[Dixielandjazz] "Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology" reviewed

[Hal Vickery]

Mine arrived the other day.  I haven't started listening yet, but I will be soon.  I have both this and the Burns set.  They seem to complement each other pretty well at first glance.

Hal Vickery

> From: rsr at ringwald.com
> Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 09:47:32 -0700
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] "Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology" reviewed
> CC: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> To: hvickery_80 at msn.com
> 
> "Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology" reviewed
> Smithsonian Anthology a Wide Overview
> by Charles J. Gans
> Associated Press, April 1, 2011
> A seven-year effort, the six-CD box set "Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology" is the
> most wide-ranging and stylistically diverse jazz anthology ever compiled, but this
> inclusiveness comes at a price -- and not just its approximately $100 pricetag.
> In exposing listeners to nearly 100 artists, the producers had to limit most performers
> to one cut -- even for such major figures as Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holiday and
> Thelonious Monk. Only the most important artists whose careers encompassed multiple,
> distinct styles -- most prominently Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington
> -- merit more than one track.
> The anthology is a successor to jazz historian Martin Williams' out-of-print, idiosyncratic
> 1973 "Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz" that became a mainstay of college jazz
> appreciation courses. With eight tracks apiece by Armstrong, Ellington and Charlie
> Parker, Williams' collection offers a more in-depth perspective on jazz's formative
> pre-1950 years than the current anthology, but doesn't cover developments beyond
> the mid-'60s. And there were glaring omissions -- no Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson
> or Cannonball Adderley, to name a few, and the dismissive selection of Coltrane's
> lesser-known "Alabama" as his only track.
> The 2000, five-CD box set "Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music," a companion
> to the filmmaker's PBS series, was also heavily weighted toward jazz's first half
> century, with only one CD worth of music dating from after the mid-'60s. It did include
> some of the most popular jazz recordings -- Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train," Holiday's
> "God Bless the Child," and Brubeck's "Take Five" -- which aren't included on the
> new anthology.
> The current anthology's 111 tracks were selected by an executive committee from among
> more than 2,500 recommendations from dozens of jazz experts, which has resulted in
> a balanced collection without bias against particular styles like fusion. It fills
> in most of the gaps from previous anthologies, although it gives short shrift to
> modern-era vocalists.
> The tracks are arranged chronologically, from the Original Dixieland Jazz Band's
> 1917 "Livery Stable Blues" to Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's 2003 "Suspended Night
> Variation VIII" -- and its accompanying 200-page book includes informative essays
> on each track by several dozen jazz experts.
> The anthology gives such lesser known musicians as guitarist Lonnie Johnson and trumpeter
> Shorty Rogers their due, recognizes the influence of Latin jazz (Machito, Tito Puente
> and Cuba's Irakere), and reflects jazz's global reach (Japan's Toshiko Akiyoshi,
> South Africa's Abdullah Ibrahim, France's Martial Solal).
> The collection carries jazz's story as a vibrant, living music into the 21st century,
> including artists who emerged in the '60s and are still going strong -- Herbie Hancock,
> Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Pat Metheny. The producers also tried to represent
> some of the main trends in modern jazz, including Chicago's avant-garde Association
> for the Advancement of Contemporary Music (Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams
> and the Art Ensemble of Chicago) and Medeski, Martin and Wood's "jam band."
> The anthology succeeds in meeting co-producer Richard James Burgess' stated goal
> of providing a panoramic overview of jazz and a jumping off point for further explorations,
> and should become an invaluable educational tool.
> 
> 
> --Bob Ringwald
> www.ringwald.com
> Fulton Street Jazz Band
> 530/ 642-9551 Office
> 916/ 806-9551 Cell
> Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV
> 
> If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea
> does that mean that one enjoys it?
> 
> 
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