Chronological Jazz Classics, are they ok?

[Jazztropic]

So many imports have a bad reputation is Chronological Jazz Classics another one.Read through a link of posts from mostly European members and negatives never seemed to come up.Any help?

Thanks

[Tom in RI]

I have only 4-5 of these, but the ones I have I am very happy with. Typically picking up material haven't seen available anywhere else. I seem to remember comments to the effect that the sound quality has gotten better in later issues. If there was a store near me that stocked 'em I am sure I'd have quit a few more.

[kh1958]

The sound is variable, but it's a very fine and valuable series. I have fifty or so in the series and wish I had alot more. The Blues series is also excellent.

Edited March 8, 2006 by kh1958

[JSngry]

Responsible use of European Public Domain laws afaic. Their "mission" is clear (and admirable), and they execute it well. Plus, I hear that they do their own research, compiling, and mastering, which distinguishes them from the loathsome pirates.

The few I've gotten have been excellent. I'd like a lot more, but that's the problem - there are a lot more.

[Jazztropic]

Where would be the best place to order these cds?I was told they have a Buddy Rich early 50's set.It would fill some holes for me.

[kh1958]

I haven't really found a good online source (or for that matter, any other source) that has a deep catalog of Classics in stock, with good prices.

I've ordered a few from Tower. You might also try J&R.

[jlhoots]

I believe that Worlds Records has them.

I haven't done any price comparisons.

http://www.worldsrecords.com

Search under Classics.

Edited March 8, 2006 by jlhoots

[Chuck Nessa]

Though new releases continue, the bulk of the catalog is currently out of print. They have not reprinted. If you are interested in any of the series, jump in and keep up.

Member "Jaffa" writes the notes and has an "in". I suggest contacting him for repressings you think would be worthwhile.

[tatifan]

If they do their own transfers, they sure sound like a variety of moldy dupes to ME. I had some of the nasty sounding Fletcher Henderson volumes covering the Armstrong period, and then recent found the 3 disc Forte label set (J.R.T. Davies transfers) and it's night and day sonically! One other thing, is you won't get any alternate takes on Classics. To me they are overpriced for what they are.....they are NOT complete (if there are alternates), and are NEVER the best sounding transfers when there are others of the same material, in my experience. Of course, you're mileage many vary, and they DO have plenty of items not otherwise available.

[Chuck Nessa]

If they do their own transfers, they sure sound like a variety of moldy dupes to ME. I had some of the nasty sounding Fletcher Henderson volumes covering the Armstrong period, and then recent found the 3 disc Forte label set (J.R.T. Davies transfers) and it's night and day sonically! One other thing, is you won't get any alternate takes on Classics. To me they are overpriced for what they are.....they are NOT complete (if there are alternates), and are NEVER the best sounding transfers when there are others of the same material, in my experience. Of course, you're mileage many vary, and they DO have plenty of items not otherwise available.

OTOH, tell me where you have the complete master takes of Henderson, Cab Calloway, Mills Blue Rhythm, Johnny Dodds, Edgar Hayes, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Don Byas, Cootie Williams, Putney Dandridge, Hot Lips Page, Bud Freeman, Andy Kirk, Cozy Cole, Stuff Smith, Richard M Jones and dozens of others.

You can bitch about details, but this is a heck of an undertaking.

[tatifan]

OTOH, tell me where you have the complete master takes of Henderson, Cab Calloway, Mills Blue Rhythm, Johnny Dodds, Edgar Hayes, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Don Byas, Cootie Williams, Putney Dandridge, Hot Lips Page, Bud Freeman, Andy Kirk, Cozy Cole, Stuff Smith, Richard M Jones and dozens of others.

You can bitch about details, but this is a heck of an undertaking.

Of course, and I don't deny that they serve a purpose, and I think every university or large public library worth it's salt should have them, but personally I'll sink my bucks into the products of Timeless, Forte/Oracle, Hep, Frog, pre-ripoff JSP, etc. I would be more interested if they boxed some of the artists collections together at say, $4 a cd, rather than have some other label rip them off piecemeal (as is suspected in some of the Membran sets).

I still question their sources; can anyone confirm that they do many of their own 78 transfers?

