Publisher's four-CD set very cool

While reading a book to review for Bill Thompson at The Post and Courier, I became aware of a boxed set that's a real knockout.

Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux, authors of "Jazz," put together a package of four CDs that contain 79 recordings representative of the breadth and depth of jazz from 1916 to the present.

This musical companion to "Jazz" is called "Recordings" and is available at Amazon.com.

I highly recommend it.

This anthology, this audio odyssey, stands above many other compilations that attempt to define and describe jazz with a collection of tracks.

Another standout in this vein is the soundtrack to Ken Burns' blockbuster PBS film, "Jazz."

Along with containing a variety of good music, the Burns piece is instructive for those wishing to know a little more about the styles of jazz music and their eras.

"Recordings" does that too.

The book to which the set is a companion is a thorough treatment of the history and sociology of jazz, edited for the general-interest reader and for those with some basic technical and historical knowledge of music.

It has some shortcomings, as I point out in my book review, but it is well-done and clear and concise for such a broad subject.

It can turn the light bulb on for those who like jazz based on some music they've heard but with no background knowledge that would make listening to the music more interesting.

Giddins is a renowned writer and critic. DeVeaux is a highly regarded scholar. They worked together well on the book and they have hit a home run with the recording project.

The quality of Sony's production is very good, especially with the older material.

What's most striking, though, is the choices made and how they are sequenced.

There's a cohesiveness over the course of all those discs that belies the flashy diversity of the songs selected.

You get an immediate hint that the range of material is going to be large when you hear the first track, "Akuapim Drumming," a traditional percussion field recording from Ghana, Africa, followed by Bessie Smith blues, Gunther Schuller marching band music and rags.

With great contrast, the last CD closes with a very modern work by monster pianist Jason Moran, a 34-year-old.

And there's all the things in between.

All the discs have a recognizable theme with regard to a particular era, but the lineup of tunes is not strictly chronological.

For instance, Charlie "Yardbird" Parker's "Now's the Time," a modern masterpiece is the fifth of 24 tracks on the first disc, the one with the early music.

It works, though. What emerges most is the similarities of swing between the early and modern forms here, not the fact that they are disparate because they are from different eras.

There are other levels of nuance with the set lists.

Staying with Bird as an example, you get to hear him two more times on later discs. You can hear John Coltrane back-to-back ("Giant Steps," then "Acknowledgement") on CD 3.

There are some isolated gems for serious fans of the music, as well. A 1956 recording of the serious, meticulous trumpeter Clifford Brown in a live, relaxed version of a "Night in Tunisia" is amazing.

There's guitar great Wes Montgomery in front of a big band.

Speaking of big bands, there's a copious amount here. Jimmy Lunceford, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson. Unbelievable.

Picking "Lonely Woman" by Ornette Coleman, a free jazz player, as an exemplar of that style is a nice stroke, too. It came early in Coleman's career, so it was more connected to standard music than his later stuff. It's a good song to check out to see if you like avant garde jazz.

There's Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Charles Mingus, Wynton Marsalis, James P. Johnson, Cecil Taylor, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy Smith, Mongo Santamaria, Louis Armstorng and many, many others.

Vocalists Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra are in the repertoire.

Not the least example of the set's value is its correlation to the book. All the tracks here correspond to simple, real-world discussions in the book of each artist.

Here's what that allows you to do:

Let's say you want to decide if you like big band music. You're always invited to go hear the Charleston Jazz Orchestra but you don't know if you like that kind of music.

You can go to Chapter 8, read the general introduction for background on Basie. You see a gorgeous

Herman Leonard photo of The Chief as well.

Then, you put on track 6 on CD 2, a 1937 version of Basie's anthem, "One O'Clock Jump," and listen to it while you read a breakdown that clearly describes what's going on and who's doing it through all 10 choruses of the song. At the head of the section is a roster for the band, which includes what many call the best rhythm section in jazz ever: drummer Jo Jones, bassist Walter Page and Charlestonian Freddie Green on guitar.

There's also a citation for the album the song appears on, the date, the jazz style of the song, in this case Kansas City Swing, and the form, 12-bar blues for this one.

The entire exercise takes less than 10 minutes. And you had an informative ride as you moved closer to figuring out whether you like big band music.

Check this out.

The publisher has a Web page (www.wwnorton.com/studyspace) that puts on your screen the study I described above. It's an electronic learning guide, complete with audio and visual flash cards and quizzes.

Too, too much.

Together, the CD set and the book would run you a little more than $100, $62.50 and $39.95, respectively.

This combination is an incredible instrument of pleasure and enlightenment.

I listened to the whole thing in one sitting.

That's certainly not necessary to enjoy and use this set but it sure does reveal the high production standards used for this project.

Even though each disc has its own integrity, the producers have been amazingly successful at an overarching continuity over the course of all the discs that makes for an entertaining, illuminating experience.

Artists meeting

Jazz Artists of Charleston invites all area musicians to attend a meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 22 at the College of Charleston Recital Hall, in the Simons Center for the Arts on St. Philip Street.

This meeting is designed to explain the work of JAC and its goals.

It is also an opportunity to find out how to be more involved in the organization and how to receive its help.

Board members will be present to answer questions. RSVP to jac@jazzartistsofcharleston.org.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.