(Avant-Garde Jazz, Bop, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz, Fusion, Hard Bop) VA - The Blue Note Years (1939-1999) (14CD) - 1998, MP3, 320 kbps

#777CD1 (64:17)
01. Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Stomp (3:39)
02. Meade Lux Lewis - Chicago Flyer (4:01)
03. Earl Hines - Reminiscing at Blue Note (4:29)
04. Sidney Bechet - Summertime (4:13)
05. Edmond Hall's Celeste Quartet - Profoundly Blue (4:10)
06. James P. Johnson's Blue Note Jazzmen - After You've Gone (4:28)
07. The Bechet-Nicholas Blue Five - Old Stack O'Lee Blues (4:16)
08. Jimmy Hamilton & The Duke's Men - Blues for Clarinets (4:21)
09. The Ike Quebec Swing Seven - Topsy (3:04)
10. The Ike Quebec Quintet - Blue Harlem (4:35)
11. The Tiny Grimes Swingtet - Tiny's Boogie Woogie (3:00)
12. Babs' Three Bips and a Bop - Lop-Pow (2:43)
13. Babs' Three Bips and a Bop - Oop-Pop-A-Da (2:53)
14. Tadd Dameron - Our Delight (3:00)
15. Tadd Dameron - Lady Bird (2:53)
16. McGhee-Navarro Boptet - Boperation (3:10)
17. James Moody's Modernists - Tin Tin Deo (2:48)
18. James Moody's Modernists - Moody's All Frantic (2:34)
CD2 (68:15)
01. Thelonious Monk - Well, You Needn't (2:58)
02. Thelonious Monk - Round Midnight (3:12)
03. Thelonious Monk - Criss Cross (2:58)
04. Bud Powell - Bouncing with Bud (3:05)
05. Bud Powell - A Night in Tunisia (4:17)
06. Bud Powell - Glass Enclosure (2:25)
07. Wynton Kelly - Born to Be Blue (3:29)
08. Milt Jackson - Bags' Groove (3:06)
09. Miles Davis - Tempus Fugit (3:53)
10. Horace Silver - Safari (2:52)
11. Lou Donaldson/Clifford Brown Quintet - Carvin' the Rock (3:59)
12. J.J. Johnson - Get Happy (4:55)
13. Clifford Brown - Easy Living (3:45)
14. Gil Melle - Timepiece (3:15)
15. Art Blakey & Sabu - Message from Kenya (4:36)
16. Herbie Nichols - The Gig (4:26)
17. Herbie Nichols - Lady Sings the Blues (4:25)
18. The Art Blakey Quintet - Quicksilver (6:39)

#777CD1 (64:42)
01. The Jazz Messengers - Minor's Holiday (8:47)
02. Horace Silver - The Preacher (4:18)
03. Clifford Brown - Hymn of the Orient (4:06)
04. Horace Silver - Senor Blues (7:03)
05. Hank Mobley - Funk in Deep Freeze (6:49)
06. Sonny Rollins - Decision (8:02)
07. Johnny Griffin - Mil Dew (3:57)
08. John Coltrane - Blue Train (10:42)
09. Cannonball Adderley & Miles Davis - Autumn Leaves (10:58)
CD2 (72:57)
01. Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' (9:25)
02. Bud Powell - John's Abbey (5:40)
03. Lee Morgan - I Remember Clifford (7:09)
04. Lou Donaldson - Blues Walk (6:43)
05. Jackie McLean - Appointment in Ghana (7:00)
06. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin' (9:36)
07. Stanley Turrentine - Little Sheri (7:50)
08. Freddie Hubbard - Open Sesame (7:12)
09. Dexter Gordon - Society Red (12:22)

#777CD1 (73:17)
01. Jimmy Smith - The Sermon (20:14)
02. Baby Face Willette - Something Strange (6:46)
03. Fred Jackson - Southern Exposure (6:55)
04. Don Wilkerson - Sweet Cakes (6:01)
05. Ike Quebec - Easy/Don't Hurt (6:08)
06. Freddie Roach - I.Q. Blues (5:21)
07. John Patton - Let 'Em Roll (6:49)
08. Grant Green - Blues in Maude's Flat (15:03)
CD2 (64:37)
01. Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue (4:01)
02. Lou Donaldson - Hog Maw (6:21)
03. Donald Byrd - Christo Redentor (5:43)
04. Stanley Turrentine - River's Invitation (6:18)
05. Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder (10:27)
06. Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple (6:48)
07. Hank Mobley - The Turnaround (8:18)
08. Donald Byrd - Slow Drag (9:48)
09. Lou Donaldson - Alligator Boogaloo (6:53)

#777CD1 (63:37)
01. Dexter Gordon - Cheese Cake (6:33)
02. Joe Henderson - Blue Bossa (8:01)
03. Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island (5:32)
04. Blue Mitchell - Fungii Mama (7:50)
05. Horace Silver - Song for My Father (7:18)
06. Pete LaRoca - Lazy Afternoon (5:34)
07. Wayne Shorter - Footprints (7:31)
08. Kenny Dorham - Una Mas (15:18)
CD2 (67:07)
01. Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (7:58)
02. Joe Henderson - Made for Joe (8:03)
03. Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil (8:23)
04. Freddie Hubbard - Hub-Tones (8:24)
05. Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares (7:00)
06. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Mosaic (8:14)
07. Lee Morgan - Speedball (5:33)
08. Bobby Hutcherson - West 22nd Street Theme (4:46)
09. McCoy Tyner - Passion Dance (8:46)

