One of the very first giants of jazz, Jelly Roll Morton did himself a lot of harm posthumously by exaggerating his worth, claiming to have invented jazz in 1902. Morton's accomplishments as an early innovator are so vast that he did not really need to stretch the truth. Morton was jazz's first great composer, writing such songs as "King Porter Stomp," "Grandpa's Spells," "Wolverine Blues," "The Pearls," "Mr. Jelly Roll," "Shreveport Stomp," "Milenburg Joys," "Black Bottom Stomp," "The Chant," "Original Jelly Roll Blues," "Doctor Jazz," "Wild Man Blues," "Winin' Boy Blues," "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say," "Don't You Leave Me Here," and "Sweet Substitute." He was a talented arranger (1926's "Black Bottom Stomp" is remarkable), getting the most out of the three-minute limitations of the 78 record by emphasizing changing instrumentation, concise solos and dynamics. He was a greatly underrated pianist who had his own individual style. Although he only took one vocal on records in the 1920s ("Doctor Jazz"), Morton in his late-'30s recordings proved to be an effective vocalist. And he was a true character.

For the life of him, Cab Calloway could never understand why anybody would want to buy an instrumental record by the Cab Calloway Orchestra. After all, he was the star. He was the one who everybody paid good money to hear. Who cared about Chu Berry, Walter "Foots" Thomas, Ben Webster, Ike Quebec, Doc Cheatham, Dizzy Gillespie, or Jonah Jones? Cab was the star. For this reason, any Calloway recording without a vocal automatically holds a special place in the hearts of classic jazz lovers worldwide. Eight of the 25 tracks on this album are instrumentals. While that might not seem like an awful lot, it is a noticeably higher percentage than what is found on many other Calloway retrospectives. Whether they were alternate takes or sides that were originally left unissued (probably because there was no vocal!), this disc contains a small gold mine because of wordless performances like "Pluckin' the Bass" -- that great feature for young Milt Hinton -- and Hilton Jefferson's alto saxophone outing "Lonesome Nights."

The final CD of the Classic label's complete reissuance of Cab Calloway's 1930-47 recordings also includes the last recordings of Cab with his regularly working big band. This 1998 CD starts out with a couple of superior but originally rejected numbers ("What's Buzzin', Cousin?" and "Chant of the Jungle") from 1942, followed by a couple of rare V-disc numbers from 1944. Otherwise, the material dates from 1945 or 1947 with just two selections from 1946. During this era, the still-popular Calloway was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his orchestra together, as were all the other bandleaders, but the quality of his music remained fairly high, even touched slightly by bop in some of the arranged passages. Although Calloway dominates the music, there are scattered and consistently worthwhile solos by trumpeter Jonah Jones and tenors Ike Quebec and Sam "The Man" Taylor. Virtually all of these recordings are obscure, making the release of this music quite noteworthy both for swing collectors and Calloway fans. Recommended, as are all of the CDs in Classics' perfectly done Cab Calloway series.

The 11th of the European Classics label's 12 Complete Cab Calloway CDs (reissuing all of his studio recordings of 1930-42) has the last recordings of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and tenor Chu Berry with Cab; other soloists include trumpeter Jonah Jones and trombonist Tyree Glenn. Calloway retained his popularity throughout the World War II years and was still in prime form during these 22 recordings. Highlights include a memorable "Blues in the Night," "A Smo-o-o-oth One," "Virginia, Georgia and Caroline" and a new version of "Minnie the Moocher." All of the 12 Classics CDs are highly recommended to Cab Calloway and swing fans; they are perfectly done.

Cab Calloway is in superior form throughout this CD (the tenth of 12 Calloway releases from the European Classics label), but it is often the short solos by his sidemen that attract one's interest, particularly those of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and tenor Chu Berry. By the last ten numbers (including his feature "Jonah Joins the Cab"), trumpeter Jonah Jones had become a member of the powerful band which could rank at the top echelon of swing orchestras. Calloway is also heard near the peak of his powers, and the highlights of this fine set include Benny Carter's "Lonesome Nights" (one of six instrumentals among the 22 numbers), "A Chicken Ain't Nothin' but a Bird," "Ebony Silhouette," "Hep Cat's Love Song," and two versions of "St. James Infirmary."

With such soloists as trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Chu Berry on tenor and trombonist Tyree Glenn, along with a rhythm section that includes bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Cozy Cole, this was a particularly strong edition of the Cab Calloway Orchestra. There are six instrumentals among the 22 selections on this Classics CD (the ninth of 12 Calloway Complete sets) including Berry's famous version of "Ghost of a Chance" and a spot for Gillespie on "Bye Bye Blues," but nearly every performance has its interesting solos; most of the ones with short spots for Gillespie have rarely been reissued. Cab Calloway, who as usual is the main star, is in spirited form. The other highlights include "Hi-De-Ho Serenade," "Fifteen Minute Intermission," "Papa's in Bed with His Britches On" and "Are You Hep to the Jive?" It's recommended, as are all of the CD's in this important series.

Cab Calloway had one of his strongest orchestras during the period covered by this CD, the eighth of 12 put out by the European Classics label that reissue all of his studio recordings from 1930-42. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie joined the band by the time of its Aug. 30, 1939 session and he has several short solos on these tracks in addition to being well-featured on the adventurous "Pickin' the Cabbage." In addition, the great tenor Chu Berry gets plenty of solo space, the impressive rhythm section (with guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Cozy Cole) really propels the ensembles and Cab Calloway is in typically exuberant voice. Among the highlights are "The Ghost of Smoky Joe," "Crescendo in Drums" (a feature for Cole), "Pluckin' the Bass" (Hinton's showcase) and even "Jiveformation Please."

