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| The Essential Louis Armstrong - The Genius of Satchmo |
| Louis Armstrong |
első megjelenés éve: 1946
144 perc |
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| (2008)
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2 x CD |
| 3.837 Ft
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| 1. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Chimes Blues
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| 2. | Riverside Blues
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| 3. | Go'Long Mule
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| 4. | One Of These Days
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| 5. | Cake Walkin' Babies
with Alberta Hunter
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| 6. | C.C.Rider
with Ma Rainey
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| 7. | St.Louis Blues
with Bessie Smith
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| 8. | Railroad Blues
with Trixie Smith
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| 9. | Lazy Man Blues
with Sippie Wallace
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| 10. | Cornet Chop Suey
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| 11. | Muskrat Ramble
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| 12. | Jazz Lips
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| 13. | Big Butter And Egg Man
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| 14. | Willie The Weeper
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| 15. | Wild Man Blues
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| 16. | Alligator Crawl
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| 17. | Melancholy
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| 18. | Potato Head Blues
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| 19. | Hotter Than That
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| 20. | Savoy Blues
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| 21. | I'm Not Rough
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| 22. | Skip The Gutter
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| 23. | West End Blues
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| 2. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | St.James Infirmary
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| 2. | Tight Like This
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| 3. | Knockin' A Jug
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| 4. | Mahogany Hall Stomp
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| 5. | Ain't Misbehavin'
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| 6. | After You've Gone
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| 7. | Ding Dong Daddy
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| 8. | Body And Soul
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| 9. | When It's Sleepy Time Down South
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| 10. | Lazy River
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| 11. | Stardust
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| 12. | Georgia On My Mind
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| 13. | Swing That Music
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| 14. | Dippermouth Blues
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| 15. | Struttin' With Some Barbecue
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| 16. | I Got Rhythm
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| 17. | Basin Street Blues
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| 18. | Snafu
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| 19. | Frim Fram Sauce
with Ella Fitzgerald
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| 20. | My Sweet Hunk O'Trash
with Billie Holiday
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| 21. | Jack-Armstrong Blues
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| 22. | Rockin' Chair
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Jazz
CD1: 70:13 min.
CD2: 73:21 min.
Louis Armstrong revolutionized music with his unrivalled small group masterpieces of the 1920s. The Essential Louis Armstrong follows the best of his peerless Hot Five & Hot Seven years through to his development into a major star of popular entertainment.
Includes 8-page booklet with comprehensive notes on the tracks and sessions featured.
Born, probably, on the 4th of July 1900, this traditional American anniversary at precisely the beginning of the 20th century could scarcely have provided a more appropriate date for Louis Armstrong to enter the world. In the maturity of his genius by the late 1920s, Armstrong's art stands arguably above most if not all other musical giants of the century. He had by then made his historic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings in which his playing completely transformed the evolution of jazz, and also developed an equally personal vocal technique which virtually invented "scat" singing and strongly influenced Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and countless others. He went on to become a much-loved entertainer and unofficial ambassador for jazz music, always eager to promote the genre to the widest possible audience.
Armstrong grew up in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, and after his arrest at the age of 13 for disturbing the peace - firing a pistol in the air on New Year's Eve for fun - was sent to the Colored Waifs' Home. He spent eighteen months in that secure institution and made steady progress in its military-style band, playing alto horn, bugle and latterly cornet. As a teenager he took a backbreaking job driving a coal wagon but local musical opportunities began to present themselves after the end of World War One. New Orleans was a wide-open city where street parades flourished and early jazz was often performed in brothels, gambling houses and nightclubs; crucially, Armstrong played briefly in Kid Ory's band after King Oliver moved to Chicago, and he began to get noticed. He played in Fate Marable's riverboat band on the Mississippi before King Oliver summoned the young prodigy to Chicago in 1922, to record with his Creole Jazz Band then performing at the city's Lincoln Gardens.
CD1
1. Chimes Blues (Oliver) Herman Darewski Music Publ.Co.
Armstrong, King Oliver (cornet), Honore Dutrey (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Hardin (piano), Bud Scott (banjo), Baby Dodds (drums) Richmond, Indiana April 1923
2. Riverside Blues (Dorsey/Jones) Redwood Music Ltd./Herman Darewski Music Publ.Co.
As above, omit Scott, add Charlie Jackson (bass saxophone) Chicago September 1923
Armstrong played second cornet to Oliver here to create a unique new sound, and together in 1923 they made what constitute the first great jazz records ever made. Chimes Blues included Louis' first solo chorus on record, an immediately noticeable effort though untypical of later work in its carefully studied construction. The Richmond session was recorded, while on tour, in a building so close to the railway tracks that the band needed to time their performances so as not to coincide with passing trains. Armstrong had to stand apart from the other band members, further away from the recording equipment, to avoid overpowering their sound with his greater volume. Riverside Blues was a highlight from September in the same year made on the band's return to Chicago; although solos were sometimes featured, of course, the overall collective style still prevailed and pianist Lil Hardin contributed fully to both these sides. Armstrong made her his second wife in 1924 and she was instrumental in persuading him to make the move to leave Oliver and Chicago to join Fletcher Henderson in New York.
