Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell - How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone (4Cd Box) (2008)

Over the course of its four discs and 95 songs, this box set tells you pretty much all you could wish to know about pianist Leroy Carr and guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. They did plenty of solo work during this period, but between 1928 and 1934 they were also one of the most successful blues duos in America. Though this comprehensive collection is described as “early recordings,” there's not much more to the pair's story, since Carr died in 1935, driving a mournful Blackwell into decades of retirement. From the classic “How Long, How Long Blues” to later sides like the sorrowful “Blues Before Sunrise,” Blackwell's jazz-schooled guitar licks and Carr's urban piano style combined for a more sophisticated sound that foreshadowed blues's eventual move from the country to the city.