VA - RCA Victor 80th Anniversary [9-CD BOX SET] (1997)

This
is an attractive eight-CD set, whose discs are also available as eight
separate releases, that could have been a great reissue but settled for
being merely quite good. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first
jazz recording, RCA released a disc apiece covering each of the past
eight decades. In listening to the music straight through, one becomes
aware of RCA's strengths and weaknesses as a jazz label. Victor was one
of the most important jazz labels during the 1920s, '30s and '40s,
catching on to bebop a little late (1946) but still documenting many
classic recordings. By the 1950s, the label's attention was wandering
elsewhere; it missed free jazz almost completely in the '60s, and in the
last three decades has only had a few significant artists, mostly Young
Lions whose output sounds conservative compared to the earlier masters.
This reissue is particularly strong during the first three discs, and
then for some reason (starting with disc four) commits a major error in
departing from programming the music in strict chronological order
(although each disc does stay within the ten-year period). Also, the
selection of the performances is much better in the earlier decades
(especially the 1917-29 set) than during the past two decades. There are
many highlights throughout the large undertaking, with such artists as
the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson,
Duke Ellington, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Benny
Goodman, Glenn Miller, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter,
Art Tatum, Charles Mingus, Red Allen, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Buddy
Rich, Gil Evans, the Brecker Brothers, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Roberts,
Steve Coleman and Dominique Eade among the many represented. In
addition, a "bonus" disc has two numbers by the ODJB (including for the
second time "Livery Stable Blues") and a previously unreleased Mingus
dramatic piece "A Colloquial Dream." If only some better planning had
gone into the later discs.

Tracklist

Vol. 1

1. Livery Stable Blues - Original Dixieland "Jazz" Band
2. Meanest Blues - Original Memphis Five
3. She's Crying for Me - New Orleans Rhythm Kings
4. Smoke-House Blues - Jelly Roll Morton
5. Kansas City Shuffle - Bennie Moten
6. Doctor Jazz - Jelly Roll Morton
7. My Pretty Girl - Jean Goldkette
8. Davenport Blues - Red Nichols
9. St. Louis Shuffle - Fletcher Henderson
10. Wolverine Blues - Jelly Roll Morton
11. Clementine (From New Orleans) - Jean Goldkette
12. Feelin' No Pain - Red Nichols
13. Black and Tan Fantasy - Duke Ellington
14. San - Paul Whiteman Orchestra
15. Doin' Things - Joe Venuti's Blue Four
16. Four or Five Times - McKinney's Cotton Pickers
17. South Bennie Moten
18. The Boy in the Boat - Charlie Johnson
19. I'm Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee - Eddie Condon
20. Everybody Loves My Baby - Earl Hines
21. Ozark Mountain Blues - Missourians
22. It Should Be You - Henry Allen
23. Ain't Misbehavin' - Fats Waller
24. Too Late - King Oliver
25. Hello Lola! - Mound City Blue Blowers

Vol. 2

1. Rockin' Chair - Hoagy Carmichael
2. Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington
3. Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson
4. Heebie Jeebies - Mills Blue Rhythm Band
5. Lafayette - Bennie Moten
6. St. Louis Blues - Louis Armstrong
7. Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway
8. Jazznocracy - Jimmie Lunceford
9. After You've Gone - Benny Goodman
10. Swing Is Here - Gene Krupa
11. King Porter Stomp - Teddy Hill
12. Honeysuckle Rose - RCA All Stars
13. Jivin' the Vibes - Lionel Hampton
14. I Can't Get Started - Bunny Berigan
15. Don't Be That Way - Benny Goodman
16. Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw
17. Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey
18. Really the Blues - Tommy Ladnier
19. Limehouse Blues - Wingy Manone
20. Cherokee - Charlie Barnet
21. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
22. Hot Mallets - Lionel Hampton
23. Body and Soul - Coleman Hawkins
24. You're Lettin' the Grass Grow Under Your Feet - Fats Waller
25. Relaxin' at the Touro - Muggsy Spanier

