sound of older recordings will attest that remastering can either enhance or obscure a recording's musical value). As stated above, the booklet is tremendous, and really makes this collection a great value. EACH song and singer is fully discussed, often in relation to other songs in the collection. O'Meally writes clearly and with interesting details, he has a great understanding of singing and its relationship to music. For example, on Lorez Alexander's "D. B. Blues," a tribute to Lester Young, O'Meally writes that she evokes his "sinewy, sometimes airy tone, his angular phrasing, his artful uses of silences..."

Lorez Alexandria is a good example of the breadth of singers in this collection. She is not nearly as well known as some of her contemporaries, and this compilation of the under appreciated along with the famous surprises as well as delights.

My main complaint with this compilation is with the "Novelties and Take-offs" section of Disc 5. While it may be, as the true, as O'Meally suggests, that jazz has a tradition based partly on "low comedy, hokum, and fun," these are not essential recordings by any means. Actually, a few of these songs are a little painful to listen to. This collection would have been much better by deleting most of these, and including more numbers by the greats mentioned above.

Overall, however, this is an excellent introduction to the luminaries of jazz singing (as well as the sometimes overlooked). I think it's a good starting point for those exploring the diverse sounds of the idiom, and who want a wide sampling from which to pick their favorites. There's so much music (as well as the superb commentary by O'Meally) that almost everyone will find much to enjoy here. (NOTE: This appears to be same collection as that released by Sony for the Smithsonian Collection in 1998.)

Superb and Masterful Collection of the Jazz Greats.......1999-07-17

This box set contains every essential hit from every essential jazz artist. Armstrong, Holliday, Fitzgerald, Cole, and a little Simone, they're all here! This has to be the greatest compilation of jazz greats I have seen in my few years of living.

A great lesson for the creation and extension of jazz singin.......1999-05-10

What a pleasure to listen to this album. Five CD's take some time go through but it is worth every minute. The way this album is assembled is pure genuis by Prof. O'Meally. This album should be enjoyed by young adults as well and up to senior's. If one doesn't enjoy this album, one must be brain dead.

5 x 100 stars.......1998-10-19

I was almost in tears listening to this box set. It is everything you could possibly hope for in a compilation and so much more- there isn't one track that you don't want to hear again and again. I wish there were a few more like this around

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