The Hot Fives & Sevens

by Jsp Records

$28.98
25% off
buy from amazon.com
Average Rating: * * * * half star
Sales Rank:6608 (lower is better)
Price as of:01/06/2009 1:11:09 AM MST
Price Used:$15.00
Shipping:Free Shipping on most orders over $25*
Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Release Date:1999-10-26
Label:Jsp Records
UPC:788065010027
Binding:Audio CD
Published By:Jsp Records
ASIN:B00001ZWLP
Category:Music

Tracks on The Hot Fives & Sevens by Jsp Records

  1. My Heart - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Lil
  2. Yes! I'm in the Barrel - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  3. Gut Bucket Blues - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  4. Come Back Sweet Papa - Louis Armstrong, Barbarin, Paul
  5. Georgia Grind - Louis Armstrong, Williams, Spencer
  6. Heebie Jeebies - Louis Armstrong, Atkins, Boyd
  7. Cornet Chop Suey - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  8. Oriental Strut - Louis Armstrong, Saint Cyr, Johnny
  9. You're Next - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  10. Muskrat Ramble - Louis Armstrong, Gilbert, Ray
  11. Don't Forget to Mess Around - Louis Armstrong, Barbarin, Paul
  12. I'm Gonna Gitcha - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  13. Droppin' Shucks - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  14. Who' Sit - Louis Armstrong,
  15. He Likes It Slow - Louis Armstrong, Edwards, J.
  16. The King of the Zulus - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Lil
  17. Big Fat Ma and Skinny Pa - Louis Armstrong, Jones, Richard [1]
  18. Lonesome Blues - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  19. Sweet Little Papa - Louis Armstrong, Ory, Kid
  20. Jazz Lips - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  21. Skid-Dat-De-Dat - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  22. Big Butter and Egg Man - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  23. Sunset Cafe Stomp - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  24. You Made Me Love You - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  25. Irish Black Bottom - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  26. Willie the Weeper - Louis Armstrong, Bloom, Marty
  27. Wild Man Blues - Louis Armstrong, Morton, Jelly Roll
  28. Chicago Breakdown - Louis Armstrong, Morton, Jelly Roll
  29. Alligator Crawl - Louis Armstrong, Davis, Joe [Jazz]
  30. Potato Head Blues - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  31. Melancholy Blues - Louis Armstrong, Bloom, Marty
  32. Weary Blues - Louis Armstrong, Matthews, Artie
  33. Twelfth Street Rag - Louis Armstrong, Bowman, Euday L.
  34. Keyhole Blues - Louis Armstrong, Wilson, N.
  35. S.O.L. Blues - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  36. Gully Low Blues - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  37. That's When I'll Come Back to You - Louis Armstrong, Biggs, Frank
  38. Put 'Em Down Blues - Louis Armstrong, Bennett, E.J.
  39. Ory's Creole Trombone - Louis Armstrong, Ory, Kid
  40. The Last Time - Louis Armstrong, Martin, Sara
  41. Struttin' With Some Barbecue - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  42. Got No Blues - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  43. Once in a While - Louis Armstrong, Butler, William
  44. I'm Not Rough - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  45. Hotter Than That - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  46. Savoy Blues - Louis Armstrong, Ory, Kid
  47. Fireworks - Louis Armstrong, Williams, Clarence
  48. Skip the Gutter - Louis Armstrong, Williams, Spencer
  49. A Monday Date - Louis Armstrong, Hines, Earl
  50. Don't Jive Me - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  51. West End Blues - Louis Armstrong, King Oliver
  52. Sugar Foot Strut - Louis Armstrong, Pierce, Billie
  53. Two Deuces - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  54. Squeeze Me - Louis Armstrong, Waller, Fats
  55. Knee Drops - Louis Armstrong, Hardin, Lil
  56. Savoyagers' Stomp - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  57. No, Papa, No - Louis Armstrong, Spivey, Victoria
  58. Basin Street Blues - Louis Armstrong, Williams, Spencer
  59. Beau Koo Jack - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  60. Save It, Pretty Mama - Louis Armstrong, Davis, Joe [Jazz]
  61. Weather Bird - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  62. Muggles - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  63. Hear Me Talkin' to Ya? - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  64. St. James Infirmary - Louis Armstrong, Primrose, Joe
  65. Tight Like This - Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Louis
  66. Knockin' a Jug - Louis Armstrong, Condon, Eddie
  67. Symphonic Raps - Louis Armstrong, Abrahams, Maurice
  68. No One Else But You - Louis Armstrong, Redman, Don
  69. I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Louis Armstrong, McHugh, Jimmy
  70. Mahogany Hall Stomp - Louis Armstrong, Williams, Spencer
  71. Ain't Misbehavin' - Louis Armstrong, Brooks, Harry
  72. Black and Blue - Louis Armstrong, Brooks, Harry
  73. That Rhythm Man - Louis Armstrong, Brooks, Harry
  74. Sweet Savannah Sue - Louis Armstrong, Brooks, Harry
  75. Some of These Days - Louis Armstrong, Brooks, Shelton
  76. Some of These Days - Louis Armstrong, Brooks, Shelton
  77. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You) - Louis Armstrong, Fisher, Mark
  78. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You) - Louis Armstrong, Fisher, Mark
  79. After You've Gone - Louis Armstrong, Creamer, Henry
  80. Ain't Got Nobody - Louis Armstrong, Fields, Dorothy
  81. Dallas Blues - Louis Armstrong, Garrett, Lloyd
  82. St. Louis Blues - Louis Armstrong, Handy, W.C.
  83. Rockin' Chair - Louis Armstrong, Carmichael, Hoagy
  84. Song of the Islands - Louis Armstrong, King, Charles [Voca
  85. Bessie Couldn't Help It - Louis Armstrong, Bayha, Charles A.
  86. Blue Turning Grey over You - Louis Armstrong, Razaf, Andy
  87. Dear Old Southland - Louis Armstrong, Creamer, Henry
  88. Rockin' Chair - Louis Armstrong, Carmichael, Hoagy
  89. I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Louis Armstrong, McHugh, Jimmy

Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions

Amazon.com

Between 1925 and 1929, Louis Armstrong created one of the first great bodies of work in jazz. While he worked regularly as a soloist with big bands, he began his career as a leader with the first all-star studio group in jazz, the Hot Five. The other four musicians were Armstrong's wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, on piano; Johnny Dodds on clarinet; Kid Ory on trombone; and Johnny St. Cyr on banjo. The music's first great soloist, Armstrong was reshaping jazz by sheer improvisational magic, gradually diminishing the role of the traditional New Orleans ensemble with the clarion brilliance of his trumpet. Possessing an uncanny blend of exuberance and creativity, he combined virtuosic declarations with a talent for the subtlest shifts in phrasing and melodic variation, creating rich emotional statements that could hint at loss in the midst of joy or the promise of better things in the most sorrowful blues. The band expands here, to the Hot Seven and larger ensembles, and it gains soloists who applied Armstrong's lessons to their own instruments--musicians such as pianist Earl Hines and trombonist Jack Teagarden--but all come under the imprint of Armstrong's flowering genius, as both trumpeter and singer.

It's almost impossible to overrate this material. It may be the most influential music in jazz history, establishing standards for originality and sustained invention that have rarely been matched. The JSP set is a superb reissue of Armstrong's essential work. The remastering is by John R.T. Davies, widely acknowledged as the dean of engineers in the field of early jazz, and the resultant sound is simply the best this work has ever enjoyed. There are alternate takes of the later material on Columbia Legacy (including Louis in New York and St. Louis Blues), so collectors will want both. But this recording is superior listening, at a price that also makes it an ideal introduction to one of the few titans of jazz. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

On the JSP vs Columbia debate - Reviewed on 2008-11-28
* * * * *
1 customer found this review helpful.

As the review by Comic Online here - well worth consulting - reminds us: the historical importance and sheer delight of this music vastly outweighs issues of presentation. If you cue up, say, "Potato Head Blues" - and can spend more than a moment or two critically assessing the cleanliness of the bass frequencies before strutting around your living room like an umbrella man at the end of a New Orleans jazz funeral - I'm afraid you've lost the plot. But ironically, it's the very preciousness of this art that makes us all the more eager to see it framed as perfectly as possible. So the debate over editions must have its moment. But as we proceed, remember C.S. Lewis's observation in "The Great Divorce": the book lover so enamored of his first editions that he no longer enjoys reading has fallen victim to one of the subtlest traps.

Richard Cook and Brian Morton - in their authoritative "The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings" - give both the JSP and Columbia editions a rare fifth star, their highest accolade: "To our ears, while there are numerous differences along the way, both sets do a remarkable job on the material, and it's hard to see anyone being disappointed with either." Given that I don't have the Columbia discs for direct comparison, that's enough to reassure me that I'm not missing out on anything important musically. Columbia's booklet is said to be as superior as their corporate financial advantages could make it - but who ever reads those more than once or twice?

My philosophy of audio restoration leans toward the preservation of as much original ambience as possible - even at the cost of increased surface noise, for which I have perhaps a higher-than-average tolerance. Although this would - on the basis of Comic Online's description - seem to favor Columbia, the very high reputation of John R.T. Davies in general and this example of his work in particular satisfies me that the baby has not been parted from the bath water.

Finally, in a purely extra-musical consideration that may be of no importance to you at all: Which company would it would make you feel better to support with your purchase dollars? This small, labor-of-love outfit that undertook the project out of a sincere affection for the music? Or the multinational conglomerate who, in a spare moment from manufacturing PlayStations, figured it could wring a little extra income from a copyright that has been lazily exploited for many decades now?
Rockin' the Hooverville - Reviewed on 2008-06-09
* * * * *
1 customer found this review helpful.

