Jazz Boxsets

You can't go wrong with most of the box sets from Mosaic Records.

Mosaic Records Web Site

If high fidelity sound is a priority, stick with the artists who recorded in the tape era (after 1950, best by the late '50s).

The Mosaic Select series of sets is more affordable and offers the same high quality sound as the larger sets:

Mosaic Select Web Page

I have no affiliation with Mosaic Records. I am just an avid jazz fan who has collected nearly the entire Mosaic catalog over the years.

Combumbia's Miles Davis collection is worthwhile. Time-Life's(don't laugh) Art Tatum anthology is good. I'm sure there are others.

Thanks for the feedback. The Mosaic website is great one more place to spend money.

Next week I'll be picking up the columbia sets of Miles Davis.

Cheers

The Smithsonian put out a 5 CD, 6 hour set called "The Smithsonian Collection of Jazz" that covers 50 years or so of jazz, pretty much everything from Jelly Roll Morton through Ornette Coleman. Try that and see what you would like to explore further.

While the Mosaic sets are very good, I don't think a $162 set of 9 Miles Davis lps is a good place to start an exploration of jazz. Miles went through a lot of different phases and some of his "best of" discs might be worth a listen.

There is also a box set from the PBS jazz series that Ken Burns did.

Accidental delight and value, I recommend
"Night Out with Verve" 4 disc box,65 tracks,
$30,well recorded Verve sound.
Here's the Amazon site with many samples and opinions
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004ZEJJ/002-6858772-8589634?v=glance