what you know 'bout the jazz?

Verve is releasing a series of discs called "To >> Go" which is aimed at the iPod crowd. According to Verve's website: "To>>Go is great music for people on the move. Stick the disc in your computer, rip the music to your portable device, put the head phones in your ears and go! Quality music, legendary artists, and an extremely low price, all in one simple little package…To>>Go. "

This is simultaneously the worst and coolest thing to happen to Verve. First the cool part: if you're not at all familiar with jazz, then these little EPs are a good way to quickly get acquainted.

Now the shitty part: taking musically important figures like Louis Armstrong, Stan Getz or Sarah Vaughan and tapering their careers down to six songs is pretty lame. If you wanted to get to know a great artist, you'd research their entire discography and not just the hits. It's kind of like those lame ass people who only own The Beatles' "1" compilation, but none of their other records.

If this was Sum 41, Richard Marx or some other equally disposable act, I can see why this series seems like a great idea -- pop music is built around hit singles and choruses, but with a genre like jazz, it's not about parts, it's about the whole composition.

I guess these discs will be worthwhile purchases for people who buy their CDs at Starbucks and whatnot, but I bet if Satchmo were alive today, he'd be knocking cats out with his trumpet over this bullshit.