This release presents all of the legendary 1925-29 recordings by the extraordinary Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven small groups. Featuring such stellar names as Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, Lonnie Johnson, Jack Teagarden, and Jimmy Noone, these were among the first jazz recordings to be universally considered as classics. The most comprehensive set so far, our 4-CD collection also contains all of Louis’ complementary recordings from that period on which other members of the Hot Five and Hot Seven were present. The sessions by the Carroll Dickerson band, Johnny Dodds Black Bottom Stompers, and singer Lillie Delk Thomas, for instance, complete Armstrong’s sides with Earl Hines from this early period (Hines would rejoin Louis in the late forties). Other bonus sessions feature Louis’ backing singers Hociel Thomas, Butterbeans & Susie, and Victoria Spivey, participating in a band under his wife Lil Hardin’s name, and working with groups featuring washboard player Jimmy Bertrand.