First box-set you ever got?

[ghost of miles]

Tonight I pulled out the Elllington Hindsight 1946-47 box of transcriptions and listened to it again for the first time in a couple of years. It was my comprehensive introduction to the world of Duke, purchased primarily because I really wanted a copy of "Crosstown" (it was on a cheap cassette that I'd just about played to pieces). Around the same time I picked up Count Basie's complete Decca recordings, the 3-CD GRP set, and thus was the madness born... I remember, at the same store where I got both sets, hearing tell of a customer who'd bought the Coltrane Prestige box. "That's nuts," I commented. "I really like Coltrane, but 16 CDs?"

Suffice to say I picked up that set several years later.

[Rooster_Ties]

Probably the Don Cherry Mosaic.

It was the first Mosaic I ever bought (maybe around 1994? - maybe '95), and would have had to have been one of the first box sets I ever owned.

[J Larsen]

It would have to be the Can box, the Pere Ubu box or the VU box - no way I could remember which.

[GA Russell]

My first was 1986, the Monk Blue Note Mosaic and the Mulligan/Baker Mosaic.

However, when I was very little (probably 1955) my family got its first LP & 45 record player, and also got an RCA Victor compilation box (of EPs) entitled Music America Loves Best. I remember it had The Three Suns playing Twilight Time.

[Guy Berger]

I think it was the Who's 30 Years of Maximum R&B.

Guy

[Rooster_Ties]

Probably the Don Cherry Mosaic.

It was the first Mosaic I ever bought (maybe around 1994? - maybe '95), and would have had to have been one of the first box sets I ever owned.

OK, well, the Cherry box was probably my first JAZZ box set. Didn't realize this topic was for any kind of box set.

Hmmmm..... Maybe the first Clapton "Crossroads" set? Having a tough time remembering, cuz I used to work for a top 40 radio station way back in college, and I managed to score a few promo sets back around '89 / '90 -- and I bought a few things on a lark too (which I don't own any more, that includes the Clapton).

I had a shit-load of Hendrix back then, but were there any Hendrix boxes our circa the late 80's?? I can't think of any. The Floyd "Shine On" box didn't come out until way after "Crossroads", so that's out (I went through a big Floyd phase my Freshman year of College). No Zappa boxes to be had back then. No Miles boxes either. That about covers my early musical fanatical phases.

Maybe that first Jethro Tull box?? -- but that had to be after "Crossroads" too.

"Crossroads" had to be it.

[J Larsen]

I had a shit-load of Hendrix back then, but were there any Hendrix boxes our circa the late 80's??

Stages? I may have the chronology mixed up.

[Alexander]

The first ones I remember getting were "Biograph" (actually a tape from a friends LP set), "Crossroads" by Clapton (on cassette), and a Jethro Tull box set. My first CD box set was "Star Time." The first jazz box set I owned was probably the Jackie McLean Mosaic set.

[brownie]

If I remember well the first box I got was the 2-LP box 'An Evening With Ornette Coleman', a Made in Germany set from Polydor International of Ornette's 1965 concert in Croydon. Probably came out in the late '60s.

Or it might have been the first Jazz Composer's Orchestra 2-LP box from JCOA records. That one came out in 1968.

Edited December 31, 2006 by brownie

[medjuck]

I think it was the first Billie Holiday Lp box set on Columbia.

[B. Goren.]

My first box set was the Complete BN and Pacific Jazz recordings of Cliford Brown:

[Parkertown]

Clapton's Crossroads. I still have mine.

[JSngry]

I was born into it. My parents had the RCA Glenn Miller AAF box for as long as I can remember. They might have even had it a few months before I was born.

Had an aunt who gave me her copy of The Kenton Era when I was 15.

Got the first Smithsonian set in 1974 as a high school graduation present.

First one I ever bought myself was, I think, the WB Bird Dial set. That was 1976, iirc, maybe 1977.

[DukeCity]

I was a kid, mid-1970's, and my Pops subscribed me to the Time-Life "Giants of Jazz" series. I still have about a dozen of the boxes.

[Quincy]

A used LP set of Concert For Bangladesh.

I was kind of late to CDs as I didn't get a player until '91 or so. Though just 2 discs Hank Williams Health & Happiness might have been the first for me. The Presley '50s set was the first really big one (5 discs) - well "really big" until I got into Mosaics (and still a Bear Family virgin.) Bought the Janis set for my partner, which might have come before the Elvis. So it was one of those 3.

First jazz...I think it was Coltrane's Village Vanguard. All I know is since I joined this board I have a whole mess of box sets compared to what I used to have. You bastards...thank you!

[Harold_Z]

No box, but it was the "RCA Encyclopedia of Recorded Jazz". A great set.

With a box? I guess the Billie Columbia "The Golden Years".

[ejp626]

I think I still have that Smithsonian set on cassette. At this point, I would imagine I have just about everything in a more complete form.

The first major box set, where I actually saved up for it, was the Monk on Riverside set. This was something I bought during my first "real," post-college job.

[porcy62]

I think it was the 1977 Karajan's Beethoven symphonies, DG. My parents gave it as present ages ago for Christmas. Vinyl, still have it. When my dad passed away I inherited his 1962 Karajan recordings, and they are my preferred ones.

Edited December 31, 2006 by porcy62

[jazzbo]

Mine was either the first Smithsonian lp box set, or Bremen/Lausanne by Keith Jarrett. . . can't remember specifically which, got them both about the same time more than thirty years ago.

First cd box set was the Prestige Chronicles box set (Miles Davis).

Edited January 1, 2007 by jazzbo

[GregK]

the Layla box set, which made me get my second one as soon as I could just a few months later, which was the Allman Brothers box set

[mjzee]

My first boxed set was a $3 promo box put out by Warner Bros./Reprise called "Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies." At the time, they had a great way to introduce new music to the public: a few times a year, they'd release $1 a disc compilations of their new releases. Most were twofers, but LT&MM was the first (and I think only) 3 disc set. While it was handsome, I didn't think it wore as well on the shelves - any air in the box made it collapse in spots.

I came to really dislike boxed sets - I knew I just wouldn't dig to play, say, the 8th disc in a 16-disc set; it would just remain unplayed. Which, I guess, is why I truly love the "random" feature in iTunes - every song has an equal chance to get played.

My first jazz boxed set? I think "The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve" lp import from Japan. Massive box, with most of the booklet in Japanese. I think when the U.S. CD box came out, it had alternate takes not included in my version.

[Clunky]

my first box set of any genre was Herbie Nichols Mosaic in 1992, it's been down hill ever since as nothing has quite matched the intense excitement I got from discovering Nichols music (and Mosaic)

[kh1958]

Charlie Parker, the Complete Savoy Recordings (LPs).

[HolyStitt]

The first set I bought was the Complete Candid Recordings of Charles Mingus, on CD, though my mother had the Biograph and Crossroads sets in the house when I was a teenager.

[BeBop]

My first was 1986, the Monk Blue Note Mosaic and the Mulligan/Baker Mosaic.

The Monk was the first I remember vividly. Before that, some Time-Life boxes, Smithsonian, Worlds Greatest Music and, what were those things called - three-LP sets in the burgundy boxes?

Oh yeah, and the old JATP concerts on 78.