[AllenLowe]

"tell me where you have the complete master takes of Henderson, Cab Calloway, Mills Blue Rhythm, Johnny Dodds, Edgar Hayes, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Don Byas, Cootie Williams, Putney Dandridge, Hot Lips Page, Bud Freeman, Andy Kirk, Cozy Cole, Stuff Smith, Richard M Jones and dozens of others."

in the basement -

[connoisseur series500]

"tell me where you have the complete master takes of Henderson, Cab Calloway, Mills Blue Rhythm, Johnny Dodds, Edgar Hayes, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Don Byas, Cootie Williams, Putney Dandridge, Hot Lips Page, Bud Freeman, Andy Kirk, Cozy Cole, Stuff Smith, Richard M Jones and dozens of others."

in the basement -

Under your toupee?

[Chuck Nessa]

I still question their sources; can anyone confirm that they do many of their own 78 transfers?

An collector acquaintance of mine provided a number of "source 78s" for them.

[jostber]

So many imports have a bad reputation is Chronological Jazz Classics another one.Read through a link of posts from mostly European members and negatives never seemed to come up.Any help?

Thanks

My experience for best value CD's with jazz artists are:

Proper Records - http://www.propermusic.com/

Naxos Records - http://www.naxos.org/mainsite/default.asp?label=NaxosJazz

Great sound, selections and liner notes.

Mosaic has this site which is focused on selecting good value CD's:

http://www.truebluemusic.com/

- Jostein

[brownie]

A 1999 article from Mike Zwerin in the International Herald Tribune. Still valid, except that Zwerin is no longer with the IHT but works now with Bloomberg News

CLASSICS LABEL REISSUES 'EVERYTHING' BY 200 MUSICIANS : JAZZ GREATS, BEFORE THE LP

By Mike Zwerin International Herald Tribune

Wednesday, September 8, 1999

The Classics record label has been releasing five jazz reissues a month for what, by the end of December, will add up to 600 CDs in 10 years. That's five a month, on the 15th of each month, "like a magazine," says Gilles Petard, the label's founder and one-man-band director. "I've never missed a deadline."

.

Reissues only, all of the material was originally released on 78 rpms. Most came from Petard's personal collection, which covers just about every wall of every room and hall of his large Parisian apartment. (What he doesn't have he knows where to find.) There are all formats — 78s, 45s, LPs and CDs. He prefers listening to one-tune-per-disk 78s, where you have to motivate yourself to get up and choose the next number.

.

Classics consists of everything ever recorded by close to 200 musicians. "Everything," however, requires qualification. It does not mean everything. It refers to studio recordings the artists originally agreed were the best versions of each song. No alternate takes, no air shots, no concerts, no pirates — only definitive studio releases, but all of them.

.

The big name bandleaders represented run from the usual suspects — Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Count Basie — to the once top-billed, now overlooked Don Redman, Gene Krupa, Andy Kirk, Artie Shaw, Louis Jordan and Fletcher Henderson.

.

In France, recordings come into the public domain after 50 years. So rational business practice coincides with chronological historical continuity. Early Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson from 1947 are recent releases (1948 Buddy Rich is next). The 50th anniversary of the LP, which engendered a recording explosion, is coming up in six years or so. Petard does not intend to deal with it. Instead, he will go back and pick up Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnet and other previously omitted names.

.

Petard is a bachelor, and he does not own a television set. Basically, he listens to music all day. His pleasure-motivated, well-informed taste translates into compilations that provide people with a new perspective on worthy stylists who are, or were, or ought to be important to them — Don Byas, Dickie Wells, Pee Wee Russell, Slam Stewart, Bud Freeman. A few choices are of historical more than musical interest — the jump-band leader Skeets Tolbert and Buddy Johnson, whose late '40s big band paved the way for R&B, are two examples.

.

Catering to collectors limits Petard's market. Niche marketer par excellence, he knows his niche; he's in it. Overhead is about as low as it can get, only himself in his own apartment. Subletting all goods and services, he breaks even selling 1,000 copies. He's like a mom-and-pop store. His product never spoils or goes out of style.

.

All Classics CDs are still available and still, though maybe slowly, selling. There are five CDs under the name of the trumpeter Henry (Red) Allen. The complete works of each chosen musician remaining available is a given.

.

"Classics presents the entire mosaic of an artist's musical activity," the critic Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times. "The good, the bad and the ugly. It's democratic. Reissues that don't give all the recorded output of any artist are by definition ideological works, since decisions are based on the viewpoint of those compiling the music."

.

Petard, 50, was in charge of marketing for EMI/France before going into business for himself after he understood that CDs made compilation practical by allowing as many as 25 tracks, about 78 minutes, on one disk. (Body and Soul, another label he runs, just released the France Telecom-sponsored supermarket-distributed "Best of Billie Holiday, 1935-1948.") Classics has competition in France, the Masters of Jazz series, but Petard was first and says they were inspired by him. Nothing nearly as authoritative exists in the United States.

