The Best of The Hot 5 & Hot 7 Recordings

Ah, my submission! (Well, my Patreon submission at least) By far the biggest snub on the original list was the lack of Louis Armstrong, in my opinion. No other artist has come close to the sheer amount of influence upon popular music as he had, even if the roots of the influence now go so far back that they can seem completely buried. He was 20th century's first musical star, and with the advent of radio and vinyl records, he pressed himself into the public identity like no other could. His soloing and singing styles practically rewrote the book on how jazz was made, especially when he began incorporating and reinventing classic American Songbook tunes that are now more famous as jazz standards BECAUSE of him. I chose this record to showcase Louis Armstrong's most fundamental early days. His Hot Fives and Hot Sevens groups truly showcase what a master trumpet player he was. I chose the "best of" recording for brevity's sake (and because these recordings predate the invention of the LP record that most of the list is based on, primarily being released in much shorter formats). However, if you enjoy this, please listen to the complete recordings from these groups. It's a veritable treasure trove.

5 minutes - This is quite enjoyable 10 minutes - Okay I get it. You can play the trumpet. 30 minutes - I want to shove that trumpet right up your fucking arse.

Oh it's tight like that Louis. No it ain't tight like that either. What a baller. Dude was straight killing it in the 20s-30s. Some awesome playing all around.

What is now foundational was once revolutionary.

Reminds me of when I got a bar trivia question wrong for answering that Louis Armstrong played the trumpet. They thought he played the piano. Later that night, my team won a round when the emcee got the math wrong on a tiebreaker. We got free dessert, but what the fuck? 8/10

Great call to include this

Wtf there was no Louis Armstrong on the main list. For that alone this is a 5* to represent him in general, although this compilation is pretty nice.

Given the date range, I understand why Louis didn't make a real appearance on the original list, but it still feels like a crucial snub. Excellent timeless addition.

Ok, so a nod to the beginning of modern music? Of course, why not. A big name, sometimes overlooked

King Louis don't stop. Glad to have learned the origin of the term "muggles" thanks to this album.

Is this the guy that went to the moon

Très bon, mais ca semble être un best of. c'est normal que ca soit excellent surtout provenant d'une légende. Cependant ce n'Est pas un album a proprement dit donc... 4.5

Classic. Normally not a fan of compilation albums - I prefer to think of an album as an artist's vision at a particular time - but times were different back in the day so I can make an exception. I'm also not a big jazz-head, but I can totally appreciate and enjoy this. 4 stars.

Dixieland swing isn't my jam, I'd much rather listen to Be Bop and Hard Bop, but Louis Armstrong's influence on jazz and hell, all modern genres of music is undeniable.

I am aware that if I say this I will come off as a spoiled brad, unworthy of calling myself a music-lover, but I'm gonna say it anyway: This was just aweful. I recon that in the 20's this must have been groundbreaking, leaving everyone who heard Armstrong play in awe. But when I hear this, my musically narrow minded brain can't get past the image of Laurel & Hardy goofing around. This one just isn't for me, sorry.

What's there to say, really: it's iconic for a reason. Peerless in its style and genre.

5 Love this shid

Incredibly, there is no Louis Armstrong on the original list. As one of the most popular entertainers of all time and one of the definitive voices and instrumentalists in jazz, this is a massive oversight to say the least. This album is a compilation of recordings made between 1925 and 1930. Musically it falls somewhere between dixieland and swing and represents an interesting transitionary period in jazz before it exploded into big band swing and became one of the most popular genres of all time. Indispensable is an understatement.

Even in compilation delivers in breadth. Harmony's the main thing transferred: Foundation. No shape in the sequencing, but the very beginning of jazz was hardly provincial, that's clear.

8/10. Yep, pretty good stuff, always fun listening to older stuff

This is that good mood food jazz

eh, this was kinda fun. neither here nor there. 3/5.

Not much my style, but respect. Good music

This is a compilation, not an album.

I am truly sorry, but there are boundaries in what I like in music. And this is just not it.

One of a kind voice, out of this world talent, and absolutely a landmark musician whose influence reverberates throughout ALL modern music. A worthy and wonderful selection! Thank you for righting this wrong to whoever submitted this album.

I'd give this five stars if it was just West End Blues

It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that this music is nearly 100 years old. Recorded between 1925 and 1929 in Chicago, these tracks don’t just mark a pivotal moment in jazz history, it's the birth of modern popular music as we know it, from rock, pop, soul, and basically any genre that values personal expression and musical conversation.

