To the average man on the street—if he has any idea who Louis Armstrong was to begin with!—Louis Armstrong was that corny old jazz guy with the trumpet and handkerchief who sang "Hello Dolly" and "When the Saints Go Marching In". Even some supposed jazz fans think of him as just an old-school New Orleans musician who played trumpet and kidded around onstage a lot.

Of course, we retro types know better—Louis Armstrong was one of the primary architects of jazz, the innovator whose astonishing 1920s recordings brilliantly demonstrated such central concepts as the solo instrumentalist taking center stage, how to instill contemporary pop tunes with a jazz feel, and the fine art of scat singing.

This entry in Sony's Jazz Moods series offers a great selection of Armstrong's essential Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings from the late 20s. These approximately 90 recordings are probably the most influential small-group records ever made, and they remain the single greatest treasure of early jazz.

Virtually every jazz musician who emerged from the late 20s to the 40s, including singers like Billie Holiday and Bing Crosby, made a point of singling out these records as their primary inspiration. But don't take that to mean that they only have historical value— these tunes will put a put a big smile on your face with their humor and vitality, and repeatedly drop your jaw to the floor with the endless creativity and finesse of Armstrong's solos.

With songs like "Hotter Than That:, "Potato Head Blues" (whose amazing stop-time trumpet solo, incidentally, Woody Allen mentions on his short list of things that make life worth living in Manhattan), "Strutting With Some Barbecue", "Jazz Lips", "Cornet Chop Suey", and the especially incredible "Tight Like This", it's simply one classic track after another. And throughout, Armstrong's trumpet solos are so startlingly inventive, well-constructed, and superbly played that you quickly forget about the limitations of 20s sound recording. There's ample evidence of Louis' unique singing style here too, including some fabulous scatting.

Other notable members of the Hot Five and Hot Seven—which included a lot of different people over the nearly five years these recordings span—heard here include clarinetist Johnny Dodds, trombonist Kid Ory, drummer Baby Dodds, banjoist Johnny St. Cyr, guitarist Lonnie Johnson, saxophonist Don Redman, tuba player Pete Briggs, and pianists Earl Hines and Louis' second wife Lil Hardin Armstrong. None of them (with the possible exception of Hines) was remotely Louis' equal, but they provide sterling support. These recordings are simply sublime, inarguably one of the towering artistic achievements of the twentieth century.

If there's anything to complain about with this collection, it's that it could easily have included another twenty-plus minutes of this astounding music, and that it doesn't have detailed notes on the recordings. Of course, there are many other multiple-disc anthologies of this same material out there that provide vastly more detail, but Jazz Moods–Hot is a fine choice for folks just starting to dip into these essential masterworks.