The stateside legality of this box set may be a bit dubious- this music is public domain in England, where copyright laws are a bit less stingy- but I don't think that you need to worry about federal agents kicking down your door. Like most import compilations of American pre-war music, these four discs live in a legal grey area here in the states, and it's a fairly light grey, at that. And there's hardly anything immoral about it: The people who created this music don't have much use for royalty payments, what with their being dead and all. In any case, purchasing this box set instead of the inferior and overpriced Sony package sends a good message to the big companies while providing monetary support to one of the greatest reissue labels in the history of mankind. Anyway, the fact that it's 2008 and you still pay for your music already makes you something akin to a saint.

But then again, maybe you should buy whichever set you're comfortable with. I'm not here to extol the virtues of JSP or denounce Sony. The purpose of this review is to praise Louis Armstrong's recordings with the Hot Five and the Hot Seven, and that's exactly what I intend to do. This is some of the most joyous music in the history of mankind, a freewheeling evocation of a lost world bursting at the seams with thrill and rebellion and sweat and booze and love and melody, with horns swirling and speaking and singing over and around each other while pianos twinkle drunkenly beneath. Without ever sounding dated, these recordings effortlessly evoke a magical world of fun-filled speakeasies, irreverent flapper girls. And boundless investment opportunities in Florida land. You need to get this.
Is this the best available hot five and hot seven box? - Reviewed on 2008-05-28
* * * * *
2 customers found this review helpful.

Frankly, I don't know. I still have two hot five and hot seven audio tapes bought in the late 1980s (edition CBS masterpieces) and they also sound pretty good (and I didn't drink no gin... sorry for the lame "Monday Date" joke).
Basically, all I can say is, these cds sound great on my quite average cd player, confirming everything I have known about Armstrong before (and about Jimmy Dodds, Zutty Singleton, Baby Dodds, Kid Ory , Lonnie Johnson and others,
while I must admit I'm only starting to get (and enjoy) Earl Hines.

Aditional, non hot five and non hot seven tracks certainly augment my understanding of Satchmo and his golden era, with adittional thrill of Jack Teagarden, Eddie Lang or Hoagy Carmichael on some tracks.
Admittedly, discs 3 and 4 contain some (commercial) duds, but the amount of brilliant music in this box is amazing...
Just listen to the first, best or at least seminal versions of songs such as "Struttin' with some barbicue", "West End Blues", "Potato Head Blues", "S.O.L. Blues", "Fireworks", "Ain't Misbehavin", "Knockin' the Jug"; "St. James Infirmary"....

BTW, it is important to know that many songs that have the word "blues" in their title don't really belong to that category... Just as the term jazz in the 20s didn't mean the same thing it means today.

p.s.
In very informative liner notes we read about banjoist Mancy Carr, while the song listing gives his name as Cara; if I remember my CBS Jazz masterpieces liner notes correctly, "Cara" was an early misprint that snowballed into the future decades.

p.p.s.
The only real fault of this cd box- names of authors of the songs are sometimes listed in the liner notes, there's no complete list... Ofcourse, some songs are by Ory, some by Lil Hardin/Armstorng, some by King Oliver, some by Fats Waller, but it would be nice to have the data next to the song title. But, the performers (and date) listing is complete.
LOVED the first 2 disks... - Reviewed on 2008-03-17
* * * *
2 customers found this review not to be helpful.
...though the 3rd was so-so and the 4th was barely listenable...the tunes degenerated from classic New Orleans jazz/blues/swing on the first two disks to big band pomposity and Lawrence-Welkish corniness by the 4th disk. Your mileage may vary of course if you actually enjoy the big-band style of Armstrong's later work.

The audio quality is fine, it's obviously not ideal but really for this type of music there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, you hear the occasional scratches, crackles and pops in between tracks but the good tunes still sound plenty good as far as I'm concerned.

Would much rather have an ok recording of brilliant music than a brilliant recording of crappy music!
Don't touch the hiss! - Reviewed on 2007-03-09
* *
6 customers found this review helpful, 4 did not.

If it was just the music I'm rating, it would of course get a million stars. However, the music is on a remastered CD. "Remastered" generally means getting your oldie jazz sounding as if it's being strangled in a can.
Granted the sound here is "clear" and the bass is a bit boosted. The acoustics, reverb, are however to an extent thrown out with the hiss.
Again, I've heard a lot worse than this. But generally, French jazz re-issues are better (though they can be a mixed bag). Why? Because they leave more hiss!! The catch? The French CD's are either expensive or they contain fewer songs for your money than these cheapo boxed sets.

Addition a few months later: have now had the chance to compare this remastering to that of other CDs (not the Hot 5s, other bands), and I confess this set is better done than many others. So if you're going for CD, I'd still recommend this one. (My own background is growing up listening to my dad's vinyl jazz LP's)
Listen to the sound clips of different CDs, let your ears be the judge.
Read More Customer Reviews »
Go To Amazon Product Page

* - See Amazon Product Page for shipping and pricing details.


Book Subjects