Good job recommender for choosing a sacred genre's Rosetta Stone. it seems so obvious, one wonders how the editors could have missed it. What a delight to hear after so long. "Potato Head Blues" and "Struttin with Some Barbecue" and "West End Blues" are sounds of pure joy – musical miracles hiding in plain sight – among the most important songs ever recorded. It's easy to dismiss Satchmo (for being more of an entertainer, etc.) but would every genius wear such a bright smile. Easy 5 – could/should replace virtually any record on the list proper (very much including Sinatra).

Should I be shocked we didn't have Louis Armstrong on the actual list? This is an awesome compilation album, he blows a mean trumpet, and the tracks where he sings too are fantastic: man, what a voice. He's gotta be one of very few musicians who play a vocal-based instrument with virtuosity and also sing, right? I guess technically Bob Dylan could be that with the harmonica. I think it's a rare group though. Anyway, great album, great inclusion! 4.5/5

The lack of things pre-50s is surprising on this list. We're missing a lot of blues greats, Woody Guthrie... I like this record, but I think it does remind me that I love percussion. It's got a lot of passion and jump to it, but I think some sort of drums would help push it further. Don't know if that was possible, recording in 1925, but just an observation. Favorite tracks: "King of the Zulus", "Struttin' With Some Barbecue"

More a collection of songs rather than an album, but Armstrong is such a huge influence on music how is he

I can only echo what others have said here in that it's an absolute crime there was no Armstrong on the official list – really highlights the UK bias of the project that a fundamental jazz great was excluded in place of several flash-in-the-pan Britpop bands. Nearly an hour of oldies was a bit longer than I would've liked to listen, but there's no denying the masterclass Armstrong puts on here.

I prefer the Ella and Louis albums and the slightly more modern recordings. Early New Orleans jazz is fine enough, but doesn't quite do it for me.

Are we really doing box sets here now? I feel like if you can't single out a full album by an artist, they probably don't need to be a part of this discussion. To be clear, this was top notch as a collection of songs, but a great album needs to be more than just a collection of songs. I do appreciate your desire to fill a gap in the albums from the original list, which I think a lot of us have done with our personal choices. Musically this is pretty excellent, but after 4 hours I can't remember most of what I've heard. Fave Songs: Potato Head Blues, Chicago Breakdown, Wild Man Blues, Melancholy Blues, The King of the Zulus (A Chit'lin' Rag), St. James Infirmary, Weather Bird, Muskrat Ramble, Cornet Chop Suey

Always happy to get some Jazz and these Louis tracks were a fun throwback. Really could feel the age on them compared to some other albums.

Bros spitting without even spitting

I suppose that there is a lot of talent here. However, it's difficult for me to appreciate the quality of the music, given that I'm generally not someone who listens to a lot of instrumental music.

Æ ekki minn stíll, frekar leiðigjarnt til lengdar.

Not my cup of tea to be honest. Easy listening but nothing more.

Should have been on the original list. Fantastic performances of Armstrong and his band in their peak.

For the historical value, this is definitely a 5! I loved hearing this early music of Louis Armstrong.

Satchmo doing what satchmo does. The quality of these recordings - from a hundred years ago - isn't always the best, but the skill sure is. Definitely worth hearing.

a true and thorough jazz blues time.

This is sort of a weird one to review, since it's not so much an album as a compilation of songs recorded overall several years with different bands that Armstrong assembled. It's great, because Louie Armstrong was great, and the influence that these works had on future generations of jazz musicians was undeniable. It's just weird to think about it the way I've been thinking about other albums that I've gotten on this list because it doesn't represent a coherent unit in any sense. Whatever, though, it's Louie fucking Armstrong, and anything less than 5/5 is disrespectful. Also, I'm not going to listen to this whole thing because there's more than 80s songs, and I've got places to be today

How do you give the king of jazz anything but a 5. One of the most distinctive voices ever, he really could play!

I love the way that as soon as this begins to get a bit stale, Louis starts singing and it's like sunlight pouring into your soul.

As I listened to this some tracks were better than others and tunes came and went but the overall impressions washed over me and ingrained themselves in me until I felt a real connection and I guess that's the ultimate purpose of music? It's great these recordings were made and of good quality.

