Virtually the entire ensuing history of jazz springs from the timeless tracks on this distillation of a four-album box set collecting Armstrong's small-group recordings from 1926 to 1928. "Heebie Jeebies" contains one of the earliest examples of scat singing; Armstrong's solo introduction to "West End Blues" marks a joyful moment of rhythmic liberation; and his elegant, idea-drenched trumpet solo in "Potato Head Blues" gave Woody Allen something to live for in Manhattan.