The one to get if you can't spring for one of the boxes!

If you're looking for the best single-disc collection of this incredible legacy, you've come to the right place. Everyone with even a slight interest in jazz (oh heck, make that EVERYONE, period!) needs to hear this music in some form!

But for many people, four discs may be overkill. This collection includes virtually all the mega-classics - Heebie Jeebies, Ski-Dat-Di-Dat, Mustrat Ramble, Struttin' With Some Barbecue, Potato Head Blues, Big Butter and Egg Man, Weather Bird, West End Blues, St. James Infrimary, the UTTERLY AMAZING Tight Like This, and more - and should make nearly anyone into a convert!

As for me, I already have the old 3-LP Columbia set (36 cuts), and there's very little from those that aren't on here that I miss (e.g., That's When I'll Come Back To You). And the convenience of having it on CD is well worth any duplications. The sound quality (given the original 20s recordings) and liner notes are excellent. This is an essential CD... unless you just decide to go whole hog and get one of the box sets!

"And I say IT IS tight like this!"

Jazz Immortality!

Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings have become immortal in the history of jazz. If you can't afford the complete boxed sets, this is the best collection to own. It will get you started and wet your appetite for more this man's groundbreaking genius. "West End Blues" alone is worth the price of this disc. No "best of" collection is really that without this renowned masterpiece. "Weather Bird" (also composed by his old boss King Oliver) can blow you away. And that's just to mention two of the cuts. This is the man who created much of the very vocabulary of jazz, and no one has ever said it better.

Jazz Essentials 101

This music will make you want to drive straight to New Orleans and groove to the dixieland sounds that are the heart of all things Jazz! This is not Louis later "What A Wonderful World" Jazz/Pop. This is for serious Jazz listners only. But if your like me you just won't be able to take it out of your disc player. If you like this I recommend Bix Beiderbecke and Jelly Roll Morton.