Normally I would mark something down for not being a real “album” but in this case there’s nothing to be done about it. It’s amazing to think that these songs were recorded closer to the Civil War than they were today! Obviously the audio quality on some of them is better than others, but they’re so important to the history of American music. And many people have highlighted the real weakness this list has for jazz albums. I certainly don’t expect that this thing would be littered with jazz, it’s definitely a niche genre at this point, but instead of having 17 PJ Harvey albums they probably could’ve put one album by the singularly most important musician of early recorded music

Utterly charming. Something from Louis Armstrong certainly should have been on the list so I commend the share. I only wish we had better sound quality but what can you do.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: West end blues, Heebie jeebies, St. James infirmary

Recorded between 1925 and 1930, these tracks are almost 100 years old. The crackle of the recordings give away their age and enhance the atmosphere created by the sad trumpet. The perfect accompaniment to a rainy day in the office, looking out at water pooling on the flat, asphalt roof. Rating: 3.5 Playlist track: Weary Blues Date listened: 23/09/24

What a hoot hollering good time. I was playing this while I did chores and walked around and it was super motivating and made me feel like I was walking through Central Park in the middle of the day in the 1940s.

Hoppin' horns!

I like Louis Armstrong, but his early stuff I am less keen on. I've danced so many hours to this early jazz stuff, but I love when things get a little more swingy and more rhythmic. These are great early jazz songs but, as the original submitter mentions, predate the whole concept of albums themselves so the songs are meant to be in isolation. The way people consumed music 100 years ago is very different from now. His later career stuff is really good and he has so many good songs. Still, the fact he isn't on the original list tells a lot about the way the authors understood music. He is essential listening. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes. Glaring omission.

Perhaps the oldest recordings of both the users' list and the full 1001 list, The Best of The Hot 5 & Hot 7 Recordings bear the gold standard of dixieland jazz. Armstrong is, of course, a legend and absolutely deserving of his flowers, but the genre conventions of dixieland come across as a bit antiquated in comparison to the evergreen stylings of Big Band busters such as Ellington at Newport. These really, post-war jazz towers over even the greatest works of artists like Armstrong, but we have to pay our respects nonetheless. Not only a skilled trumpeter, but a charismatic voice who delivers each song with a certain "cool" factor. If you walk away with any song to appreciate from this album, it should be West End Blues and St. James Infirmary. There are many more bonafide classics in Armstrong's catalogue, but those two are here and they are fantastic displays of musicianship. Don't dawdle. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I'm of two minds. While archival compilations are invaluable for appreciating music recordings before the idea of a proper album solidified, it sort of goes against the spirit of the list (which is why In the Wee Small Hours, largely considered to be the first "concept" album, is first on the list). I think if we're to expand the scope of the list's purpose, then yes this should absolutely be on the list. However, as much as I would love to include the Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits compilation, it also opens a can of worms for what other archival compilations should be considered. So, maybe not.

Although not exactly an album and for the sake of what it is as a collection, it's still crucial and nice to know about, even though it's not exactly pleasant to listen to due to the lack of consistency. It's a 3-star collection, but it deserves an extra star for its importance.

This is technically a compilation, and it's a compilation of recordings released when the modern album format didn't exist yet (it's just amazing to think that some of those cuts are *a century old* today!). So I can't bring myself to include this one in my own list of keepers. That said, I understand why a listener enamored with that early style of jazz would want to select it in his own list, whether virtual or real. It's like a platonic ideal of what late 20s / early 30s swing brass bands should sound like. The stop and go moments and hilarious "dialogue" between the instruments in "Jazz Lips" are simply amazing, for example. There are also hints of gypsy jazz sometimes, like with that slightly detuned acoustic guitar break in "Willie The Weeper". It's kind of a shame you rarely hear Louis' one-of-a-kind vocals in those tunes, but the man was first and foremost a trumpet pioneer, and only sang because the audience pushed him to do so. Opener "Herbie Jeebies" still provides a memorable example of Armstrong's vocal chops, though. And "St. James Infirmary" is a gem as well. Of course, with such an old music style, it becomes difficult to pinpoint variations and distinctive features from one track to the next as you listen to this compilation, and I sometimes lost my focus as I did so. Yet in truth, the variations in instrumentation and intents are manifold here, obviously. And this up until the record's end. So I have to thank the user who submitted this release. Because it's not the sort of music I would go to by myself, and this is what this list can be used for. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 14 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 26 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 48 (including this one) ---- Émile ! J'ai répondu à ton message. Regarde neuf reviews au dessus ! Pas de nouvelle réponse de ta part, mais c'est pas un souci, je compte juste vérifier toutes les deux semaines environ. On est pas aux pièces, comme on dit sur le vieux continent. 😀