3. Go ‘Long Mule (Creamer/King/DP) Public Domain Work
Armstrong, Elmer Chambers, Howard Scott (trumpets), Charlie Green (trombone), Don Redman (alto sax), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Fletcher Henderson (piano), Charlie Dixon (banjo), Ralph Escudero (tuba), Kaiser Marshall (drums) New York October 1924
4. One Of These Days (Hoffman) Copyright Control
As above, add Buster Bailey (reeds) New York November 1924
Henderson's was a rather more sophisticated and slightly bigger band where Armstrong exerted a strong influence on the musical direction, particularly through his first association with Don Redman who was to become musical director for McKinney's Cotton Pickers and a respected arranger. Louis was in excellent form and author Ted Gioia described his impact: "as with Charlie Parker's innovations twenty years later, Armstrong's contributions eventually spread to every instrument in the band…one by one, the converts were won. Armstrong the sideman? Not Really. Armstrong was a leader." Some suggested that Henderson's first preference had been to use cornettist Joe Smith instead, but Louis could hardly fail to impress and the young Coleman Hawkins was another noticeable participant here.
5. Cake Walkin' Babies (Williams/Smith/Troy) Redwood Music Ltd./B.Feldman & Co.Ltd.
Armstrong, Alberta Hunter (vocals), Charlie Irvis (trombone), Sidney Bechet (soprano sax), Lil Hardin (piano), Buddy Christian (banjo) New York December 1924
6. C.C.Rider (Rainey) MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Ma Rainey (vocals), Charlie Green (trombone), Buster Bailey (reeds), Fletcher Henderson (piano), Charlie Dixon (banjo), Kaiser Marshall (drums) New York October 1924
7. St.Louis Blues (Handy) Francis Day & Hunter Ltd.
Armstrong, Bessie Smith (vocals), Fred Longshaw (piano/harmonium) New York January 1925
8. Railroad Blues (Smith) Impact S.A.
Armstrong, Trixie Smith (vocals), Charlie Green (trombone), Buster Bailey (clarinet), Fletcher Henderson (piano), Charlie Dixon (banjo) New York March 1925
9. Lazy Man Blues (Wallace/Grainger) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Sippie Wallace (vocals/piano), Artie Starks (clarinet) Chicago March 1927
Critic Gary Giddins has asserted that "Sidney Bechet was the only man who seemed Armstrong's equal as an improviser during those transitional years" and Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet had hailed him as "an artist of genius" on the soprano sax player's European tour. Bechet was already established by 1924 and played on Cake Walkin' Babies with Armstrong behind Alberta Hunter (aka Josephine Beatty), on this one of several Louis made as a sideman, mostly in New York, to accompany many of the great classic blues singers of the time. Hunter progressed to appearing with Paul Robeson in Showboat and to emerge from retirement in her eighties to delight new audiences, while Ma Rainey was the very first of these great female performers; C.C.Rider was her best-known song and became a familiar standard. W.C.Handy's classic St. Louis Blues was a perfect song for Empress Of The Blues Bessie Smith to command with her hugely muscular dignity, but the unrelated Trixie Smith sang in contrasting style, as Paul Oliver said, "with more of the cabaret than the cotton field in her work". Sippie Wallace gained notoriety on 1929's I'm a Mighty Tight Woman with Johnny Dodds, but 1927 had seen this track recorded in Chicago with Armstrong; the trumpeter himself played a fine final chorus but had by then made his most famous recordings in the city a year earlier.
10. Cornet Chop Suey (Armstrong) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
11. Muskrat Ramble (Ory) Bug Music Ltd (GB).
12. Jazz Lips (Hardin) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
13. Big Butter And Egg Man (Venables/Armstrong) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Hardin (piano), Johnny St.Cyr (banjo)
Tracks 10 & 11 Chicago February 1926, 12 & 13 (add May Alix (vocals)) Chicago November 1926
In late 1925 Armstrong joined the hand-picked band which comprised the Hot Five to make their first indelible mark on history. He was reunited with Dodds, St.Cyr and Ory, all from Louisiana, with pianist wife Lil as the fifth member. Cornet Chop Suey was one of the first and best jazz instrumentals ever recorded on which Louis executes a wonderful solo and is followed by Muskrat Ramble, Kid Ory's most famous composition which became a jazz standard. Cornet Chop Suey featured the "stop-time" playing technique developed by Armstrong where the band play a single staccato note on the first beat of each bar, remaining silent while the soloist fills in. These sides showed Louis' complete mastery of his instrument, astonishing all with his prodigious technique and the fluency of his imagination. They revealed the radical abandonment of the conventional New Orleans template of ensemble playing in favour of the self-expression of the individual; even in 1926 Louis was being called "the world's greatest trumpet player", able to construct beautifully formed yet clearly improvised passages. Jazz Lips and, especially, Big Butter And Egg Man, were high points of the November sessions with Ory's trombone and May Alix's vocals contributing productively.