.

The design is reminiscent of a 78 rpm label. Seventy-eights came in plain paper sleeves, the label itself was the only "packaging." Musicians' photos are from when the music was made. Although the music is old, the customers are by no means only elderly. Anatol Schenker, an English teacher in Basel, Switzerland, who writes the knowledgeable English-language album notes, is in his 30s. Schenker is representative of the sort of people of all ages who get together to listen to and talk about the music. And a new generation is discovering it.

.

Each month's releases announce what's coming next; they are planned two years in advance. Collectors are scholarly people who demand reliable, complete documentation. The notes include biographical details, discographies, original matrix numbers, complete personnel and where and when and under what conditions the music was recorded. - MOST sales are in Western Europe, followed by North America. (Japanese fans are not generally interested in jazz made before the 1950s.) Through record-shop feedback, Petard learned that Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett are enthusiasts. The Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte and the French actor and director Pierre Mondy are fans. Distribution is international. ''I have to be very careful not to disappoint my customers,'' Petard says. ''I would disappoint them if I left out basic information like the matrix number. If I spent not enough money or did not pay enough attention to the sound quality. Or if, to make things easier for myself, I omitted a recording because I could not find it. These people know the difference. They know how to listen.'' The Classics record label has been releasing five jazz reissues a month for what, by the end of December, will add up to 600 CDs in 10 years. That's five a month, on the 15th of each month, "like a magazine," says Gilles Petard, the label's founder and one-man-band director. "I've never missed a deadline."

.

Reissues only, all of the material was originally released on 78 rpms. Most came from Petard's personal collection, which covers just about every wall of every room and hall of his large Parisian apartment. (What he doesn't have he knows where to find.) There are all formats — 78s, 45s, LPs and CDs. He prefers listening to one-tune-per-disk 78s, where you have to motivate yourself to get up and choose the next number.

.

Classics consists of everything ever recorded by close to 200 musicians. "Everything," however, requires qualification. It does not mean everything. It refers to studio recordings the artists originally agreed were the best versions of each song. No alternate takes, no air shots, no concerts, no pirates — only definitive studio releases, but all of them.

.

The big name bandleaders represented run from the usual suspects — Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Count Basie — to the once top-billed, now overlooked Don Redman, Gene Krupa, Andy Kirk, Artie Shaw, Louis Jordan and Fletcher Henderson.

.

In France, recordings come into the public domain after 50 years. So rational business practice coincides with chronological historical continuity. Early Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson from 1947 are recent releases (1948 Buddy Rich is next). The 50th anniversary of the LP, which engendered a recording explosion, is coming up in six years or so. Petard does not intend to deal with it. Instead, he will go back and pick up Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnet and other previously omitted names.

.

Petard is a bachelor, and he does not own a television set. Basically, he listens to music all day. His pleasure-motivated, well-informed taste translates into compilations that provide people with a new perspective on worthy stylists who are, or were, or ought to be important to them — Don Byas, Dickie Wells, Pee Wee Russell, Slam Stewart, Bud Freeman. A few choices are of historical more than musical interest — the jump-band leader Skeets Tolbert and Buddy Johnson, whose late '40s big band paved the way for R&B, are two examples.

.

Catering to collectors limits Petard's market. Niche marketer par excellence, he knows his niche; he's in it. Overhead is about as low as it can get, only himself in his own apartment. Subletting all goods and services, he breaks even selling 1,000 copies. He's like a mom-and-pop store. His product never spoils or goes out of style.

.

All Classics CDs are still available and still, though maybe slowly, selling. There are five CDs under the name of the trumpeter Henry (Red) Allen. The complete works of each chosen musician remaining available is a given.

.

"Classics presents the entire mosaic of an artist's musical activity," the critic Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times. "The good, the bad and the ugly. It's democratic. Reissues that don't give all the recorded output of any artist are by definition ideological works, since decisions are based on the viewpoint of those compiling the music."

.

Petard, 50, was in charge of marketing for EMI/France before going into business for himself after he understood that CDs made compilation practical by allowing as many as 25 tracks, about 78 minutes, on one disk. (Body and Soul, another label he runs, just released the France Telecom-sponsored supermarket-distributed "Best of Billie Holiday, 1935-1948.") Classics has competition in France, the Masters of Jazz series, but Petard was first and says they were inspired by him. Nothing nearly as authoritative exists in the United States.

.

