EJC offer us far more than it suggests on their rather flimsy 4-CD slipcase. Yes, all the Hot Fives and Sevens are here but there's far more as can be seen from the outline list shown above. So why now? This marks at least the fourth full set of early Satch to have come my way in the past few years and I happen to know that a comprehensive 10-CD early Armstrong set is planned for release by a UK label later on this year.

Is there a reason to applaud this set over others that have come one's way? The sound restoration compares favourably with the others, the booklet is comprehensive and well illustrated and I've no argument with the selection of material. Compared with, say, the Proper box, it boasts 102 tracks to their 99, but Proper's selection brings in Armstrong's pre-Hot Five recordings with King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson and Clarence Williams and his Bessie Smith accompaniments but omits the Christian and Spivey sides. Of course, the answer is to get both sets and thus to fully chart the extraordinary explosion of creativity that is embodied in this progression from precocious Oliver sideman, to fully formed genius as evident on ‘West End Blues’.

However many times this material is issued or however many times one hears it, the sense of wonder never wears off. That this young man transcended the poverty of his background and produced music of such incandescent quality remains one of the greatest of jazz stories. As one commentator put it, this music is ‘beyond indispensable’. Take note please.