14. Willie The Weeper (Rymal/Melrose/Bloom) Chappell-Morris Ltd.
15. Wild Man Blues (Morton/Armstrong) Herman Darewski Music Publ.Co.
16. Alligator Crawl (Waller) Redwood Music Ltd.
17. Melancholy (Bloom/Melrose) Herman Durewski Music Publ.Co.
18. Potato Head Blues (Armstrong) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, John Thomas (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Hardin (piano), Johnny St.Cyr (banjo), Pete Briggs (tuba), Baby Dodds (drums) Chicago May 1927
The Hot Five was not a regular working band and it was six months before Armstrong returned to the studio in Chicago in 1927 to record these selections in an augmented format. Pete Briggs on tuba and another ex-Oliver player Baby Dodds on drums were added to supply the more driving approach characteristic of the group now called, logically, the Hot Seven. Trombonist John Thomas replaced Ory and John Chilton described this formula as "essentially a vehicle for unrestrained improvising", impressed as he was particularly by Melancholy and the appropriately titled Wild Man Blues where Armstrong's playing took flight. All but one of the complete Hot Seven recordings were made within a single week in May of 1927, highlighted undoubtedly by the astounding virtuosity displayed on Potato Head Blues. "The perfectly formed jazz solo" is probably the most succinct view of this three-minute masterpiece, outshining the admirably bluesy solos elsewhere with its memorable stop-time playing which remains a jazz landmark.
19. Hotter Than That (Hardin) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
20. Savoy Blues (Ory) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
21. I'm Not Rough (Armstrong) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Hardin (piano), Johnny St.Cyr (banjo), Lonnie Johnson (guitar) Chicago December 1927
22.Skip The Gutter (Williams) Chappell-Morris Ltd.
23.West End Blues (Oliver/Williams) B.Feldman & Co.Ltd./Redwood Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Fred Robinson (trombone), Jimmy Strong (tenor sax/clarinet), Earl Hines (piano), Mancy Carr (banjo), Zutty Singleton (drums) Chicago July 1928
Later in the same year the Hot Five reconvened triumphantly with the added bonus of guitarist Lonnie Johnson's presence, his delicate playing clearly inspiring Louis to perform one of his best early vocal performances on Hotter Than That, complete with a much-imitated trumpet solo. Laurence Bergreen's authoritative study accurately hit on the key point of these recordings by commenting that "even when the other musicians are playing, they sound more and more like him." In July 1928 Armstrong performed perhaps more compellingly on "new" Hot Five sessions which produced Skip The Gutter, where pianist Earl Hines effortlessly traded phrases with Armstrong, before the immortal West End Blues was recorded on the very next day. Its intricate, unaccompanied and completely flawless introduction is justly famous, and Armstrong's status owes much to its beautiful construction; it remains, as Bergreen again put it, "a summons to the soul, dignified and daring." To place this, and Armstrong's other achievements at this time, in context, Ted Gioia wrote: "Surely no other body of work in the jazz idiom has been so admired as the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. In historical importance and sheer visionary grandeur, only a handful of other recordings - the Ellington of the 40s, the Charlie Parker Savoy and Dial sessions come to mind - can compare with them. It was a rare, felicitous instance of an artist facing a defining moment, a turning point for an entire art form."
CD2
1. St. James Infirmary (Trad/Primrose) EMI Harmonies Ltd.
2. Tight Like This (Curl/Armstrong) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Fred Robinson (trombone), Jimmy Strong (tenor sax/clarinet), Don Redman (alto sax/clarinet), Earl Hines (piano), Dave Wilborn (banjo/guitar), Zutty Singleton (drums) Chicago December 1928
3. Knockin' A Jug (Armstrong) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, Jack Teagarden (trombone), Happy Caldwell (tenor sax), Joe Sullivan (piano), Eddie Lang (guitar), Kaiser Marshall (drums) New York March 1929
In 1928/29 Louis teamed up once more with Earl Hines and on these first two tracks with Don Redman too, and St James Infirmary was to become a repertoire favourite for the rest of his career. It was also closely associated with trombonist Jack Teagarden, a long-time friend and collaborator who made his first recording with Louis on this 1929 performance of Knockin' A Jug. Guitarist Eddie Lang is a welcome addition to the band here and bon viveur Eddie Condon was also involved behind the scenes, ensuring the presence of a gallon jug of whisky for the 8am studio start which followed an all-night engagement. Louis himself came up with the song title, casually remarking afterwards that "we sure knocked that jug".