The design is reminiscent of a 78 rpm label. Seventy-eights came in plain paper sleeves, the label itself was the only "packaging." Musicians' photos are from when the music was made. Although the music is old, the customers are by no means only elderly. Anatol Schenker, an English teacher in Basel, Switzerland, who writes the knowledgeable English-language album notes, is in his 30s. Schenker is representative of the sort of people of all ages who get together to listen to and talk about the music. And a new generation is discovering it.

.

Each month's releases announce what's coming next; they are planned two years in advance. Collectors are scholarly people who demand reliable, complete documentation. The notes include biographical details, discographies, original matrix numbers, complete personnel and where and when and under what conditions the music was recorded. - MOST sales are in Western Europe, followed by North America. (Japanese fans are not generally interested in jazz made before the 1950s.) Through record-shop feedback, Petard learned that Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett are enthusiasts. The Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte and the French actor and director Pierre Mondy are fans. Distribution is international. ''I have to be very careful not to disappoint my customers,'' Petard says. ''I would disappoint them if I left out basic information like the matrix number. If I spent not enough money or did not pay enough attention to the sound quality. Or if, to make things easier for myself, I omitted a recording because I could not find it. These people know the difference. They know how to listen.'' The Classics record label has been releasing five jazz reissues a month for what, by the end of December, will add up to 600 CDs in 10 years. That's five a month, on the 15th of each month, "like a magazine," says Gilles Petard, the label's founder and one-man-band director. "I've never missed a deadline."

.

Reissues only, all of the material was originally released on 78 rpms. Most came from Petard's personal collection, which covers just about every wall of every room and hall of his large Parisian apartment. (What he doesn't have he knows where to find.) There are all formats — 78s, 45s, LPs and CDs. He prefers listening to one-tune-per-disk 78s, where you have to motivate yourself to get up and choose the next number.

.

Classics consists of everything ever recorded by close to 200 musicians. "Everything," however, requires qualification. It does not mean everything. It refers to studio recordings the artists originally agreed were the best versions of each song. No alternate takes, no air shots, no concerts, no pirates — only definitive studio releases, but all of them.

.

The big name bandleaders represented run from the usual suspects — Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Count Basie — to the once top-billed, now overlooked Don Redman, Gene Krupa, Andy Kirk, Artie Shaw, Louis Jordan and Fletcher Henderson.

.

In France, recordings come into the public domain after 50 years. So rational business practice coincides with chronological historical continuity. Early Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson from 1947 are recent releases (1948 Buddy Rich is next). The 50th anniversary of the LP, which engendered a recording explosion, is coming up in six years or so. Petard does not intend to deal with it. Instead, he will go back and pick up Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnet and other previously omitted names.

.

Petard is a bachelor, and he does not own a television set. Basically, he listens to music all day. His pleasure-motivated, well-informed taste translates into compilations that provide people with a new perspective on worthy stylists who are, or were, or ought to be important to them — Don Byas, Dickie Wells, Pee Wee Russell, Slam Stewart, Bud Freeman. A few choices are of historical more than musical interest — the jump-band leader Skeets Tolbert and Buddy Johnson, whose late '40s big band paved the way for R&B, are two examples.

.

Catering to collectors limits Petard's market. Niche marketer par excellence, he knows his niche; he's in it. Overhead is about as low as it can get, only himself in his own apartment. Subletting all goods and services, he breaks even selling 1,000 copies. He's like a mom-and-pop store. His product never spoils or goes out of style.

.

All Classics CDs are still available and still, though maybe slowly, selling. There are five CDs under the name of the trumpeter Henry (Red) Allen. The complete works of each chosen musician remaining available is a given.

.

"Classics presents the entire mosaic of an artist's musical activity," the critic Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times. "The good, the bad and the ugly. It's democratic. Reissues that don't give all the recorded output of any artist are by definition ideological works, since decisions are based on the viewpoint of those compiling the music."

.

Petard, 50, was in charge of marketing for EMI/France before going into business for himself after he understood that CDs made compilation practical by allowing as many as 25 tracks, about 78 minutes, on one disk. (Body and Soul, another label he runs, just released the France Telecom-sponsored supermarket-distributed "Best of Billie Holiday, 1935-1948.") Classics has competition in France, the Masters of Jazz series, but Petard was first and says they were inspired by him. Nothing nearly as authoritative exists in the United States.

.

