The Wail of a Horn, the Ring of a Voice

Jazz record companies aren’t always the most masterful marketing planners. But it doesn’t take an MBA from Stanford to know that the holiday season is a great time to release boxed sets--especially by major artists. So it’s no surprise that some attractive new jazz packages are arriving, just in time for the gift-buying rush.

In terms of sheer size, “The Blue Note Years” has to take the gold ring. At 14 CDs, it is a huge parcel, bundled into a 12-by-12-inch box, with a release limited to 10,000 copies worldwide.

As a survey of the 60-year output of a single record company, it is a remarkable assemblage. Starting with the boogie-woogie piano of Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, it moves quickly into the early bebop years, with seminal performances from Tadd Dameron, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and others. The company’s major commitment to soul jazz and hard bop covers several CDs, with such classic items as Horace Silver’s “The Preacher” and “Senor Blues,” Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ “Moanin’,” Donald Byrd’s “Cristo Redentor” and Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder.”

Other definitive numbers spill out of the next few discs: Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,” Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil,” with edgy performances from Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. Finally, the package includes several discs featuring more recent Blue Note artists such as Joe Lovano, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, John Scofield, Cassandra Wilson, Bobby Watson and Jacky Terrason.

“The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions” chronicles the 1969-70 Miles Davis recordings that set the stage for the emergence of jazz fusion. Originally released as a 90-minute double album, “Bitches Brew” was Davis’ first RIAA gold album, and it earned him his second Grammy (the first was for “Sketches of Spain” in 1960).

The 265 minutes of music included in the boxed set encompass eight sessions, beginning with the “Bitches Brew” dates in August 1969 and concluding with a track that wound up on the “Live-Evil” album in February 1970. Three other tracks emerged on 1974’s “Big Fun” album, and there are nine previously unreleased pieces recorded between November 1969 and February 1972.

The Davis group of the period--Wayne Shorter, saxophones; Chick Corea, keyboards; Dave Holland, bass; and Jack DeJohnette, drums--was a solidly integrated unit, bursting with individual talents and eager to continue stretching the envelope of contemporary jazz. Cutting-edge and revolutionary as these tracks may have been, they also have consistently powerful, long-term listening appeal.

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“Charlie Parker: The Complete Live Performances on Savoy” is a must-have collection for any serious jazz fan. The four-CD set--packaged in a book album binder--encompasses all of the legendary alto saxophonist’s known live performances during the period when he was recording for Savoy, from September 1947 to October 1950.

Most of the tracks are devoted to live performances broadcast from Manhattan’s Royal Roost nightclub between September 1948 and March 1949. Parker’s quintets of the period were youthful all-star aggregations, including either Miles Davis or Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Tadd Dameron or Al Haig on piano, Max Roach or Joe Harris on drums and Tommy Potter or Curley Russell on bass.

There also are some unusual items: a Chicago jam session from 1950 with superb Parker solos and remarkable guitar playing from the little-known George Freeman and a 1947 Carnegie Hall performance with Dizzy Gillespie and John Lewis. What a thrill it is to hear Parker and Gillespie, the two giants of postwar jazz, romping together through “A Night in Tunisia,” “Groovin’ High” and “Koko” in the wide-open setting of a live concert.

Parker’s playing throughout all four discs is never less than extraordinary, often outright astonishing. Although he chose to work with a relatively limited repertoire of tunes, his solos are encyclopedic documents of bebop, laying down one stunning phrase after another--phrases that would become essential elements in the vocabulary of jazz for the next half-century (and undoubtedly beyond).

Louis Armstrong was an icon for jazz musicians from the release of his first recordings in the ‘20s. And, although he became highly visible over the next decade, it wasn’t until the mid-’40s, when he began to tour regularly with his small, all-star group, that he became a truly global figure. “Louis Armstrong: An American Icon” surveys the full range of Satchmo’s outings in the period from 1946 to 1968 via recordings from the RCA, Decca, Columbia and Roulette catalogs.

Hits such as “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mack the Knife” and “What a Wonderful World” are included, as well as such less familiar but fascinating items as an intimate duet with Oscar Peterson on “What’s New,” and a set of lovely standards performed with the Peterson trio. Among other highlights, Armstrong plays a set of Duke Ellington tunes with Ellington at the piano. And the earlier tracks feature a group of tunes from the Armstrong All-Star ensemble that included pianist Earl Hines, trombonist Jack Teagarden and clarinetist Barney Bigard. A marvelous set of outings from jazz’s most influential figure.

“The Jazz Artistry of Peggy Lee & June Christy” consists of 99 performances--72 by Lee and 27 by Christy--originally recorded on 16-inch transcriptions intended solely for commercial radio broadcast. Some have been released in other formats, notably on Hindsight Records.

The Christy tracks, recorded with a small group from the Stan Kenton band, reveal a looser, more jazz-tinged manner than was usually present in her big-band performances. The same, except for a few large orchestra tracks, is true of Lee, who sings stylish renderings of first-rate tunes from the Gershwins, Ellington, Jerome Kern and Rodgers & Hart, often backed by a quartet led by her then-husband, guitarist Dave Barbour.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).