Very Best Of Jazz Instrumentals / Various - 180gm

I recently purchased the "Very Best of Jazz Instrumentals" CD, and it has quickly become one of my favorite additions to my music collection. This album is a fantastic compilation of some of the greatest jazz instrumental tracks ever recorded.The sound quality is excellent, and the selection of tracks is superb. Each song showcases the incredible talent and artistry of legendary jazz musicians. Whether you’re a long-time jazz enthusiast or just starting to explore the genre, this CD is a must-have.The album covers a wide range of styles and eras, offering a wonderful mix of smooth, relaxing tunes and lively, upbeat tracks. It's perfect for any setting, whether you're unwinding at home, hosting a dinner party, or just enjoying some quiet time.What I appreciate most is the seamless flow of the album. Each track transitions beautifully into the next, creating an immersive listening experience. The packaging is also well done, with a sleek design and informative liner notes.Overall, the "Very Best of Jazz Instrumentals" CD is a delightful collection that I highly recommend to anyone who loves jazz or is looking to discover the genre. It’s a timeless treasure that I’ll be enjoying for years to come!

Fantastic instrumental jazz. Am extremely pleasing set!

I've got perhaps the deepest collection of jazz--vinyl, cassette tapes and CDs--of anyone within a 50-mile radius of me. (Don't assume musicians have lots of jazz recordings representing all the major periods, styles, seminal players, and jazz standards. Why not? Because: 1. They can't afford such expenditures if they're playing jazz to make a living. 2. Jazz is an oral tradition, and musicians focus on a select few albums by a select few musicians--such as Charlie Parker, Dexter, Jug, Coltrane--whose tracks they wear out and eventually learn. Would this various collection be of value to a serious jazz musician? Probably not, because of all the "chaff among the wheat."Nevertheless, the collection can be recommended to two types of listeners:1. Radio-show jazz announcers, like me--providing they're aware of a qualifier or two. I've got the original recordings of all the "serious" jazz tracks on this collection but, after 16 years of assembling shows, can no longer afford to devote big chunks of time to pulling out albums and then putting back in their place after the show (the station doesn't have room for a single album). Also, I occasionally need to leave the microphone for a drink of water or other business, and I'd be canned if "dead air time" were the result of my visits to the can. Of course, I could always play a 30-minute Suite by Ellington, or Sketches of Spain by Miles and Gil Evans, or an extended jam session by Jazz at the Philharmonic. But I've been told that listeners prefer shorter tracks and more variety.HOWEVER, if a jazz jockey want his show to be taken seriously, he'll need to take precautions with a random collections like the pictured one: some of the tracks are simply "marginal" for a jazz show, and others are nothing short of toxic! Jazz fans will either take them as a "joke" or take them as evidence of the announcer's bad taste. Don't get me wrong. The collection has vital, real jazz like Dexter Gordon's "Love for Sale" (C. Porter) from his indispensable Blue Note album "GO!" And it has rare gems, like Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" as played by the Miles Davis Sextet (Trane, Cannon, Bill Evans) on the rare Columbia album "Jazz at the Plaza."But in between tracks like the are more commercial, marginal "jazzy" tracks by Kenny Ball and His Jazz Men ("Midnight in Moscow"), who delivered a drunken businessman's version of Dixieland that demonstrates why that word is no longer used to described traditional, or early New Orleans, jazz. The same might be said by otherwise pleasant popular latin music by Prez Prado. But other tracks must be avoided at all costs. For example, the name "Lawrence Welk" is by itself a "punch line" to any genuine jazz musician, and the same for a track like David Rose's "The Stripper." Play these tracks only if you know your audience is exclusively nursing home residents over the age of 80. Or, try to control the damage by following up the misplay with a satirical recording by Stan Freeberg.How do you know the difference between "real" and "fake" jazz?1. Real jazz has room--albeit only a few bars--for improvisation2. Real jazz "swings," and the foundational rhythm for all inventive, memorable and historic jazz solos has a a strong and powerful (but not loud and obtrusive) 4/4 walking bass.3. Real jazz includes, besides jazz standards written by jazz musicians (e.g. Desmond's "Take 5"), tunes from the Great American Songbook that have become a standards after their embrace by jazz musician (e.g. All the Things You Are by Jerome Kern, I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin, Love for Sale by Porter, Polka Dots and Moonbeams by Jimmy Van Heusen, Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen).2. The 2nd customer who could profit from this collection is someone who wants to here the DIFFERENCE between real jazz and fake jazz (or between real jazz and smooth jazz--the latter limits improvisation to mere riffing, like that used by Sanborn or Kenny G. Even college classes in literature would profit by assigning some "pulp fiction" interspersed with Faulkner's fiction--or sonnets by any other poet to contrast with Shakespeare's. [Having trying the foregoing, I can only warn you that many listeners and readers will not select the real from the fake item. That's why jazz, and literature too, both have small audiences--depressingly small.

It was a gift he loved it

I really enjoy smooth jazz. And as we know, there are different types and styles of jazz. I like the after hours type of jazz and rainy nights jazz. After listening to this whole disk collection, I personally didn't like all of the selections. The first disks musical style was my style of listening choice. But I found myself skipping to the next and the next only finding my choice of jazz styles here and there. Everyone has a different ear and you might enjoy this. I did however order more jazz, hopefully more in what I'm searching for. It's that kind of jazz that gives you a mood. These disk kept changing the mood, just not in the direction I personally wanted to travel. To each it's own.

The best of Jazz

I've always liked jazz. The stuff that makes you feel good, you want to tap your foot to the rhythm, maybe you might want to get out and strut your stuff. Non of that flaccid jazz, makes you go to sleep, no, I want something exciting, uplifting, memorable! Do you want that, too?

I enjoyed every disc in this collection. The recordings sound superb and it’s an excellent cross section.