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.
Release and reception
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.
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." 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."
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."
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.
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." 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." Other critics had similar reactions.
Track list Side one Scott Joplin – "Maple Leaf Rag" (Joplin) – 3:16 Jelly Roll Morton – "Maple Leaf Rag" (Joplin) – 2:37 Robert Johnson – "Hellhound on My Trail" (Johnson) – 2:39 Bessie Smith – "St. Louis Blues" (W. C. Handy) – 3:12 Bessie Smith – "Lost Your Head Blues" (Bessie Smith) – 2:57 King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band – "Dippermouth Blues" (Joe "King" Oliver) – 2:22 Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers – "Grandpa's Spells" (F. J. Morton) – 2:55 Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers – "Dead Man Blues" (Morton) – 3:00
Side two Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers – "Black Bottom Stomp" (Morton) – 3:14 The Red Onion Jazz Babies– "Cake Walking Babies (From Home)" (B. Smith, A. Troy, and C. Williams) – 3:28 Sidney Bechet and His Blue Note Jazzmen – "Blue Horizon" (Bechet) – 4:26 James P. Johnson – "Carolina Shout" (Johnson) – 2:47 Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – "Struttin' with Some Barbeque" (Lil Hardin Armstrong, Don Raye) – 3:04 Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven – "S.O.L. Blues" (Excerpt) (Louis Armstrong) – 1:05 Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven – "Potato Head Blues" (Excerpt) (Louis Armstrong) – 1:14 Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – "Hotter Than That" (Lil Hardin Armstrong) – 3:02 Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – "West End Blues" (Joe "King" Oliver) – 3:17
Side three Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines – "Weather Bird" (Louis Armstrong) – 2:46 Louis Armstrong and His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra – "Sweethearts on Parade" (C. Lombardo and C. Newman) – 3:15 Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra – "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" (Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler) – 2:59 Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra – "Riverboat Shuffle" (Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Mills, and Mitchell Parish) – 3:15 Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra – "Singin' the Blues" (Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh) – 3:02 Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra – "The Stampede" (Henderson) – 3:18 Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra – "Wrappin' It Up" (Henderson) – 2:48 Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra – "Moten Swing" (Bennie Moten and Buster Moten) – 3:26
Side four Fats Waller – "I Ain't Got Nobody" (Roger A. Graham and Spencer Williams) – 3:09 Meade Lux Lewis – "Honky Tonk Train" (Lewis) – 3:01 Benny Goodman Trio – "Body and Soul" (Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, and Robert Sour) – 3:30 Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra – "Body and Soul" (Eyton, Green, Heyman, and Sour) – 3:02 Coleman Hawkins Quartet – "The Man I Love" (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin) – 5:10 Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra – "He's Funny That Way" (Neil Morret and Richard A. Whiting) – 2:41 Billie Holiday and Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra – "All of Me" (Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons) – 2:59 Ella Fitzgerald – "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" (Cole Porter) – 2:56
Side five Art Tatum – "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronnell) – 2:58 Art Tatum – "Too Marvelous for Words" (Johnny Mercer and Richard A. Whiting) – 2:25 Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – "Lunceford Special" (Eddie Durham) – 2:51 Gene Krupa and His Orchestra – "Rockin' Chair" (Carmichael) – 3:02 Roy Eldridge and Benny Carter – "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (Excerpt) (Clarence Gaskill and McHugh) – 3:02 Lionel Hampton – "When Lights Are Low" (Benny Carter) – 2:15 Count Basie and His Orchestra – "Doggin' Around" (Edgar Battle and Herschel Evans) – 2:57 Count Basie – "Taxi War Dance" (Basie and Lester Young) – 2:55
Side six Count Basie's Kansas City Seven – "Lester Leaps In" (Young) – 3:14 Benny Goodman Sextet – "I Found a New Baby" (Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams) – 2:57 Benny Goodman Sextet and Charlie Christian – "Blues Sequence" (From Breakfast Feud) (Goodman) – 2:24 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (Ellington and Bubber Miley) – 3:38 Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra – "New East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (Ellington and Miley) – 3:04 Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra – "Creole Rhapsody" (Ellington) – 6:00 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – "Harlem Air Shaft" (Ellington) – 3:00 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – "Concerto for Cootie" (Ellington) – 3:22
