I'm in the market for a good box set of New Orleans music, and know that there are several available. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. The two that I have pretty much narrowed it down to are the JSP box, which is cheap and no-frills but seems to have a lot of good music. The other is the high-priced 'big box of New Orleans music' from last year, which definately wins at packaging, but is also three times the cost. If anyone has any recommendations I'd be eager to hear them.

They're kind of apples and oranges in that JSP's Breaking Out of New Orleans 1922-1929 seeks to chronicle the early years of jazz while Doctors, Professors, Kings and Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans tries to be a complete overview of New Orleans music as a whole. In that case, I'd just as soon own the JSP box. Expense aside, it will give you as complete a collection of some of those musicians as you might want or might even be able to get. Shout! Factory's box only gives you a survey of a lot of musicians you'll want to explore further at some point and can probably explore better through their own albums and collections.

I don't own either box, so take that $0.02 for what it's worth.

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