Vol. 3

1. The Sheik of Araby - Coleman Hawkins
2. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington
3. Summit Ridge Drive - Artie Shaw
4. Blues in TSidney hirds - Sidney Bechet Trio
5. All of Me - Benny Carter
6. One O'Clock Jump - Metronome All Stars
7. Yes, Indeed! - Tommy Dorsey
8. Things Ain't What They Used to Be - Johnny Hodges
9. St. Louis Blues - John Kirby
10. Stormy Monday Blues - Earl Hines
11. A Night in Tunisia (Interlude) - Dizzy Gillespie
12. Spotlite - Coleman Hawkins
13. Allen's Alley - Fifty Second Street All Stats
14. Cadillac Slim - Benny Carter
15. Epistrophy - Kenny Clarke
16. Buckin' the Blues - Esquire All American Award Winners
17. Out of Nowhere - Art Tatum
18. Blues After Hours - Jack Teagarden
19. Erroll's Bounce- Erroll Garner
20. Ain't Misbehavin' - Louis Armstrong
21. (I Don't Stand a) Ghost of a Chance - Lennie Tristano
22. Your Red Wagon - Count Basie
23. Algo Bueno (Woody'n You) - Dizzy Gillespie
24. Overtime - Metronome All-Stars
25. My Heart Stood Still Oscar Peterson Trio

Vol. 4

1. Roses of Picardy - Red Norvo
2. Tijuana Gift Shop - Charles Mingus
3. Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West - John Lewis
4. Chiquito Loco - Shorty Rogers
5. Crimea River - Al Cohn, Zoot Sims
6. Love Me or Leave Me - Henry Allen
7. Concerto for Billy the Kid - George Russell, Bill Evans
8. Sunday Afternoon - Benny Carter
9. Let Me Love You - Lena Horne
10. Coschrane - Bud Powell
11. Perdido - Duke Ellington
12. Moanin' - Art Blakey
13. I Love Paris - Manny Albam

Vol. 5

1. Without a Song - Sonny Rollins
2. All the Things You Are - Paul Desmond
3. Hello, Young Lovers - Gary Burton
4. After All - Duke Ellington
5. Sounds of the Night - Clark Terry
6. The Very Thought of You - Johnny Hodges
7. So What - J.J. Johnson
8. Imagination - Paul Desmond
9. Star Eyes - Chet Baker
10. Old Folks - Jackie McLean
11. One O'Clock Jump - Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan
12. 'Round Midnight - Sonny Rollins
13. Turn Me Loose - Lionel Hampton

Vol. 6

1. Quadrille, Anyone? - Toshiko Akiyoshi
2. Four Brothers - Woody Herman
3. The Pusher - Nina Simone
4. Dancing Men - Buddy Rich
5. Up from the Skies - Gil Evans
6. Good Medicine - Doc Severinsen
7. Ridin' High - Cleo Laine
8. Inside Out - Brecker Bros
9. Expansions - Lonnie Liston Smith
10. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

Vol. 7

1. Whisper Not - Roy Hargrove
2. The Truth Is Spoken Here - Marcus Roberts
3. 'Round Midnight - Carmen McRae
4. Uptownship - Hugh Masekela
5. Imagination - Chet Baker
6. I'll Be Around - Cleo Laine, Dudley Moore
7. Jacknife - Brecker Bros
8. Blue Monk - Marcus Roberts
9. Tschanz - Steve Coleman
10. Almost Blue - Chet Baker

Vol. 8

1. Pinocchio - Roy Hargrove
2. Cherokee - Marcus Roberts
3. Winelight - Don Braden
4. I'll Be Seeing You - Carmen McRae
5. Labyrinth - Tom Harrell
6. Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin' - Cleo Laine
7. Drop Kick Live - Steve Coleman
8. Moonray - Dominique Eade
9. The Voyage - Danilo Perez
10. Love Is Here to Stay - Vanessa Rubin
11. Uptown Traveler - Antonio Hart

Bonus disc

1. Livery Stable Blues - Original Dixieland "Jazz" Band
2. Dixieland "Jass" Band One Step - Original Dixieland "Jazz" Band
3. Colloquial Dream (Scenes in the City) - Charles Mingus