Compilations and Samplers

[Christiern]

Debra: "I intend to get familiar with it as soon as possible, after reading the artists and songs on the cover!"

I discovered that my own CD copy was among many that were stolen, so I looked, found, and ordered a "used-but-as-new" replacement from Amazon ($8.99).

I appreciate the good words re "Apollo" in this thread.

[paul secor]

Have disliked them for many years but have to admit that at age 12 there several compliations that were mind-openers for me -- an EmArcy intro to jazz 12-inch LP, "Jazz of Two Decades," a Jazztone Society 10-inch, and two Columbia's -- "I Like Jazz" and another one whose title I forget. What happened to me then, and it could happen to anyone in that you know almost nothing stage, is that 1) you have no filter except your own naive taste, and 2) you tend to accept that whatever they've put out in that form is really central and good. So for instance, on the EmArcy there was Charlie Ventura's "East of Suez" with a wordless vocal by Jackie and Roy, which sounded so incredibly weird to me in part because it was damn weird and I didn't have enough background to know that it was -- which again made it seem even weirder. Sarah's "Shulie-A-Bop" was also on that one and seemed pretty weird in its incredible plasticity of phrasing and timbre, and the hypnotic casualness with which she addressed each member of her trio: "Crazy Joe Benjamin" --ha!), but not nearly as weird as "East of Suez." That was like reading your first science fiction story or horror story without knowing that there were such things as science fiction or horror stories. On the other hand, there were some absolute classics on those discs; the Jazztone had Norvo's "Congo Blues" with Bird and Diz, the second Columbia had Armstong's "Savoy Blues" and Ellington's "The Sergeant Was Shy." (The latter is still my favorite Ellington recording; can't argue that is the best, I just love it.) The Jazztone also had a corruscating Pee Wee Russell stop-time blues solo, "Stuyvesant Blues" with Max Kaminsky, which kind of scared me because of its naked intensity and because I had no idea a clarinet could sound like that.

Here's what was on "I Like Jazz:"

http://mfhorn.net/discography/compelations...ike%20Jazz.html

Can't find info on the others, but there was more than one Jazztone Society sampler. The one that I can find info on is not the one I heard back then.

I think it is worth acknowledging the difference between a multiple-artist compilation, and a single artist compilation. My Jamaican music collection consists largely of multi-artist comps, and several of my rock/pop/country discs are single-artist comps.

A Jazztone 10" sampler opened my eyes wider to the world of pre-hard bop jazz. There is one listed on eBay right now.

In jazz, I prefer to have the full, original albums for the most part. Unless, of course, the recordings preceded the LP era.

Yeah, that's a good point. When I posted, I was thinking in terms of jazz. I have loads of blues, r&b, African, rock n roll, etc. compilations.

[Free For All]

I've enjoyed this compilation:

[BeBop]

First, thanks Aggie for link to earlier discussion; I VanWinkled that one.

A couple of compilations in my collection that I enjoy: Central Avenue Sounds and the Jubilee Broadcast box. Tracking down originals/separates of these would be a suicide mission. And yes, I've got Jazz Omnibus, I Like Jazz and several down others on vinyl, from my callow youth.