The seventh of the Classics label's 12 Cab Calloway CDs traces his progress during an 11-month period through 24 recordings. The band's main soloists at the time included trumpeters Shad Collins and Irving Randolph, trombonists Claude Jones and Keg Johnson and especially tenor great Chu Berry (the band gets four instrumentals on this set). Singer June Richmond has a couple of vocals but obviously Cab Calloway is the main reason that the orchestra was working so steadily. With such songs as "Shout Shout, Shout," "Do You Wanna Jump Children" and "F.D.R. Jones" among the more memorable tracks, this CD (along with the others in the valuable series) is well worth picking up.

This volume supplements the eight volumes, released between 1992 and 1994, of the "Complete Edition" of the works recorded by Charlie Christian. Eight tracks on this new record were unpublished or unknown when our "complete" edition was released {Tracks 2,6,7,12,13,16 and 17). Five of them (Tracks 2,6,7,12 and 13) have emerged over the past few years, scattered in several CD's including some complete radio broadcasts, featuring Benny Goodman, in the "Camel Caravan" shows. The three remaining tracks have never before been released on record (Tracks 9,16 and 17).

It is with this eighth volume that we conclude the first ever complete reissue of the recorded works of the great Charlie Christian. This final disc covers the last three months in the public life of the guitarist, who in the early summer of 1941 would be forced out of the Benny Goodman camp by ill-health. By the following spring, he had died of tuberculosis. The present volume, quite apart from it's historical importence, offers some of the choicest samples of the Christian genius: long solos recorded during May 1941 by that knowledgeable enthusiast, Jerry Newman, in two Harlem clubs.

This seventh volume of the first "Complete Edition" ever compiled of the recorded works of guitar genius Charlie Christian covers a period of barely more than a month - from February 10 to March 13, 1941. It contains just two titles recorded for commercial release: two takes of the famous "Solo Flight" and three takes of "A Smo-o-oth One". And it also offers an invaluable document, 20 minutes of Christian and four of his friends having themselves a ball improvising on five different tunes while awaiting the arrival of bandleader Benny Goodman.

Packed with multiple takes that might scare away the timid, this is volume six in the complete recordings of guitarist Charlie Christian as compiled and released during the '90s by the Masters of Jazz label. It traces his path through various sessions which took place between December 19, 1940 and February 5, 1941, involving the Benny Goodman Sextet (with and without Count Basie), the Metronome All Star Band (see "One O'Clock Jump"), and lastly, Edmond Hall's Celeste Quartet. This little Blue Note band combined the musical personalities of Charlie Christian, clarinetist Edmond Hall, string bassist Israel Crosby, and boogie-woogie master Meade "Lux" Lewis, who knocked the stuffing out of the celeste, a keyboard instrument that mimics a glockenspiel but might sound to some ears like a well-tuned toy piano. (Fats Waller used the celeste to augment his regular 88s on numerous recordings made during the '30s and early '40s.) One special thing about this intimate session is the fact that Christian operates a guitar without the use of electrical amplification. This enables him to engage in some wonderful interplay with the other three musicians, especially Israel Crosby, whose bass viol seems at times to engage in easy conversation with what has since come to be called an "acoustic" guitar.

On November 7 and December 19, 1940, the Benny Goodman Sextet made a series of records for Columbia that featured electrically amplified guitarist Charlie Christian. In 1994, the Masters of Jazz label raided the archives for every known take; many of these appear on 1940, Vol. 5, which is recommended for those who want to surrender to the wonderment of works in progress. With so many multiple takes including rehearsals and breakdowns, this is quite different from the standard issue Best of Benny Goodman collection. Tracks one through nine document the proceedings of November 7, the day on which Goodman and Christian, together with trumpeter Cootie Williams, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld (who had obviously been listening to Ben Webster), bassist Artie Bernstein, and drummer Harry Jaeger collaborated with pianist Count Basie. (On December 19, the same group would whip up multiple versions of the "Breakfast Feud" with Ken Kersey at the piano instead of Basie.)

One of numerous Charlie Christian retrospectives released during the 1990s by the Masters of Jazz label, 1940, Vol. 4 taps a particularly tasty portion of this legendary guitarist's work with the Benny Goodman Quintet, Sextet and Septet. On tracks nine through thirteen, an extra dimension is added by the presence of Count Basie and several members of his trusty Kansas City swing band, including bassist Walter Page, trumpeter Buck Clayton, and saxophonist Lester Young. This compilation also contains examples of Christian's work as a member of an octet backing sweet dance band leader Dick Jurgens' star crooner Eddy Howard (tracks seven and eight). The inclusion of no less than six versions of "Wholly Cats" recommends this disc to seasoned jazzologists and studiously curious jazz heads rather than casual listeners who might panic in the face of repetition. Bear in mind, however, that listening to compilations that bristle with alternate takes is exactly how one becomes a self-made, seasoned jazzologist. Maybe six takes of "Wholly Cats" is exactly what you need.

Dozens of compilations have been devoted to the recorded evidence of Benny Goodman's brief but fortuitously well-documented collaborative friendship with jazz guitarist Charlie Christian (1916-1942). The producers of the Masters of Jazz series have handled the Charlie Christian story more meticulously than nearly anyone else in the business. Because the guitarist didn't live long enough to establish himself as a leader, he exists in history as the eternal sideman who also happens to have been one of the very first progressively modern improvisers in jazz. Volume three in the series takes on selected recordings made between December 2, 1939 and June 4, 1940. Most of these records involve the Benny Goodman Sextet, with four renditions of "Gone with What Wind" and three versions of "Sheik of Araby" providing the studious listener with plenty of opportunities for savoring and comparing the solos.