Disc 1:
1. Gut Bucket Blues
2. My Heart
3. Yes! I’m in a Barrel
4. Come Back, Sweet Papa
5. Georgia Grind
6. Heebie Jeebies
7. Cornet Chop Suey
8. Oriental Strut
9. You’re Next
10. Muskrat Ramble
11. Don’t Forget to Mess Around
12. I’m Gonna Gitcha
13. Droppin’ Shucks
14. Who’sit
15. King of the Zulus
16. Big Fat Ma and Skinny Pa
17. Lonesome Blues
18. Sweet Little Papa
19. Jazz Lips
20. Skid-dat-de-dat
21. Big Butter and Egg Man
22. Sunset Café Stomp
23. You Made Me Love You
24. Irish Black Bottom
25. Put ’em Down Blues
26. Ory’s Creole Trombone
27. The Last Time
Disc 2:
1. Struttin’ with Some Barbecue
2. Got No Blues
3. Once in a While
4. I’m Not Rough
5. Hotter Than That
6. Savoy Blues
7. Georgia Bo Bo
8. Drop That Sack
9. Drop That Sack
10. Willie the Weeper
11. Wild Man Blues
12. Alligator Crawl
13. Potato Head Blues
14. Melancholy
15. Weary Blues
16. Twelfth Street Rag
17. Keyhole Blues
18. S.O.L. Blues
19. Gully Low Blues
20. That’s When I’ll Come Back to You
21. Chicago Breakdown
22. Weary Blues
23. New Orleans Stomp
24. Wild Man Blues
25. Wild Man Blues
Disc 3:
1. Melancholy
2. Melancholy
3. Fireworks
4. Skip the Gutter
5. A Monday Date
6. Don’t Jive Me
7. West End Blues
8. Sugar Foot Strut
9. Two Deuces
10. Squeeze Me
11. Knee Drops
12. No (Papa, No)
13. Basin Street Blues
14. No One Else but You
15. Beau Koo Jack
16. Save It, Pretty Mama
17. Muggles
18. Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
19. St. James Infirmary
20. Tight like This
21. Weather Bird
22. Symphonic Raps
23. Savoyagers Stomp
24. Mahogany Hall Stomp
Disc 4:
1. I Can’t Give You Anything but Love
2. I Can’t Give You Anything but Love
3. Knockin’ a Jug
4. Gambler’s Dream
5. Sunshine Baby
6. Adam and Eve Had the Blues
7. Put It Where I Can Get It
8. Wash Woman Blues
9. I’ve Stopped My Man
10. Static Strut
11. Stomp off, Let’s Go
12. He Likes It Slow
13. Easy Come Easy Go Blues
14. The Blues Stampede
15. I’m Goin’ Huntin’
16. If You Wanna Be My Sugar Papa
17. You’re a Real Sweetheart
18. Too Busy
19. Was It a Dream?
20. Last Night I Dreamed You Kissed Me
21. I Can’t Give You Anything but Love
22. Baby
23. Sweethearts on Parade
24. I Must Have That Man
25. Funny Feathers
26. How Do You Want It That Way?
Recording dates vary between Nov. 12, 1925 and July 10, 1929. Precise date for each track is given in the booklet
Musical Groups:
Too many different personnel to list all (those for each selection given in the booklet), but Louis Armstrong on all tracks with each of the following
groups or with the individual:
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven
Louis Armstrong and the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra
Johnny Dodds Black Bottom Stompers
Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines (duet)
Carroll Dickerson’s Savoyagers
Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra
Hociel Thomas with Louis Armstrong Jazz Four
Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra
Joe “Butterbeans” Edwards and Susie Edwards accompanied by Louis Armstrong Hot Five
Jimmy Bertrand’s Washboard Wizards
Lillie Delk Christian with Louis Armstrong Hot Four
Victoria Spivey (vocalist)
It seems as if everybody and his brother has had a go at issuing CDs of the Armstrong Hot Fives and Sevens. While not all have professed to be “complete”
issues, some have, including sets by Columbia, JSP (which includes transfers done by the master John R. T. Davies), and Sony. In between came single CDs
and CD sets that include Hot Five and Seven recordings, some claiming to be the “Best of Hot Fives and Sevens” or “Best of Louis Armstrong” etc. And some
have been withdrawn. As if all that were not enough, complicating the matter is that that some of the original 78 recordings, it seems, were of dubious
speed, resulting in pitch problems that were left uncorrected (perhaps undetected) on the LP reissue, resulting in some tunes appearing to be played in the
“wrong” key. During the transfers of these LPs to CD there was no immediate correction of the pitch problems, and in addition some were made from 78
records rather than the master discs, resulting in a good deal of surface noise remaining. So it is a relatively convoluted issue, and if one is interested
in delving more into the subject, he or she can find a good analysis in the blog The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong: So You Wanna Buy the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens? at the website <http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/>.
The blog is that of Ricky Riccardi, the archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York City and author of several articles on Armstrong and the
book
What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years
.
Since the blog was written prior to the issuance of this Essential Jazz Classics set, it is not considered therein.
This latest addition to the Hot Five and Seven list, the “complete” 4-CD set by Essential Jazz Classics, includes all the Hot Five and Seven material
together with that made under the pseudonym “Lil’s Hot Shots” containing the same personnel, supplemented by other recordings in the same vein from the
1920s of Armstrong accompanied by four to six other musicians. To fill out the four CDs, included are a few recordings by larger bands, all from the same
period and featuring Armstrong. No mention is made of the source(s) of the recordings reproduced in this set, and no information is given about any
remastering, transfers, or of any of the other technicalities.
As to the music itself, there is not much to say that has not been said already. Armstrong was still in his twenties and his work from this period
indicates a confidant, mature, extremely talented musician—and vocalist—one who has had arguably the most telling influence on all jazz music and the
direction it took from then on, solos gaining the emphasis over ensemble . The recordings in these four CDs are iconic, and everyone who considers himself
or herself a jazz fan should—and probably already does—have them in his or her collection. Lacking such, one will certainly find this set will remedy that
deficiency. Still, I am left with the question: Why did the Essential Jazz Classic people go to the trouble of issuing this set when the market will be so
limited and there are so many others, withdrawn or not, still available as a check on eBay or Amazon will reveal?
Bert Thompson
CD Reviews
Essential Jazz Classics 
