Tuneful lessons in music history

A new line of Jazz 101 recordings -- “Jazz Legends” -- has arrived and it’s as valuable as the series created for Ken Burns’ “Jazz” documentary for PBS.

This one’s from a far less publicized source: Portland, Ore., distributor Allegro. All the recordings are from the first half of the 20th century, and all are the original versions.

Selected and annotated by writer Scott Yanow, they are being released in groups of four. The first dozen are in stores now and more are coming later this year.

The albums are grouped into four series. To date, seven CDs are devoted to individual performers, three focus on singers, one surveys a specific style (bebop), another looks at a specific instrument (tenor saxophone).

Like the Burns offerings, these collections serve as extremely useful foundations for collectors, as well as being immensely compelling music. All merit four-star ratings.

At a list price of $10.98 each, they’re also a bargain.

Here’s a quick look at several of the CDs:

* Louis Armstrong, “Early Satch: 1923-1929.” This straightforward set of 21 tunes provides an overview of the years when Armstrong was transforming jazz from good-time dance music to a vehicle for spontaneous, virtuosic invention. One classic number follows another, from “Cornet Chop Suey” and “Wild Man Blues” to “Potato Head Blues,” “West End Blues” and “Weather Bird.”

* Benny Goodman, “The King of Swing and His Big Band: 1934-1939.” Listen to the first few tracks in this 20-song collection and it’s immediately clear why Goodman could legitimately claim the title of Swing Majesty. What is also clear is the vital importance of Fletcher Henderson’s arrangements to both the success and the identity of the Goodman aggregation.

* Artie Shaw, “His First Three Bands: 1936-1940.” It’s unfortunate that many jazz fans know Shaw primarily from his major pop hits, “Begin the Beguine” and “Frenesi” (both included), because he also had an adventurous streak, evident from the beginning of his career. The first few tracks are arranged for clarinet, string quartet and rhythm section -- a novel idea, at the very least, in the mid-’30s and utterly fascinating in the five tracks here. His big-band years follow, and the album wraps with a third band, his Gramercy Five, in which passages in his solos sound like precursors of bebop.

* Art Tatum, “The Incredible Tatum! 1933-1949.” Start with Tatum’s fabulous technique, add a harmonic sense that cast everything he played into colorful new perspectives, add an ineffable ability to swing, and you’ve only touched the surface. Everything here is fascinating, but listen to what he does with Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays” to fully grasp his genius, as he transforms the song into a brilliant, instantly produced piano etude. A vital collection with new revelations in each hearing.

* Lester Young, “The President of the Tenor Sax: 1936-1948.” Young’s timeless style is apparent from the initial romp through “Shoe Shine Boy” with a Count Basie quintet. The long, flowing lines, the cool sound -- qualities heard over the next few decades in the playing of everyone from Stan Getz to (occasionally) John Coltrane -- are present. So, too, is Young’s versatility, in performances that include big-band appearances with Basie, backing for Billie Holiday and a classic “Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid.”

* Bunny Berigan, “A Melody From the Sky: 1932-1940.” Trumpeter Berigan’s shooting-star career elevated him to the top of the swing era for a few years before his death at 33. The many fine efforts in this career overview reveal a talent dimmed far too soon.

* Jelly Roll Morton, “Pioneer of Jazz: 1923-1939.” The inimitable Jelly Roll claimed to have “invented” jazz. However grandiose the statement, he surely can take credit for having significantly enabled the transition from ragtime to jazz, while bringing a compositional aspect to a largely improvised musical genre. Most of his classics are gathered in this far-reaching 21-track collection.

* Ella Fitzgerald, “Early Ella: 1935-1940.” Here’s a very young Fitzgerald, including six tunes recorded before she was 20 as well as the huge hit “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” The balance of the material comes from the period after bandleader Chick Webb’s death in 1939, when she was nominally the leader of the Webb orchestra. By this time, characteristic Fitzgerald qualities -- sweetness, swing and subtlety -- were rapidly falling into place.

* Cab Calloway, “The Hi-De-Ho Man: 1930-1933.” In the less-restricted music world of the ‘30s and ‘40s, Calloway laid down some of the earliest scat-style vocals and produced several authentic hits, including “Minnie the Moocher.” Here he is at his vivacious best.

* Sarah Vaughan, “It’s Magic! 1944-1950.” Vaughan arrived just in time to become the darling of the bebop generation, her arching, instrumental-like vocals, sumptuous sound and imaginative variations fitting perfectly into the new jazz wave of the ‘40s.

* “The Legendary Tenor Saxophonists: 1922-1940.” Coleman Hawkins was the dominating tenor saxophone force before the arrival of Lester Young in the mid-’30s. The reasons are evident in the arc of performances included here. The album includes other major tenor players, including Bud Freeman, Chu Berry, Eddie Miller, Herschel Evans and Budd Johnson.

* “The Birth of Bebop: 1937-1945.” The first track, Mildred Bailey’s “I’m Nobody’s Baby,” features a 1937 Roy Eldridge trumpet solo of the sort that obviously impacted Dizzy Gillespie. The most fascinating moments, however,are the youthful Charlie Parker performances on “Honeysuckle Rose” (1940) and “The Jumpin’ Blues” (1942) (both with Jay McShann): His stunning, fully realized style has the eerie quality of a bopper from the ‘50s transported back a decade into a completely swing-styled setting. Also in the collection: a fully matured Gillespie and Parker in action on “Groovin’ High,” “Hot House,” “Ko-Ko” and “Now’s the Time.”