#777CD1 (61:41)
01. Larry Young - The Moontrane (7:21)
02. Andrew Hill - Black Fire (6:58)
03. Andrew Hill - Siete Ocho (9:00)
04. Jackie McLean - Frankenstein (7:32)
05. Jackie McLean - Kahil the Prophet (10:28)
06. Tony Williams - Tomorrow Afternoon (5:33)
07. Sam Rivers - Luminous Monolith (6:31)
08. Grachan Moncur III - Thandiwa (8:18)
CD2 (67:35)
01. Eric Dolphy - Hat and Beard (8:27)
02. Grachan Moncur III - Monk in Wonderland (7:54)
03. Andrew Hill - New Monastery (7:05)
04. Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch (12:06)
05. Ornette Coleman - Dawn (8:11)
06. Ornette Coleman - Broad Way Blues (8:43)
07. Don Cherry - There Is the Bomb (4:52)
08. Cecil Taylor - Steps (10:17)

#777CD1 (64:57)
01. Donald Byrd - (Falling Like) Dominoes (4:32)
02. Earl Klugh - Angelina (4:50)
03. Ronnie Laws - Always There (4:53)
04. Bobby McFerrin - Freedom Is a Voice (4:51)
05. Stanley Jordan - Lady in My Life (6:24)
06. Diana Reeves - Never Said (5:37)
07. Eliane Elias - The Time Is Now (4:38)
08. Rachelle Ferrell - You Don't Know What Love Is (5:15)
09. John Scofield - I'll Take Les (7:04)
10. Cassandra Wilson - I Can't Stand the Rain (5:29)
11. Charlie Hunter - Fistful of Haggis (6:46)
12. Us3 - Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) (4:38)
CD2 (72:40)
01. Joe Henderson - Beatrice (5:40)
02. Freddie Hubbard & Woddy Shaw - Nostrand and Fulton (6:13)
03. McCoy Tyner - Lonnie's Lament (6:01)
04. Tony Williams - Red Mask (7:10)
05. Don Pullen & George Adams - Song from the Old Country (8:15)
06. Benny Green - Bish Bash (5:02)
07. Joe Lovano - Lines & Spaces (6:24)
08. Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Well, You Needn't (8:47)
09. Javon Jackson - Not Yet (7:08)
10. Jacky Terrasson - I Love Paris (7:32)
11. Greg Osby - Miss D'Meena (4:28)

#777CD1 (75:11)
01. Dianne Reeves & Geri Allen - Maiden Voyage (6:58)
02. Jacky Terrasson Trio - Un Poco Loco (5:38)
03. John Scofield - Tom Thumb (5:52)
04. Cassandra Wilson - Joshua Fit the Battle Ob Jerico (2:39)
05. Bob Belden & Tim Hagans - Siete Ocho (8:24)
06. Marcus Printup - You've Changed (7:44)
07. Holly Cole - Hum Drum Blues (5:38)
08. Geoff Keezer - 2300 Skidoo (5:59)
09. Renee Rosnes - Song for My Father (6:12)
10. Kurt Elling - Tanganyika Dance (6:55)
11. Fareed Haque - Soul Lament (3:56)
12. Ron Carter & T.S. Monk - Evidence (4:44)
13. Eliane Elias - Una Mas (4:32)
CD2 (70:55)
01. Kevin Eubanks - Little B's Poem (6:56)
02. Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Recado Bossa Nova (4:57)
03. New Stars - Omega (7:42)
04. Bobby Watson & Jack Walrath - Cristo Redentor (6:05)
05. Kevin Hays Trio - Inner Urge (8:17)
06. Reuben Wilson - Love Bug (7:55)
07. Joe Lovano, Wallace Roney & Geri Allen - Good Old Days (10:53)
08. Detroit Generation - Spellbound (5:45)
09. Lonnie Smith & Us3 Horns - Move Your Hand (12:25)

There have been many jazz labels as diverse and musically satisfying as Blue Note, but few have carried the same mystique as Alfred Lion's label, since they not only had the sound, they had the style. Like any label, it had its up and downs, but decades after its inception, the label remains beloved by almost all jazz aficionados. So, when the label's 60th anniversary rolled around in 1998/1999, it made sense that they decided to celebrate in grand style. Not only did they reissue many of their classic albums with gloriously remastered sound and restored artwork, they compiled the gargantuan box set The Blue Note Years: 1939-1999, which contained no less than seven separate double-disc sets spotlighting different genres and eras in Blue Note's history (with the noticeable omission of anything recorded between 1968-1974, when Alfred Lion left the label and the new owners instigated pop-jazz, funk, groove, and fusion recordings). Certainly, a 14-disc box set isn't for casual fans, but anyone curious about digging deep into the label's past will be thrilled with the set. Each volume -- for the record, they are Boogie, Blues & Bop, The Jazz Message, Organ and Soul, Hard Bop and Beyond, Avant Garde, New Era, and Blue Note Now as Then -- stands as its own little mini-history, covering the major players with representative songs. Sometimes the choices are familiar, sometimes they're not, but they're almost always revelatory, especially when taken in conjunction with the songs that surround them. True, the box is a lot to digest at once (perhaps that's why Blue Note later released all seven volumes individually), but anyone willing to devote the time and money to this set will be richly rewarded.