Performers include: Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Stephane Grapelli, Eddie Condon, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Mercer, Mel Torme, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Eddie Heywood, Lee Wiley, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden.
Personnel: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet); Wilbur Daniels, Leo Watson, Billie Holiday (vocals); Mike Bryan, Dave Barbour, Django Reinhardt, Eddie Condon, Freddie Green, Lee Blair, Lawrence Lucie, Albert Harris, Teddy Bunn, Carl Kress, Carmen Mastren (guitar); St‚phane Grappelli (violin); Rupert Cole, Hilton Jefferson, Matty Matlock, Russell Procope (clarinet, alto saxophone); Bingie Madison (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Joe Dixon (clarinet, baritone saxophone); Ed Hall, Pee Wee Russell, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Hank D'Amico, Buster Bailey (clarinet); Sidney Bechet (soprano saxophone); Jack Washington (alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); Marshall Royal, Benny Carter , Bill Stegmeyer, Arthur "Skeets" Herfurt, Les Robinson, Charlie Holmes (alto saxophone); Arthur Rollini (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Miller, Emmet Carl, Lester Young , Stan Getz , Ben Webster (tenor saxophone); Chuck Gentry, Danny Bank, Ernie Caceres (baritone saxophone); Chris Griffin , Manny Klein, Tony Faso, Conrad Gozzo , Louis Mucci, Clyde Hurley, Ed Lewis, John Best , Eddie Tompkins, Max Kaminsky, Ray Linn, Roy Eldridge, Shad Collins, Yank Lawson, Billy Butterfield, Shelton Hemphill, Buck Clayton (trumpet); Bobby Hackett (cornet); Dicky Wells, Henry Coker, Ward Silloway , Jack Teagarden, Kai Winding, Keg Johnson, Lou McGarity, Si Zentner, Vernon Brown, Vic Dickenson, Will Bradley, Benny Morton, Dan Minor, Claude Jones, Chauncey Welsch, Cutty Cutshall (trombone); Count Basie, Eddie Heywood, Fletcher Henderson, Herman Chittison, Horace Henderson, Jess Stacy, Joe Bushkin, Joe Sullivan , Johnny Guarnieri, Luis Russell, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Milt Raskin, Stanley Black, Teddy Wilson, Gene Schroeder, Charlie Queener (piano); Cozy Cole, Charles Blackwell, George Wettling, Alphonse Steele, Jo Jones , Morey Feld, Nick Fatool, Paul Barbarin, Johnny Blowers (drums).
Recording information: London, England (10/24/1933-12/03/1945); Los Angeles, CA (10/24/1933-12/03/1945); New York, NY (10/24/1933-12/03/1945); Paris, France (10/24/1933-12/03/1945).
These 25 tracks of vintage jazz stretch from 1933 to 1945. You get a little Sidney Bechet doing "Summertime," a lot of Eddie Condon (one with Jack Teagarden and Lee Wiley), truly classic Billie Holiday and Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Coleman Hawkins with separate takes of "Oh, Lady Be Good," Benny Goodman's "Fascinating Rhythm," Mel Torm‚ with Artie Shaw, rare George Wetting & His New Yorkers, St‚phane Grappelli, and more. This is a great starter set to hear Gershwin's evergreens, and the immortals of early-period American black classical music playing and singing -- and in "3-Dimensional Sound." Recommended. ~ Michael G. Nastos
