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JSP and Proper box sets


kulu se mama

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Great ways to pick up an extensive sampling of pre-50s repetoire.

I have the JSP Hot 5s/7s, Louis Jordon, the two Djangos and the Carter Family set. JSP tend to go for a 'complete masters' type approach.

Proper tend to cherry pick but more extensively than your usual 1 or 2CD sampler - I find them very inexpensive ways to sample areas; if I want more then I've not spent too much on the sample. I have the Basie, Navarro, Hampton, Powell, Bechet and Herman sets plus the 'Hitting on all Six' guitar compilation and 'Bebop Spoken Here' bebop collection. Proper can be a bit careless - the 'Sweethearts on Parade' listed on the Hampton box is actually Armstrong! And one of the Sarah Vaughan tracks on the Powell has a jump where the needle on the master record hops back a few seconds.

But in general marvellous introductions. And within European copyright laws!!!

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I've got a few boxes by both labels.

From my experience, the JSP boxes usually sound better, but the Proper sets have the nice booklets, while the JSP sets don't.

The JSP's that I have a really like are the:

Louis Armstrong - I probably would get the Sony set if the price was the same.

The 2 Django sets - I really enjoy these two.

Eddie Condon - It's a nice overview for the money. It's more like a Proper set in the song selection. It's an overview instead of complete recordings.

The Mills Brothers - That's a neat set. Great value for the money. It's 5 cds of Mills Brothers.

The Proper's that I have are:

Woody Herman - This seems like a good introduction, and for the price I'm happy. I don't know if there are better source materials out there for this music, though.

Doughboys, Playboys, and Cowboys - This is a great introduction to western swing music. I really like it and highly recommend it.

I would like to get more Proper's sets. I think they're perfect if you're exploring artists and you don't have much by them. They're not going to satisfy those who already have everything by an artist, but they're a nice intro.

If you're open to different styles, such as country, I would highly recommend the JSP Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers sets. I haven't got them yet (I have most of the material from other sources), but for the price they are amazing deals.

I'm curious about the JSP Goodman and Dorsey sets myself, any comments?

:rhappy:

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Last year I got info from sources in the U.K. that JSP might have "taken advantage" of Mosaic, Bear Family and possibly Revenant remasters for some of their box sets (I'm not talking about the sets that were remastered by John R.T. Davies, of course)

There was a discussion about this on "the old board", but unfortunately it didn't survive...

Edited by J.A.W.
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Last year I got info from sources in the U.K. that JSP might have "taken advantage" of Mosaic and Bear Family remasters for some of their box sets (I'm not talking about the sets that were remastered by John R.T. Davies, of course)

There was a discussion about this on "the old board", but unfortunately it didn't survive...

I remember that Definitive was doing that, so I ceased buying anything from them.

That would be a real drag if JSP is doing that. If it is true, I wouldn't feel right buying their product. It does seem weird that they would do so after they had established a reputation of quality using remasters by J.R.T. Davis and such.

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i've no pre 50's dizzy. would getting the dizzy proper box set be a good way to start?

Yeah, I'd say so. I know had lots of bits and pieces of 40s Dizzy before I bought this box, but the box gives me all I want. I actually think it's a pretty exhilirating collection. In general the proper boxes are very good - I don't think I've been disappointed yet. I think the Lester Young won the Jazz Journal record of the year a few years back.

I wonder if they're too good to be true, but that's about it.

Simon Weil

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i've no pre 50's dizzy. would getting the dizzy proper box set be a good way to start?

Yeah, I'd say so. I know had lots of bits and pieces of 40s Dizzy before I bought this box, but the box gives me all I want. I actually think it's a pretty exhilirating collection. In general the proper boxes are very good - I don't think I've been disappointed yet. I think the Lester Young won the Jazz Journal record of the year a few years back.

I wonder if they're too good to be true, but that's about it.

Simon Weil

thanks Simon. that's just what i was hoping someone would say. guess a trip to the shops this afternoon is now needed :)

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I tried to order the Dizzy set from them direct and got back a reply that because of legal issues, they cannot sell this set to customers in the US. I never had that come up before. Anyway, I ordered it from UK Amazon and they shipped it out to me. Its a very nice collection.

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I have stayed away from most JSP/Proper boxes because I already

had most of the stuff they released. But I got these:

- the JSP Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton sets, both

excellents,

- the Proper Gospel box 'Good News', a 4CD compilation of some of the best

gospel recordings (these were very jard to get). The Proper box also has

excellent notes (these are nearly non-existent in the JSP boxes I have seen).

All these are good, cheap and well distributed over here.

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I'm very satisfied with all my Proper and JSP purchases. On the JSP side, I own both the JSP and Sony Armstrong Hot 5's and 7's and I find myself listening to the JSP's more often. The Django sets are indispensible in terms of sound quality and completeness; I've outplayed some of those discs. The Mills Brothers one is a good one, but perhaps not essential. I'm a huge Condon man and owned much of the material on the JSP "Classic Sessions" set, but it's still one I revisit quite often.

On the other hand, they seem to be going in a new direction with their latest jazz boxes. I only purchased the Goodman, which featured great material and great sound but I didn't like the whole grouping CDs by theme: Small Groups, Vocalists, etc. A strictly chronological set with a mix of everything would have worked better I think, but this seems to be JSP's new path, as they've demonstrated with their new Ella and Dorsey boxes.

Oh, and don't forget the smaller JSP sets which are truly excellent: Red Allen's 1929-1930 stuff, Armstrong's Big Band recordings from the early 30s (perhaps the Armstrong set I listen to most) and a fine Joe Venuti-Eddie Lang sampler.

On the Proper side, I love the Lester Young and Coleman Hawins boxes. I had all the material on the Pres set, but the Hawkins one saved me a lot of dough from buying all the material on Classics disc. Same goes for the Hampton set, nowhere near complete, but a terrific overview. I'm also currently listening to the Woody Herman set, a fine one that's doing its job well: plugging up a major gap in my collection, early Herman.

Does anyone have the Illinois Jacquet Proper set? I haven't seen it in the flesh yet, but everyone and their mother is selling it on eBay for around $22. It has all the material on the Mosaic but also some live JATP stuff and some early 50s sides for Norman Granz's labels. I don't have the Mosaic set, but I'm not really a fanatic about having all of Jacquet's alternate takes. I think I'd be more than happy with the Proper set, but I just wanted to check here if the sound is all right or if there are any other hazards with the set.

Enjoy,

Rick

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Here's the website: Proper Records

I bought the one Proper set I have (Fats Navarro) at a Canadian retailer, A&B Sound, for a fairly cheap price - something like 40 bucks Cdn, with a 20% discount. I can't comment on any of the US online places, but the Proper site does seem to have quite reasonable prices.

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Fairly good prices can be had at Amazon.con - often with free shipping. When Tower had their 25% off sale, I got the Armstrong box for $16! ;)

To add, the Miles Davis, Gillespie, and Sinatra boxes are no longer "allowed" to be sold in the U.S. (for legal reasons one presumes), so pick these up while you still can.

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