JAZZ : A Wealth of Choices--but Buyer Beware

Talk about choices. The eclectic array of reissue packages pouring out of the record companies provides something to put under the Christmas tree for even the jazz fan who has everything.

Many of the reissues are meticulously done, with great care given to providing accurate recording data and to producing the best representation of the original sound. Others seem focused only upon cashing in on the easy availability of material that is no longer controlled by copyright by releasing collections that are deficient both in historical information and audio reproduction.

The message is obvious: Buyer beware. Take a close look at the album notes for any prospective reissue purchase. Less information generally--although not always--means less quality.

A selection of some fairly recent boxed jazz sets reveals that careful, knowledgeable compilations can result in valuable and enjoyable additions to anyone’s library. The items listed below will make desirable entries on a Christmas jazz list.

**** DUKE ELLINGTON, “The Original Decca Recordings, Early Ellington,” GRP. This three-CD set covers Ellington’s complete Brunswick and Vocalion recordings from 1926 to 1931. Numerous alternate takes are included, and there is one previously unreleased version of “Wall Street Wail.” The key pieces, of course, are the original readings of “East St. Louis Toodle-o,” “Black and Tan Fantasy,” “The Mooche,” “Mood Indigo” and “Creole Rhapsody”--invaluable items in the Ellington lexicon. What is most remarkable about the collection, however, is the broad picture it affords of a young, still-inexperienced Ellington just beginning to discover his immense talent as he responded to the unique attributes of his players and the special demands of his musical circumstances. The impact of Bubber Miley’s trumpet and Joe Nanton’s trombone on Ellington’s musical thinking are clear from the beginning, as is the creativity Ellington applied to the atmospheric “jungle” sounds and dance accompaniments required by his ensemble’s longtime gig as the Cotton Club house band.

**** LOUIS ARMSTRONG, “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1923-1934,” Columbia Legacy. Ah, yes. Here’s the fountainhead, the music that revolutionized the jazz scene of the ‘20s and early ‘30s. Columbia’s superb five-CD anthology includes Armstrong’s work with King Oliver and Fletcher Henderson, as well as his classic solos on “West End Blues,” “Weather Bird,” “Potato Head Blues” and the inventive scat singing on “Heebie Jeebies” and “Hotter Than That.” Listening to this amazing burst of originality is almost like hearing Armstrong lay out the essential elements of jazz--rhythmic swing, harmonic improvisation, blues-tinged melodies and an irrepressibly joyous pursuit of imaginative creativity. The collection also chronicles Armstrong’s refusal to be pigeonholed into a single category. Leading small groups, big bands, playing for blues singers such as Bessie Smith, playing trumpet, singing, introducing pop songs to the tradition-bound jazz repertory, Armstrong was the first true “crossover” performer. (No better proof exists than the rarely heard 1930 track, “Blue Yodel No. 9,” in which Armstrong accompanies country music singer Jimmie Rodgers.)

*** 1/2 FRANK SINATRA, “The Song Is You,” RCA. Sinatra may not exactly deserve the mantle of jazz singer, but there is no doubt that his phrasing, from the very beginning, owed far more to Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday than to Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo. This comprehensive anthology of Sinatra’s recordings with the Tommy Dorsey band documents the gradual emergence of his ability, even in the dreamiest ballad, to find the natural rhythmic flow of a song. All the Sinatra/Dorsey hits are here--”I’ll Never Smile Again,” “There Are Such Things,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” etc.--as well as a number of alternate takes and the first four tunes recorded by Sinatra (with Axel Stordahl) after he left Dorsey. It’s all marvelous stuff, but it will take a real Sinatra fanatic to appreciate the final CD, which showcases excerpts from a 1940 radio show featuring songs submitted by Dorsey fans.

**** THELONIOUS MONK, “The Complete Blue Note Recordings,” Blue Note. Any doubts about the utter singularity of Monk’s musical talent are dispelled from the very first track of this four-CD collection, dating from 1947 through 1958. Monk, clearly, was his own man from the very beginning (listen, for example, to his early rendering of “ ‘Round Midnight”). While it is possible to hear traces of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson in some of his playing, what is far more evident is the fact that most of the signature aspects of Monk’s style--the oddly voiced chords, the disjunct rhythms and surprisingly catchy melodies--were present in his earliest work. In addition to the recordings made under Monk’s own name, several bonus tracks include material from a Sonny Rollins date in 1957 (with a superb version of “Misterioso”), and a noisy but fascinating tape of a complete club set with Monk and John Coltrane from 1958.

*** 1/2 VARIOUS ARTISTS, “Black Legends of Jazz,” GRP. Here’s a handy, two-CD sampler aimed at providing a kind of mini-history of jazz from 1926 to 1959 out of the Decca (as well as the Brunswick and Vocalion) vaults. The results are necessarily skewed: There is no Dizzy Gillespie here, no Ben Webster, no Sarah Vaughan or (note the album title) Benny Goodman. But what is included is well worth the price of admission, from Louis Armstrong’s “Mahogany Hall Stomp” and Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” to Ella Fitzgerald’s “Lullaby of Birdland” and Count Basie’s “One O’Clock Jump.” It’s the perfect choice for listeners who prefer the Reader’s Digest approach--a quick taste of the high points without sweating the details.

**** JOE HENDERSON, “The Milestone Years,” Milestone (eight discs). One thought keeps reverberating through this superb assemblage: Why has it taken so long for Henderson to be acknowledged as one of the most extraordinary jazz saxophonists of the last three decades? Henderson was already well established when he signed with Milestone in 1967. But the breadth of his skills as represented in this compilation--even for one who heard him perform frequently in those years--is simply awesome. In addition to the complete tracks from the 12 Milestone albums recorded between 1967 and 1976, there are selections from a session with Nat Adderley, a duet with Lee Konitz and a number of sideman contributions to Flora Purim outings. Perhaps best of all, there are three previously unissued tracks from a live gig at the Lighthouse in 1970 with a hard-driving band that included the gifted Woody Shaw on trumpet and fluegelhorn. If “The Milestone Years” does nothing else, it affirms Henderson as the most complete jazz saxophonist of the post-Rollins/Coltrane years, a player who, then and now, brilliantly combines every aspect of jazz, from be-bop and R&B; to avant-garde and sheer lyricism. It’s all here.

*** “DUENDE: THE PASSION AND DAZZLING VIRTUOSITY OF FLAMENCO,” Ellipsis Arts. I’m kidding, right? What does flamenco have to do with jazz? Well, look at it this way: Flamenco was created by a repressed underclass (Gypsies). It is a rhythmic, improvisational music based on a traditional body of pieces that allow plenty of room for variation. Often used to accompany a sensual dance, it can be purely instrumental, or it can feature passionate, melody stretching vocals. Sound familiar? Listen to some of the singers--young and old--in this three-CD compilation, and analogies with blues shouters singers such as Joe Turner quickly come to mind. And, if the rhythms are different in style, they are no less urgent or propulsive than jazz rhythms, while the improvisations soar with the imaginative probing of jazz solos. Ellipsis Arts provides an excellent introduction to the art, with several classic tracks and a sampling of contemporary artists. And, in the music of the innovative Diego Carrasco, the hard-swinging Barcelona crossover group Jaleo and the better-known, jazz-tinged Strunz & Farah, it illustrates the current cross-fertilization taking place between jazz and the world’s other improvisational musics.*