Suddenly, music history

this was like a time machine to a place I’d never been before

I generally find the kind of Dixieland jazz that forms much of this collection quite difficult to get into - jazz as a form has changed so much and become so much more expressive and exciting since this era, and even though the musicianship is often exemplary, the style as a whole leaves me wanting. That being said - these sessions are the cream of the crop, and honestly it’s just mind blowing that some of these tracks were recorded 100 years ago. The 1928 sessions are the standouts for me, with West End Blues in particular just screaming its vitality from the get go with its iconic trumpet intro. An essential compilation spanning 5 years of ridiculously prolific recording sessions from one of the most important artists of the last century

Thank you for putting this on. This is the type of record I like being on here as a step in understanding the evolution of music. Often times I hear the user list and ask myself I wonder why the person chose to put it on the list. I really wish people could have their own caption on why they put it there. Often records just feel like ok it’s a good rock recording, but what make it must hear. This one doesn’t suffer from that syndrome. I clearly belongs and I am very glad to have heard it.

Undeniably brilliant. Its a bit much to take afte 30 minutes, though...

It was hard to distinguish the piano player on the hot 5 recordings. Furthermore, the drums were almost inaudible on the hot 7 recordings except for the cymbals. The songs with the vocals are a little bit cringe-y. But the other stuff was really good, you can tell where a lot of later jazz was built off of this. Top tracks: "Heebie Jeebies," "Muskrat Ramble," "Ory's Creole Trombone"

It's fine. Really an odd one compared to all the other great albums. Seems more like a chore to listen to than to enjoy. I do love the old music of this era...but this is a LOT to take in in one sitting. 3 of 5, lets move on....

Interesting specialist listening material, but hardly a top album in an open list.

Vibes

enjoyed more than I thought I would, wouldn't relisten

Jazz trompetero. Ni fu ni fa.

If you want old time jazz then this is what you want. 1920s swing jazz with Louis is clearly a historical fest and very important but to me the old time jazz is a bit bland and missing some of the spontaneity of later jazz that I prefer much more. This isn’t bad and it sure it has had major cultural impacts but it’s nothing id willingly revisit if I wanted to hear jazz. 6.4/10

It's fine. Old timey trumpet music doesn't do much for me... certainly tends to sound all the same, but i can acknowledge its importance.

Some very old music here… interesting in a historical way, and obviously influential and impressive musicianship. Just not really that enjoyable to my ear to be honest. Still, I can see why something like this belongs on the list.

I generally prefer later jazz, but it was good.

It's charming. Simple and dated, but full of warmth.

Solid stuff although I felt like a psycho listening to this in the car on the way to work

I like my dixieland jazz a bit hotter than this (e.g. the Dutch College Swing Band). These tracks very quickly all blurred into one. A nice enough sound, but nothing grabbed my attention.

The Best of The Hot 5 & Hot 7 Recordings demonstrate that Louis Armstrong could, indeed, play the trumpet. Everything thereafter is just a matter of preference; yeah he should've been represented in the initial list, and some of this is good and enjoyable, but it's really an hour of trumpeting and if that's not your thing overall then it gets old a bit quickly. I'm not attuned enough to it to really feel the difference between songs; the happier bouncier ones are my favourites but they don't feel different enough to my ear. Still, 3/5 because it's better than the fucking 1975 shit I gave a 2 to yesterday.

This was perfectly pleasant but it's not the sort of thing I enjoy listening to actively.

Plinky plonk! Perfectly pleasant back ground music and I am appreciative of the skill but doesn't do much for me, personally

I think it's legit to put this as something to listen to but reminds me of the tedium of some jazz.

Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists of his time, and it's impossible to ignore his impact. This album just didn't do much for me.

Couldn't find the best of. Listened to a sample of the full record. Some cool stuff on there for sure.

I didn't find that this really did it for me

Yeah yeah, it's basically the most important piece of music ever to exist, but I'm not going to pretend like I get that much enjoyment from listening to an entire hour long compilation of extremely low quality trumpet recordings from a century ago.

This is a compilation, not really an album. I am not saying it is bad, not at all, but I guess it doesn’t apply for this exercise

Compilation album = 1 star But I agree that Louis Armstrong should have been in the 1001 album list

Sure some people like it but not me

This was a hard listen because, well, Jazz. But what really put me off was an album that played after - how did anyone ever think that was music worth listening to??