How about both?

One thing to keep in mind is that when you're dealing with stuff from that time period you're going to be looking at compilations.  Because obviously albums weren't a thing at the time.  

With Armstrong the clear answer is "The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings".  They were some of the seminal early jazz recordings and established Armstrong as the top instrumental soloist of the time.  

Waller is harder as there is no definitive recording sessions, so things can be scattered over a number of sessions and a number compilations.  If you want to go deep, Sony Legacy's "If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It" a three cd set from 2006 is a very good bet.  

I'm not sure there's a single great collection for Oliver.  "Dippermouth Blues: His 25 Greatest Hits" seems like a good overview at least. 

For Bessie Smith "The Essential Bessie Smith" is a nice two-CD collection.  

I don't have an answer on Jelly Roll Morton.  

I can't name albums, that's not how I listen to music, but I can recommend artists.

In the early days, Armstrong's only rival among cornet players was Bix Beiderbecke, who died in 1931. Armstrong switched to trumpet, but Bix didn't. BTW, "Satchmo" was Armstrong's nickname to the public, but in the jazz world he was called "Pops", because he was the father of the whole field.

The next "#1 trumpet guy" after Armstrong was Roy Eldridge, and then Dizzy Gillespie. And mentioning Dizzy brings to mind his collaborator, saxophonist Charlie Parker. Those two sparked the bebop revolution of the 40s.

Parker came out of the Kansas City scene - others from KC who are worth a listen include Count Basie, Jay McShann and Benny Moten.

Other saxophone giants of that era include Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Sidney Bechet (pioneer of the soprano sax), Lester Young, Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, and Gene Ammons.

For jazz-flavored novelty numbers, check out Cab Calloway and Slim Gaillard, both of whom published "jive dictionaries" to teach mainstream America how to be hip. Or "hep", as they would have said.

Try a few of those and let us know what you think.

Close Encounters Part 2 of 6-Eddie Kramer

Who is Eddie Kramer? We'll get to that after the set-up

In 1975 I had a part-time job working for a new start-up video production company. The boss was a wealthy guy and foresaw the demand for videotape production facilities. Cable TV had just come to Manhattan, public access channels had arrived, new equipment for videotaping and editing were entering the market and he saw a wide open niche for a business. Besides filming and editing commercials or cable shows on videotape, there was beginning to be a demand for videotaping weddings, parties and other private events. The home video market was still a few years away but there were a few early videoplayer machines for home use available and if you were aware of the technology trends you could see what was coming

I was pretty much a go-fer for the boss. It was just me and one other person. But it was a great opportunity to learn about camera-work and how to edit. We also wanted to make our own mini-movie on videotape as a demo of what we could do. We decided to shoot a Dracula parody and hired out-of-work actors to play the parts (New York City is full of them). Wrote out a full script, got costumes and props. We wanted to shoot a scene in Central Park with Dracula getting out of his coffin and brushing his teeth at a water fountain. It would be a built-in commercial for Ultra-Bite toothpaste-the toothpaste that makes your fangs pearly white. 

I was in charge to find and rent a coffin.Which I did and had to carry it with my partner a few city blocks and into Central Park. You have to imagine the stares we got walking around with a coffin through the city

Anyhow, one weekend my boss told me we were going to take a trip into Greenwich village to see a sound engineer for tips and advice on sound mixing. We arrived at an unmarked building near Bleecker Street and went up to the 2nd floor. It was a small recording studio. A small office, small kitchen, small lounge, small area behind glass with musical instruments. And one room with this massive sound board and other gadgets. This sound board was as big as a king-size bed with what seemed to be hundreds of toggle switches, dials, meters, levers, buttons-quite intimidating.

The place was empty except for it's owner. I was introduced to Eddie Kramer. We only had about hour or so to spend with him. The name didn't ring any bells for me and I basically just kept quite and listened as Eddie spoke about sound recording. At times I lost interest and wandered around and just stared at that mixing board

It was much later that I learned who Eddie Kramer was. My God-what a missed opportunity!!

Eddie Kramer as a young boy arrived in England from South Africa and was hired by Pye Records to assist i sound recordings. He worked with The Kinks, Petula Clark, The Searchers and others. He soon opened his own studio as well as worked for Regent Studios. Eddie Kramer engineered 2 Beatle songs-"All You Need Is Love" and "Baby You're A Rich Man".He then engineered in 1967 albums for The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, Traffic and ultimately Jimi Hendrix's 1st album

Kramer relocated to New York City and became Hendrix's sole producer. Kramer also produced 5 consecutive Led Zeppelin albums beginning with their 2nd, and worked with Johnny Winter. It was Eddie Kramer who attended the Woodstock Festival and recorded the whole thing.
Kramer helped build Hendrix's Electric Ladyland Studio in Greenwich Village, produced Carly Simon's 1st album, mixed Humble Pie's live album, and mixed or produced albums for David Bowie, Peter Frampton, Larry Coryell, Dionne Warwick and Curtis Mayfield. Kramer had a long association with Kiss, producing 5 of their albums as well as their solo work. 

When I met Eddie Kramer he had just resigned from Electric Ladyland Studios and opened his own independent facility. Kramer has gone on to win Grammy's, work for the Jimi Hendrix estate with posthumous albums, worked in all musical genres from Heavy Metal to Jazz.

Why this guy is not in the Rock N Roll museum yet is a headscratcher. But he is indisputably an icon behind the scenes. And what a missed opportunity with my not knowing who he was when I met him.



Here is the mixing board I saw

Eddie Kramer, recognised the name but couldn't remember who he was until I read the story. yes, fully deserving of a place in the Hall of Fame.

Have never listened much to the Dead. That Morning Dew track doesn't sound bad, a bit different from the other things I've heard from them. I usually find them pleasant enough, though a little dull and repetitive, but haven't really listened to them enough to give them a chance.

^^ There are literally hundreds of songs that have profoundly effected me in my life and, as a result, have become deeply personal to me. Far too many to list here. In fact, there are whole albums that have, without exaggeration, changed the way I see the world.

This is partly the reason why I wrote "music" in the section marked Religion in the last UK census; it wasn't a silly or flippant answer -- I meant it. For me, music provides all the spiritual and intellectual fulfillment, as well as the comfort and emotional succor, that religion should, but unfortunately doesn't.

Edit: BTW, I love the first Grateful Dead and Velvet Underground albums. Both absolute stone classic records.