The design is reminiscent of a 78 rpm label. Seventy-eights came in plain paper sleeves, the label itself was the only "packaging." Musicians' photos are from when the music was made. Although the music is old, the customers are by no means only elderly. Anatol Schenker, an English teacher in Basel, Switzerland, who writes the knowledgeable English-language album notes, is in his 30s. Schenker is representative of the sort of people of all ages who get together to listen to and talk about the music. And a new generation is discovering it.

.

Each month's releases announce what's coming next; they are planned two years in advance. Collectors are scholarly people who demand reliable, complete documentation. The notes include biographical details, discographies, original matrix numbers, complete personnel and where and when and under what conditions the music was recorded. - MOST sales are in Western Europe, followed by North America. (Japanese fans are not generally interested in jazz made before the 1950s.) Through record-shop feedback, Petard learned that Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett are enthusiasts. The Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte and the French actor and director Pierre Mondy are fans. Distribution is international. ''I have to be very careful not to disappoint my customers,'' Petard says. ''I would disappoint them if I left out basic information like the matrix number. If I spent not enough money or did not pay enough attention to the sound quality. Or if, to make things easier for myself, I omitted a recording because I could not find it. These people know the difference. They know how to listen.'' The Classics record label has been releasing five jazz reissues a month for what, by the end of December, will add up to 600 CDs in 10 years. That's five a month, on the 15th of each month, "like a magazine," says Gilles Petard, the label's founder and one-man-band director. "I've never missed a deadline."

.

Reissues only, all of the material was originally released on 78 rpms. Most came from Petard's personal collection, which covers just about every wall of every room and hall of his large Parisian apartment. (What he doesn't have he knows where to find.) There are all formats — 78s, 45s, LPs and CDs. He prefers listening to one-tune-per-disk 78s, where you have to motivate yourself to get up and choose the next number.

.

Classics consists of everything ever recorded by close to 200 musicians. "Everything," however, requires qualification. It does not mean everything. It refers to studio recordings the artists originally agreed were the best versions of each song. No alternate takes, no air shots, no concerts, no pirates — only definitive studio releases, but all of them.

.

The big name bandleaders represented run from the usual suspects — Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Count Basie — to the once top-billed, now overlooked Don Redman, Gene Krupa, Andy Kirk, Artie Shaw, Louis Jordan and Fletcher Henderson.

.

In France, recordings come into the public domain after 50 years. So rational business practice coincides with chronological historical continuity. Early Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson from 1947 are recent releases (1948 Buddy Rich is next). The 50th anniversary of the LP, which engendered a recording explosion, is coming up in six years or so. Petard does not intend to deal with it. Instead, he will go back and pick up Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnet and other previously omitted names.

.

Petard is a bachelor, and he does not own a television set. Basically, he listens to music all day. His pleasure-motivated, well-informed taste translates into compilations that provide people with a new perspective on worthy stylists who are, or were, or ought to be important to them — Don Byas, Dickie Wells, Pee Wee Russell, Slam Stewart, Bud Freeman. A few choices are of historical more than musical interest — the jump-band leader Skeets Tolbert and Buddy Johnson, whose late '40s big band paved the way for R&B, are two examples.

.

Catering to collectors limits Petard's market. Niche marketer par excellence, he knows his niche; he's in it. Overhead is about as low as it can get, only himself in his own apartment. Subletting all goods and services, he breaks even selling 1,000 copies. He's like a mom-and-pop store. His product never spoils or goes out of style.

.

All Classics CDs are still available and still, though maybe slowly, selling. There are five CDs under the name of the trumpeter Henry (Red) Allen. The complete works of each chosen musician remaining available is a given.

.

"Classics presents the entire mosaic of an artist's musical activity," the critic Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times. "The good, the bad and the ugly. It's democratic. Reissues that don't give all the recorded output of any artist are by definition ideological works, since decisions are based on the viewpoint of those compiling the music."

.

Petard, 50, was in charge of marketing for EMI/France before going into business for himself after he understood that CDs made compilation practical by allowing as many as 25 tracks, about 78 minutes, on one disk. (Body and Soul, another label he runs, just released the France Telecom-sponsored supermarket-distributed "Best of Billie Holiday, 1935-1948.") Classics has competition in France, the Masters of Jazz series, but Petard was first and says they were inspired by him. Nothing nearly as authoritative exists in the United States.

.

The design is reminiscent of a 78 rpm label. Seventy-eights came in plain paper sleeves, the label itself was the only "packaging." Musicians' photos are from when the music was made. Although the music is old, the customers are by no means only elderly. Anatol Schenker, an English teacher in Basel, Switzerland, who writes the knowledgeable English-language album notes, is in his 30s. Schenker is representative of the sort of people of all ages who get together to listen to and talk about the music. And a new generation is discovering it.

