The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by Various | ||||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde jazz, free jazz, bebop, hard bop, modal jazz, ragtime, swing | |||
| Length | 369:38 | |||
| Label | Smithsonian Institution, Columbia | |||
| Producer | Various | |||
| Compiler | Martin Williams | |||
| Smithsonian Institution jazz compilations chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz is a six-LP box set released in 1973 by the Smithsonian Institution. Compiled by jazz critic, scholar, and historian Martin Williams, the album included tracks from over a dozen record labels spanning several decades and genres of American jazz, from ragtime and big band to post-bop and free jazz.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Tom Hull | A[1] |
Praised from the time of its release as "by far the best anthology of jazz recordings ever issued," it "became part of the jazz curriculum at colleges throughout the country." and over time it was a best-selling, double platinum record.[2][3]
This collection has been criticized for a number of shortcomings and idiosyncrasies; e.g., Paul de Barros, jazz critic for the Seattle Times, wrote, "Williams also favored black musicians over white (common to his critical generation), overlooked Latin, female and most hard-bop instrumentalists and, as most male jazz critics still do, disdained vocals."[4] However, the collection has also long been widely and highly praised in terms similar to those of Dan Morganstern of The New York Times, who in 1987 referred to it as "by far the best available survey of the recorded history of jazz on concise form."[5]
Critic Gary Giddins posited in 1998 that these traits, its idiosyncratic nature and its esteemed stature, were two sides of a coin: "One key reason Martin Williams's epochal 1973 Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz had the impact it did (and went double platinum, not bad for mail order) is that he trusted his own eccentricity, though he would have used a, ahem, different term, like maybe critical judgment."[6]
In 1987 the Smithsonian issued a revised, seven-LP, five-CD, or five-cassette edition of the collection, accompanied by a paperback book by Williams under the same title, with the revised collection including some different tracks, ending with "Steppin'" by the World Saxophone Quartet. The collection was reissued as a five-CD boxed set in 1997 by Sony Music Special Projects, digitally remastered and with some tracks restored to full-length.[7][8]
In 2011, with this collection out of print, the Smithsonian issued a new 6-CD set Intended to take its place, called Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology, about which Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote, "what the new anthology might make you miss the most is the object it has been designed to replace: The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, compiled in 1973 and revised in 1987 by the critic Martin Williams."[9] One critic opined that the 2011 anthology's selection by committee, rather than by a single person, "while admirable in principle, guarantees that The Smithsonian Anthology has no point of view."[4] Other critics had similar reactions.[7][9]
