This is an attractive eight-CD set, whose discs are also available as eight separate releases, that could have been a great reissue but settled for being merely quite good. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first jazz recording, RCA released a disc apiece covering each of the past eight decades. In listening to the music straight through, one becomes aware of RCA's strengths and weaknesses as a jazz label.

Tracklist
Vol. 1
1. Livery Stable Blues - Original Dixieland "Jazz" Band
2. Meanest Blues - Original Memphis Five
3. She's Crying for Me - New Orleans Rhythm Kings
4. Smoke-House Blues - Jelly Roll Morton
5. Kansas City Shuffle - Bennie Moten
6. Doctor Jazz - Jelly Roll Morton
7. My Pretty Girl - Jean Goldkette
8. Davenport Blues - Red Nichols
9. St. Louis Shuffle - Fletcher Henderson
10. Wolverine Blues - Jelly Roll Morton
11. Clementine (From New Orleans) - Jean Goldkette
12. Feelin' No Pain - Red Nichols
13. Black and Tan Fantasy - Duke Ellington
14. San - Paul Whiteman Orchestra
15. Doin' Things - Joe Venuti's Blue Four
16. Four or Five Times - McKinney's Cotton Pickers
17. South Bennie Moten
18. The Boy in the Boat - Charlie Johnson
19. I'm Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee - Eddie Condon
20. Everybody Loves My Baby - Earl Hines
21. Ozark Mountain Blues - Missourians
22. It Should Be You - Henry Allen
23. Ain't Misbehavin' - Fats Waller
24. Too Late - King Oliver
25. Hello Lola! - Mound City Blue Blowers
Vol. 2
1. Rockin' Chair - Hoagy Carmichael
2. Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington
3. Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson
4. Heebie Jeebies - Mills Blue Rhythm Band
5. Lafayette - Bennie Moten
6. St. Louis Blues - Louis Armstrong
7. Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway
8. Jazznocracy - Jimmie Lunceford
9. After You've Gone - Benny Goodman
10. Swing Is Here - Gene Krupa
11. King Porter Stomp - Teddy Hill
12. Honeysuckle Rose - RCA All Stars
13. Jivin' the Vibes - Lionel Hampton
14. I Can't Get Started - Bunny Berigan
15. Don't Be That Way - Benny Goodman
16. Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw
17. Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey
18. Really the Blues - Tommy Ladnier
19. Limehouse Blues - Wingy Manone
20. Cherokee - Charlie Barnet
21. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
22. Hot Mallets - Lionel Hampton
23. Body and Soul - Coleman Hawkins
24. You're Lettin' the Grass Grow Under Your Feet - Fats Waller
25. Relaxin' at the Touro - Muggsy Spanier
Vol. 3
1. The Sheik of Araby - Coleman Hawkins
2. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington
3. Summit Ridge Drive - Artie Shaw
4. Blues in TSidney hirds - Sidney Bechet Trio
5. All of Me - Benny Carter
6. One O'Clock Jump - Metronome All Stars
7. Yes, Indeed! - Tommy Dorsey
8. Things Ain't What They Used to Be - Johnny Hodges
9. St. Louis Blues - John Kirby
10. Stormy Monday Blues - Earl Hines
11. A Night in Tunisia (Interlude) - Dizzy Gillespie
12. Spotlite - Coleman Hawkins
13. Allen's Alley - Fifty Second Street All Stats
14. Cadillac Slim - Benny Carter
15. Epistrophy - Kenny Clarke
16. Buckin' the Blues - Esquire All American Award Winners
17. Out of Nowhere - Art Tatum
18. Blues After Hours - Jack Teagarden
19. Erroll's Bounce- Erroll Garner
20. Ain't Misbehavin' - Louis Armstrong
21. (I Don't Stand a) Ghost of a Chance - Lennie Tristano
22. Your Red Wagon - Count Basie
23. Algo Bueno (Woody'n You) - Dizzy Gillespie
24. Overtime - Metronome All-Stars
25. My Heart Stood Still Oscar Peterson Trio
Vol. 4
1. Roses of Picardy - Red Norvo
2. Tijuana Gift Shop - Charles Mingus
3. Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West - John Lewis
4. Chiquito Loco - Shorty Rogers
5. Crimea River - Al Cohn, Zoot Sims
6. Love Me or Leave Me - Henry Allen
7. Concerto for Billy the Kid - George Russell, Bill Evans
8. Sunday Afternoon - Benny Carter
9. Let Me Love You - Lena Horne
10. Coschrane - Bud Powell
11. Perdido - Duke Ellington
12. Moanin' - Art Blakey
13. I Love Paris - Manny Albam
Vol. 5
1. Without a Song - Sonny Rollins
2. All the Things You Are - Paul Desmond
3. Hello, Young Lovers - Gary Burton
4. After All - Duke Ellington
5. Sounds of the Night - Clark Terry
6. The Very Thought of You - Johnny Hodges
7. So What - J.J. Johnson
8. Imagination - Paul Desmond
9. Star Eyes - Chet Baker
10. Old Folks - Jackie McLean
11. One O'Clock Jump - Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan
12. 'Round Midnight - Sonny Rollins
13. Turn Me Loose - Lionel Hampton
Vol. 6
1. Quadrille, Anyone? - Toshiko Akiyoshi
2. Four Brothers - Woody Herman
3. The Pusher - Nina Simone
4. Dancing Men - Buddy Rich
5. Up from the Skies - Gil Evans
6. Good Medicine - Doc Severinsen
7. Ridin' High - Cleo Laine
8. Inside Out - Brecker Bros
9. Expansions - Lonnie Liston Smith
10. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
Vol. 7
1. Whisper Not - Roy Hargrove
2. The Truth Is Spoken Here - Marcus Roberts
3. 'Round Midnight - Carmen McRae
4. Uptownship - Hugh Masekela
5. Imagination - Chet Baker
6. I'll Be Around - Cleo Laine, Dudley Moore
7. Jacknife - Brecker Bros
8. Blue Monk - Marcus Roberts
9. Tschanz - Steve Coleman
10. Almost Blue - Chet Baker

Vol. 8

1. Pinocchio - Roy Hargrove
2. Cherokee - Marcus Roberts
3. Winelight - Don Braden
4. I'll Be Seeing You - Carmen McRae
5. Labyrinth - Tom Harrell
6. Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin' - Cleo Laine
7. Drop Kick Live - Steve Coleman
8. Moonray - Dominique Eade
9. The Voyage - Danilo Perez
10. Love Is Here to Stay - Vanessa Rubin
11. Uptown Traveler - Antonio Hart
Bonus disc
1. Livery Stable Blues - Original Dixieland "Jazz" Band
2. Dixieland "Jass" Band One Step - Original Dixieland "Jazz" Band
3. Colloquial Dream (Scenes in the City) - Charles Mingus