8 Classic Albums

The composite sets offered under the Real Gone Jazz label offer classic performances from the lfifties and early sixties at affordable -no, absurdly inexpensive! --prices. I bought many of these albums when they first appeared in vinyl and now I'm paying less than I paid then for them.JONES. Eight Classic Albums. Real Gone Jazz. 2012. 4 CDs. $14.52.Incl. This Is How I feel About Jazz, The Birth of a Band, vol. 1 and vol. 2, I Dig Dancers, The Great Wide World of QJ, Newport 1961, The Great Wide World of Jazz Live, and Go West Jazz.Soloists incl. Les Spann, guit, flt; Phil Woods, alto sx; Julius Watkins, FR horn; Patti Bown, p; Art Farmer, tpt; Charles Mingus, Paul Chambers, b; Herbie Mann, flt.The Quincy Jones set contains three superior albums -This Is How I Feel About Jazz, The Great Wide World of Jazz, and The Great Wide World of Jazz Live--some that are less exciting, and one -I Dig Dancers--that is outright boring. This Is How I feel About Jazz is one of the great mainline small band albums of fifties jazz, to be rated along Milt Jackson's Plenty, Plenty Plenty Soul (which was arranged by Jones) and Benny Carter's Further Definitions. Listen especially to the brilliant, subtle, loving trumpet work of Art Farmer, all done with mute, because Quincy wanted to highlight its loveliness. The Great Wide World of Jazz highlighted his European touring band, with soloists like Phil Woods (listen to him on "I Never Has Seen Snow") and unduly neglected French hornist Julius Watkins ("Everybody's Blues"). The best cuts on this collection are superb. But you have to accept a certain amount o=f dross along with them. None of the cuts are bad - -Quincy is too good an arranger for that- but some of are less than thrilling. Much less. Still, this is an outstanding buy which nets you some of the best big band music of the late 50s and very early 60s.

What a great pleasure to have these Quincy Jones recordings from 1956 to 1961 available on CD. The playing time on each disc is generous and the inclusion of the recording year and the personnel is a nice touch--even if pianist Patti Bown's name is frequently misspelled. The first six albums recorded between 1956 and 1960, provide big band jazz that doesn't need to apologize to anyone on any level. The personnel reads like an all-star group although this was pretty much Quincy's working band. The band demonstrates the collective enjoyment these wonderful musicians derived from playing arrangements worthy of their talent. The solos are superb and Phil Woods' solo on "The Gypsy" ("The Birth Of A Band, Volume 1") is a lesson in talent, taste, and emotion.To my ears, the problems come on the fourth CD which contains the albums "Newport 1961" and "The Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones--Live" also from 1961. Both albums are recorded live but the emphasis now is on the soloists rather than the big band and the soloists fail to deliver the musical satisfaction that was found on all the other albums--even though the musicians listed are nearly the same as on previous albums. The solos are long, meandering, often frantic, and say very little. And "Air Mail Special" is taken at such a frantic pace that it cannot provide any musical satisfaction, although it does serve to demonstrate how remarkably cohesive and talented this band was.On this disc, at about 9:45 on Track 13, my SONY DVD player started to skip during Eric Dixon's tenor solo, and would not even play the 14th and final track, "Moanin'." The disc however, did play all the way through on my portable SONY boom box, and the 14th track harkened back to the style of the first six albums, i.e., emphasis on the big band with solos taken within that framework.This collection is definitely worth buying, not only for the sheer pleasure of big band jazz beautifully arranged and played, but also for its musical history. One further note: Others have complained about the quality of sound on other albums issued by Real Gone Jazz. I have no complaints about how these discs sounded.

Having most of his later albums, I was pleased to find this CD set of some of his earlier works remastered. Great Music.

Its a wonderful opportunity to have many of Mr. Quincy Jones for Mercury Records in the 60s for a reasonable price and goodly mastered CDs.The title says it all - '8 Classic Albuns' by Quincy Jones! - a master in Jazz and all.

Jazz of the 1960-70's. There is more exciting jazz out there. Get some Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Shirley Horne....get the picture?

All these collections are the bomb! So much great music for so little investment!

This box set is loaded with superb music played by various line-ups that read like a who's who of jazz from the late 50s and early 60s but sound quality is variable as follows:-CD1"This is how I feel about jazz" = Sound OK but could be a bit brighter"Go West man" = Sound is fine but bass line more pronounced than on the CD issue by ChessmatesCD 2"The Birth of A Band Vol 1" = Clear but sounds like it was recorded in an empty aircraft hanger."The Birth of A Band Vol 2" = same as volume 1.CD 3"Dig Dancers" = Once again clear but aircraft hanger effect."The great wide world of Quncey Jones" - Fine. Probably the best on the setCD 4"Live at Newport" = Dreadful. Sounds like a bootleg effort"The great wide World - Live" (in France?) = Not brilliant but acceptable from a live recordingIn some ways only a 3 star set but I have rated as 4 as it is superb value for money and good points far outweigh the bad.

Great music,value for money

Not a lot to say about this album. Just enjoy the masters work.

Good value for money, and as stated I get a good sound on my equipment, Bose. A little disappointed on some of thetracks selected ,could have had a little more of the more popularQuincy Jones recordingds

I ENJOYED THIS SET OF ALBUMS BY QUINCY JONES , SOME NUMBERS TEND TO GET REPEATEDTHE 2 VOLUMES OF BIRTH OF A BAND ARE MY PARTICULAR FAVOURITES , BECAUSE THE TUNES ARE SHORTBUT PUNCHY . ALL IN ALL THIS IS A GOOD VALUE SET .PLUS YOU DO GET THE PERSONEL DETAILS , WHICH YOU DIDNT GET ON PREVIOUS RELEASES ON THIS LABEL..