Side seven Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – "In a Mellotone" (Ellington) – 3:19 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – "Ko-Ko" (Ellington) – 2:42 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – "Blue Serge" (Mercer Ellington) – 3:22 Don Byas – "I Got Rhythm" (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin) – 5:07 Dizzy Gillespie Sextet – "I Can't Get Started" (Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin) – 3:08 Dizzy Gillespie's All Star Quintet – "Shaw 'Nuff" (Gillespie and Parker) – 2:57 Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers – "KoKo" (Parker) – 2:57 Charlie Parker – "Embraceable You" (Excerpt) (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin) – 2:14 Charlie Parker – "Embraceable You" (Alternate Version) (Excerpt) (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin) – 2:01
Side eight Charlie Parker Quintet – "Klacktoveedsedsteen" (Parker) – 3:02 Charlie Parker Sextet – "Little Benny" (Benny Harris) – 3:30 Charlie Parker's All Stars – "Parker's Mood" (Parker) – 3:01 Erroll Garner – "Fantasy On 'Frankie and Johnny" (Garner) – 2:55 Bud Powell Trio – "Somebody Loves Me" (Buddy DeSylva, George Gershwin, and Ballard MacDonald) – 2:48 Sarah Vaughan – "Dancing in the Dark" (Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz) – 2:37 Sarah Vaughan – "Ain't No Use" (Leroy Kirkland and Sidney J. Wyche) – 3:55 Lennie Tristano – "Crosscurrent" (Lennie Tristano) – 2:52
Side nine Miles Davis and His Orchestra – "Boplicity" (Gil Evans and Cleo Henry) – 3:02 Tadd Dameron's Sextet – "Lady Bird" (Tadd Dameron) – 2:54 Dexter Gordon Quartet – "Bikini" (Gordon) – 3:32 Thelonious Monk Quartet – "Misterioso" (Monk) – 3:22 Thelonious Monk Quintet – "Criss-Cross" (Monk) – 3:00 Thelonious Monk – "Evidence" (Monk) – 2:35 Thelonious Monk Quintet – "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (Otto Harbach and Jerome Kern) – 4:32 Thelonious Monk – "I Should Care" (Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl, and Paul Weston) – 3:16
Side ten Thelonious Monk – "Blues Improvisation" (Excerpt from "Bags' Groove") (Milt Jackson) – 2:54 Miles Davis with Gil Evans' Orchestra – "Summertime" (George Gershwin) – 3:22 Sonny Rollins Quartet – "Blue 7" (Rollins) – 11:22 Modern Jazz Quartet – "Django" (John Lewis) – 5:34 Charles Mingus and His Orchestra – "Hora Decubitus" (Mingus) – 4:44
Side eleven Sonny Rollins Plus 4 – "Pent-Up House" (Excerpt) (Rollins) – 7:32 Cecil Taylor – "Enter Evening" (Taylor) – 11:05 Miles Davis Sextet – "So What" (Davis) – 9:11
Side twelve Ornette Coleman – "Lonely Woman" (Coleman) – 5:02 Ornette Coleman – "Congeniality" (Coleman) – 6:45 Ornette Coleman – "Free Jazz" (Excerpt) (Coleman) – 10:14 John Coltrane – "Alabama" (Coltrane) – 5:07
Personnel Sidney Dillon Ripley – foreword Martin Williams – compilation and liner notes
"Maple Leaf Rag" (Joplin recording) Scott Joplin – piano Recorded in New York City in April 1916 and released on Biograph Records as BLP 1006Q
"Maple Leaf Rag (Morton recording) Jelly Roll Morton – piano Recorded in Washington, D.C., in May 1938 for the Library of Congress and released on Riverside Records as Riverside 9003 and 140
"Hellhound on My Trail" Robert Johnson – vocals, guitar Recorded in Dallas, Texas on June 20, 1937, for American Record Co. and released on CBS Columbia Records as Columbia CL 1654
"St. Louis Blues" Louis Armstrong – cornet Fred Longshaw – reed organ Bessie Smith – vocals Recorded in New York City on January 14, 1925, for Columbia Records and released on Columbia CBS Records as Columbia G 30818
"Lost Your Head Blues" Fletcher Henderson – piano Bessie Smith – vocals Joe Smith – cornet Recorded in New York City on March 18, 1926, for Columbia Records and released as Columbia G 31093
"Dippermouth Blues" Lil Hardin Armstrong – piano Louis Armstrong – cornet Baby Dodds – drums Johnny Dodds – clarinet Honoré Dutrey – trombone Joe "King" Oliver – cornet Bud Scott – banjo, vocals Recorded in Chicago, Illinois on June 23, 1923, for Okeh Records and released as Epic LN 16003 and Swaggie ST1257
"Grandpa's Spells" Andrew Hilaire – drums John Lindsay – double bass George Mitchell – trumpet Jelly Roll Morton – piano Kid Ory – trombone Johnny St. Cyr – guitar, banjo Omer Simeon – clarinet Recorded in Chicago, Illinois on December 16, 1926, for RCA Victor Records and released as RCA Victor LPM 1649
"Dead Man Blues" Barney Bigard – clarinet Andrew Hilaire – drums Darnell Howard – clarinet John Lindsay – double bass George Mitchell – trumpet Jelly Roll Morton – piano Kid Ory – trombone Johnny St. Cyr – banjo Omer Simeon – clarinet solo Recorded in Chicago, Illinois on September 21, 1926, for RC Victor Records and released as RCA Victor LPM 1649
"Black Bottom Stomp" Andrew Hillaire – drums John Lindsay – double bass George Mitchell – trumpet Jelly Roll Morton – piano Kid Ory – trombone Johnny St. Cyr – banjo Omer Simeon – clarinet Recorded in Chicago, Illinois on September 15, 1926, for RCA Victor Records and released as RCA Victor LPM 1649
"Cake Walking Babies (From Home)" Louis Armstrong – cornet Sidney Bechet – soprano saxophone Buddy Christian – banjo Alberta Hunter – vocals Charlie Irvis – trombone Clarence Todd – vocals Clarence Williams – piano Recorded in New York City on December 22, 1924, for Gennett Records and released on Milestone Records as Milestone 47017
"Blue Horizon"