By:Various Artists - The First Days Of Jazz (CD)

This is a good if slightly frustrating compilation from Holland-based Timeless Records. On the one hand, it's got all of this great jazz from the dawn of the music, the likes of the Original Memphis Melody Boys, the Original New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Isham Jones, and so on; on the other, it's totally without annotation, except for referring to British jazz legend Chris Barber's 78 rpm collection as the source for the material at hand. The transfers have been done well enough, as well, and the material -- most of it instrumental and all of it Dixieland-oriented, which is no surprise as, even beyond the history of the music, Barber's whole career was built around Dixieland's British offshoot, "trad" jazz -- sounds fine. But listeners will have to fill in the blanks as far as release dates and other information; it's great listening (which is essential, of course) but hardly edifying in any way beyond the ears. ~ Bruce Eder