X-mas Gift List: CD's to buy now
Since the Christmas season is rolling around again, I figured I'd put together a list of essential recording you might want to look into or ask for this Christmas.
Overview Samplers:
Various: Pioneers of Jazz Guitar: 1927-1939 (Yazoo) - This is a 24 track collection of Eddie Lang, Carl Kress and Dick McDounough playing in solo and duo settings. These are examples of the original jazz guitar tradition. All jazz guitar starts here.
Various: Hittin' on All Six (Proper Box) - This $20 dollar, 4-CD set is a fantastic value, AND it's an essential collection of early jazz guitar. It has a pretty scattershot sampling of some artists, but has so many great tracks, and many that you'd otherwise have to buy a whole CD to get one track. Plus the liner notes are informative and the personel is listed on everything.
Various: Swing to Bop: Guitars in Flight 1939-1947 (Hep) - This one CD has perhaps the best sampling of rare and unique tracks, without adding too many duplicates. There is no Charlie Christian, no Freddie Green, no Eddie Lang, and no early Django - franky, you should have the complete recording of each of those artists anyway. This has a bunch of track you'd otherwise have a hard time finding. Pickin' for Patsy (Allan Reuss), Buck Jumpin' Al Casey) are crucial tracks, and the samplings of George Barnes, Mary Osbourne, early Les Paul, and Tony Mattola are really good.
Artist Collections:
Charlie Christian: The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Columbia Legacy) - This 4 CD Box Set is bascially the single best thing I've ever bought. Here, you get ALL of the BG sessions that CC played on, including all of the alternate takes. The sound quality is top notch (you can hear the pitches of Nick Fatool's tom-toms on the intro to "Sheik") and the liner notes are superlative. A MUST HAVE. But it doesn't have any airchecks or the Minton's jam sessions...
Charlie Christian: Complete Live Recordings (Definitive) - This 4 CD Box Set is all of the CC airchecks and jam sessions at Minton's. Add this to the Columbia box and you've got all of CC's recordings, except for his random sideman work with other artists such as Lionel Hampton, Edmund Hall, etc.
Oscar Aleman: Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1937-1957 (Acoustic) - This 2-disc is most of the Oscar Aleman that is available outside of Argentina. The liner notes are loving written by David Grisman and feature a transcription of Aleman's "Sweet Sue" solo.
George Barnes: The Complete Standard Transcrpitions - George Barnes is definately the first electric jazz guitarist, and he is pretty unknown quantity relative to his contemporaries. Growing up the midwest some of his work has a fantastic western swing influence, but its all jazz. This 2-disc features Barnes' own small group which is very orchestrated chamber jazz. Good stuff none-the-less.
I'll keep adding stuff as I think of them.
Overview Samplers:
Various: Pioneers of Jazz Guitar: 1927-1939 (Yazoo) - This is a 24 track collection of Eddie Lang, Carl Kress and Dick McDounough playing in solo and duo settings. These are examples of the original jazz guitar tradition. All jazz guitar starts here.
Various: Hittin' on All Six (Proper Box) - This $20 dollar, 4-CD set is a fantastic value, AND it's an essential collection of early jazz guitar. It has a pretty scattershot sampling of some artists, but has so many great tracks, and many that you'd otherwise have to buy a whole CD to get one track. Plus the liner notes are informative and the personel is listed on everything.
Various: Swing to Bop: Guitars in Flight 1939-1947 (Hep) - This one CD has perhaps the best sampling of rare and unique tracks, without adding too many duplicates. There is no Charlie Christian, no Freddie Green, no Eddie Lang, and no early Django - franky, you should have the complete recording of each of those artists anyway. This has a bunch of track you'd otherwise have a hard time finding. Pickin' for Patsy (Allan Reuss), Buck Jumpin' Al Casey) are crucial tracks, and the samplings of George Barnes, Mary Osbourne, early Les Paul, and Tony Mattola are really good.
Artist Collections:
Charlie Christian: The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Columbia Legacy) - This 4 CD Box Set is bascially the single best thing I've ever bought. Here, you get ALL of the BG sessions that CC played on, including all of the alternate takes. The sound quality is top notch (you can hear the pitches of Nick Fatool's tom-toms on the intro to "Sheik") and the liner notes are superlative. A MUST HAVE. But it doesn't have any airchecks or the Minton's jam sessions...
Charlie Christian: Complete Live Recordings (Definitive) - This 4 CD Box Set is all of the CC airchecks and jam sessions at Minton's. Add this to the Columbia box and you've got all of CC's recordings, except for his random sideman work with other artists such as Lionel Hampton, Edmund Hall, etc.
Oscar Aleman: Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1937-1957 (Acoustic) - This 2-disc is most of the Oscar Aleman that is available outside of Argentina. The liner notes are loving written by David Grisman and feature a transcription of Aleman's "Sweet Sue" solo.
George Barnes: The Complete Standard Transcrpitions - George Barnes is definately the first electric jazz guitarist, and he is pretty unknown quantity relative to his contemporaries. Growing up the midwest some of his work has a fantastic western swing influence, but its all jazz. This 2-disc features Barnes' own small group which is very orchestrated chamber jazz. Good stuff none-the-less.
I'll keep adding stuff as I think of them.
posted by Jonathan Stout @ 10:01 AM
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