VA - Pure... Jazz (4CD Box Set) (2010)

Pure... Jazz, a massive four-disc set from Sony in the EU, while not mistitled, is a strange, wildly haphazard selection of jazz tunes recorded between the 1930s through the 1990s by virtually all of the labels the company owns -- from Columbia, Epic, OKeh, etc. While all of the artists are names -- including Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Benny Goodman, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Weather Report, Branford Marsalis, Duke Ellington, and dozens more -- and are represented by wonderful selections, it's their sequencing that is the real head-scratcher here. While the first few selections on disc one may not be so jarring -- Davis' "So What," Armstrong's read of "Mack the Knife," and Sinatra's "The Brooklyn Bridge" -- it gets quite weird on disc three when you travel from Charles Mingus through Rosemary Clooney through Marsalis and George Benson to Mel Tormé! Stranger still is disc four with Ornette Coleman, Gil Evans, Dexter Gordon, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Ray Barretto, and Stanley Turrentine. The price is certainly right, and the sound is terrific, but in terms of assemblage, you'd likely have more luck achieving aesthetically consistent pleasure by putting this set into an old-school five-disc changer and hitting "shuffle."

Tracklist:

CD 1

01. Miles Davis - So what (9:24)
02. Louis Armstrong - Mack the knife (3:23)
03. Frank Sinatra - The brooklyn bridge (2:36)
04. Billie Holliday - I'm a fool to want you (3:26)
05. Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra - After all (3:52)
06. Bud Powell Trio - I cover the waterfront (2:33)
07. Gerry Mulligan - What is there to say? (4:05)
08. Toots Thielemans - Bluesette (4:34)
09. Keith Jarrett - Expectations (4:27)
10. Ellis Marsalis - Heart of gold (3:44)
11. Bill Evans - Waltz for debby (7:43)
12. Astrud Gilberto with Stanley Turrentine - Ponteio (3:53)
13. Jimmy Rushing - Somebody stole my gal (3:46)
14. Ray Bryant - Bryant's folly (4:51)
15. Nina Simone - I want a little sugar in my bowl (2:34)

CD 2

01. Dave Brubeck - Take five (5:26)
02. Ramsey Lewis - The 'in' crowd (5:51)
03. Art Blakey - It's you or no one (5:35)
04. Sonny Rollins - Without a song (7:26)
05. The Four Brothers - Four brothers (3:49)
06. Charlie Byrd - The girl from ipanema (2:47)
07. Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan - One o'clock jump (2:44)
08. Count Basie and His Orchestra - Cheek to cheek (3:20)
09. Horace Silver - Silver's blue (7:45)
10. Sarah Vaughan - Summertime (3:17)
11. Lena Horne - Stormy weather (3:22)
12. Johnny Hodges - The very thought of you (2:50)
13. Neal Hefti Chorus & Orchestra - Girl talk (2:53)
14. Rosemary Clooney with Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Me and you (2:29)
15. Tony Bennett - I left my heart in san fransisco (2:52)

CD 3

01. Charles Mingus - Goodbye pork pie hat (4:48)
02. Chet Baker - Over the rainbow (3:29)
03. Betty Carter - Let's fall in love (1:59)
04. Coleman Hawkins - There will never be another you (2:58)
05. Larry Clinton & His Orchestra - Heart and soul (3:57)
06. Oscar Peterson Trio - My heart stood still (3:25)
07. Thelonious Monk - Round midnight (3:50)
08. Branford Marsalis - Gutbucket steepy (6:19)
09. George Benson - When love has grown (5:03)
10. Stan Getz - Blue serge (3:40)
11. Paul Desmond - Embarcadero (3:59)
12. I've Got You Under My Skin - Mel torme (2:54)
13. Blue Trombone - J. j. johnson (9:09)
14. Swing Is Here - Gene krupa's swing band (2:56)
15. Benny GoodMan and His Orchestra - Get happy (3:08)

CD 4

01. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Meeting of the spirits (6:53)
02. Weather Report - Birdland (5:58)
03. Gil Evans - Angel (4:10)
04. Ornette Coleman - Law years (5:22)
05. Dexter Gordon - The moontrane (6:38)
06. Ray Barretto - La cuna (5:29)
07. Freddie Hubbard - Sky dive (7:36)
08. My Foolish Heart - John mclaughlin (3:27)
09. Jaco Pastorius - Continuum (4:35)
10. Stanley Turrentine - Vera cruz (5:14)
11. Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions (6:02)
12. Dancing On Air - Jack bruce (3:54)
13. Al Di Meola - Race with the devil on spanish highway (6:17)