.

Each month's releases announce what's coming next; they are planned two years in advance. Collectors are scholarly people who demand reliable, complete documentation. The notes include biographical details, discographies, original matrix numbers, complete personnel and where and when and under what conditions the music was recorded. - MOST sales are in Western Europe, followed by North America. (Japanese fans are not generally interested in jazz made before the 1950s.) Through record-shop feedback, Petard learned that Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett are enthusiasts. The Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte and the French actor and director Pierre Mondy are fans. Distribution is international. ''I have to be very careful not to disappoint my customers,'' Petard says. ''I would disappoint them if I left out basic information like the matrix number. If I spent not enough money or did not pay enough attention to the sound quality. Or if, to make things easier for myself, I omitted a recording because I could not find it. These people know the difference. They know how to listen.''

A good example of Classics completeness is their Cab Calloway series. Most of the sides included in the various volumes from the series had never been reissued in any form since they were came out on 78s decades ago. The Classics people made a thorough search of whatever was available to complete the volumes. An incredible achievement!

[Guest]

I own several of this series and usually get them on Amazon used. Caiman is the merchant who usually has

them at a very reasonable price. They are shipped very quickly. The sound quality sometimes is not the

best, however, I am not an audiophile and just want to listen to the music.

Worlds Records is an excellent source, but expensive.

I've ordered from EJazzlines once, and it took forever to get a Gerry Mulligan mini LP format CD.

There was a boxed set entitled BeBop in Britain which I wanted but didn't want to pay $125 for it.

A merchant on eBay had the same material on two double CDs on the Cool Note label which cost perhaps

$13 plus shipping from the UK and they arrived in a few days.

[jazzbo]

The Classics just keep getting better and better.

I still prefer some other applicable series where I can find them such as the Henry Red Allens on Collectors Classics, the Christians on Masters of Jazz, those awesome Mckinney's Cotton Pickers on Frog, etc. but the Collectors discs keep sounding better and serve a very valuable service.

[Brad]

This is a very good series and they reissue material you wouldn't otherwise find on LP. Received my first introduction to Chu Berry so no complaints. The alternative takes might be nice but it's hard to complain when there is no alternative.

[LarryCurleyMoe]

Just snaked up a Chick Webb Chron. Classics and one of them FINE Teddy Wilson's at a local used bookstore for 6 bucks each!

I have 4-5 Teddy Wilson volumes and 4-5 Earl Hines and THEY ARE FRIGGIN' OUTSTANDING...as are the Duke Ellington's I have. I recommend JOHN KIRBY volume too.

Chronolgical Classics are always a great buy to me - the variety and personnel SURPRISES are unbeatable IMO...

MEANWHILE...prices of OOP Chron. Classics continue to SKYROCKET on Amazon & half.com

- LCM

PS - these highly inclusive volumes also make me realize HOW MUCH GREAT MUSIC was recorded in the distant past which, due to CAPITALISTIC and other reasons, remains neglected throughout recent history...MAN!

Edited March 8, 2006 by LarryCurleyMoe

[JSngry]

PS - these highly inclusive volumes also make me realize HOW MUCH GREAT MUSIC was recorded in the distant past which, due to CAPITALISTIC and other reasons, remains neglected throughout recent history...MAN!

Indeed, but otoh, it's those exact same CAPITALISTIC and other reasons that caused it to be recorded in the first place, so...

[HolyStitt]

The alternative takes might be nice but it's hard to complain when there is no alternative.

This is actually the reason I love the label.

When I want to hear Charlie Parker on CD, each set usually has 2 or 3 alternate takes, so it's nice to be able grab these discs, and have the choice to not sort through any of the alternate takes. It's wonderful to hear how he chronologically went from bebop dates to strings dates and back & forth. The Hawkins CD's are great because they have songs I have never seen on any other CD.

Off the top of my head, I have the Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Bud Powell, and Oscar Pettiford CD's.

[Chuck Nessa]

For those interested in alternates (not issued in the Classics series), I hope you are aware of the Neatwork label which is issuing the "missed" takes. I have a bunch of 'em.

[medjuck]

I'm suprised no-one has mentioned that the booklets with the jazz series refer to them as "Chronogical" (sic) on the outside cover .

[Free For All]

I'm suprised no-one has mentioned that the booklets with the jazz series refer to them as "Chronogical" (sic) on the outside cover .

Their copy editors must also work for Blue Note!