JAZZ:  The Smithsonian Anthology

Seven years in the making, JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology will be released by Smithsonian Folkways on March 29, 2011. The six-CD box set traces the turning points of this 20th-century tale through its legendary innovators and exemplary exponents: Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Parker, Gillespie, Davis, Hancock, Corea, Coltrane and many more. The set opens with Scott Joplin’s 1899 “Maple Leaf Rag” and spans the entire century, closing with Tomasz Stan´ko’s 2003 “Suspended Night Variation VIII.”

As the successor to the original 1973 milestone Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, the set has been substantially updated with more than eighty percent new selections. In its nearly eight hours of music, many hundreds of musicians are featured on 111 tracks, and the set is accompanied by a 200-page book of essays, track annotations and historical photos. The six CDs encompass ragtime, New Orleans, swing, bebop, hard bop, cool, modal, free, fusion, Latin and many more of the variegated creations in jazz’s magnificent sound mosaic.

A blue ribbon executive committee selected the final 111 recordings from thousands of tracks recommended by dozens of jazz experts, and with annotations contributed by a team of 35 scholars and educators, JAZZ offers a wellspring resource for jazz fans of all stripes - educators, students, musicians, beginners and aficionados.

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(Source: jambase.com)