4. Mahogany Hall Stomp (Williams) Chappell-Morris Ltd.
Armstrong, J.C.Higginbotham (trombone), Albert Nicholas, Charlie Holmes (alto saxes), Teddy Hill (tenor sax), Luis Russell (piano), Eddie Condon (banjo), Lonnie Johnson (guitar), Pops Foster (bass), Paul Barbarin (drums) New York March 1929
5. Ain't Misbehavin' (Brooks/Waller/Razaf) Memory Lane Music Ltd./Redwood Music Ltd.
6. After You've Gone (Creamer/Layton) Francis Day & Hunter Ltd.
Armstrong, Homer Hobson (trumpet), Fred Robinson (trombone), Jimmy Strong (tenor sax/clarinet), Bert Curry (alto sax), Crawford Washington (alto sax), Carroll Dickerson (violin), Gene Anderson (piano/celeste), Mancy Carr (banjo), Pete Briggs (tuba), Zutty Singleton (drums) New York July & November 1929
7. Ding Dong Daddy (Baxter) EMI United Partnership Ltd.
Armstrong, Leon Elkins (trumpet), Lawrence Brown (trombone), Leon Herriford, Willie Stark (alto saxes),
William Franz (tenor sax), Harvey Brookes (piano), Ceele Burke(banjo), Reggie Jones (tuba), Lionel Hampton (drums) Los Angeles July 1930
8. Body And Soul (Green/Eyton/Heyman/Sour) Warner Chappell Music Ltd.
Armstrong, George Orendorff (trumpet), Harold Scott (trumpet), Luther Graven (trombone), Les Hite (alto/bass sax), Marvin Johnson (alto sax), Charlie Jones (tenor sax/vocal), Henry Prince (piano), Bill Perkins (banjo/guitar), Joe Bailey (tuba), Lionel Hampton (drums) Los Angeles October 1930
9. When It's Sleepy Time Down South (Muse/Rene/Rene) Lawrence Wright Music Co.Ltd.
Armstrong, Zilner Randolph (trumpet), Preston Jackson (trombone), Lester Boone (alto sax/clarinet), George James (reeds), Albert Washington (tenor sax/clarinet), Charlie Alexander (piano), Mike McKendrick (banjo/guitar), John Lindsay (bass), Tubby Hall (drums) Chicago April 1931
This period illustrates Armstrong's increasing concern with arrangements which led into the larger orchestral settings he often worked with in the 30s. He began to emerge, too, in the all-round entertainer guise which he chose to pursue, partly no doubt due to the insecurity imbued through childhood deprivation, but also with open-minded sincerity and as a natural element of his perceived profession. In March of 1929, a wonderful line-up featuring Luis Russell, Albert Nicholas and Lonnie Johnson recorded the definitive version of Mahogany Hall Stomp, before he relished Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin'and Layton and Creamer's After You've Gone in November of the same year. The Waller song came from the hit Broadway revue Hot Chocolates, wherein the New York Times reviewer heralded Louis' performance so fervently that the producers rewrote the script to move him from the orchestra pit up to centre stage. Mezz Mezzrow promoted some of these popular tunes for Louis, getting them featured in Harlem bars and beyond, soon claiming that "before long there wasn't a jukebox in the country that Louis wasn't scatting on". Ain't Misbehavin' became a substantial hit and Armstrong's singing began to attract numerous admirers, both within the jazz world and far beyond its narrow confines. Ding Dong Daddy and Body And Soul from 1930 consolidated this appeal, both featuring the extrovert talents of Lionel Hampton for whom Louis had been a boyhood hero. In the same year his eclectic taste led him to record a West Coast session with country star Jimmie Rodgers, a highly improbable partnership on the surface, oddly echoed forty years later when he made The Creator Has A Master Plan with avant-gardist Leon Thomas, yodelling a contrasting message.
1931 saw the original recording of the song which became his theme tune, When It's Sleepy Time Down South, causing offence with its inclusion of the word "darkies", which Louis would often alter to "folks" though complaining that "I didn't write it". He was more concerned with the overt racism he had to endure, especially on tour in the 30s; even Tom Driberg, later a Labour MP, revealed implicit prejudice in his Daily Express review of a UK concert tour, contrasting Louis unfavourably ("coal-black and close-cropped, born in New Orleans") with Ellington ("a sophisticated, civilized, light-skinned Washingtonian"). Louis was also briefly jailed for possession of marijuana, despite the newspapers referring innocently to "his own special brand of cigarettes". Armstrong was a lifelong consumer and enthusiastic advocate of what he called "gage" and the British musicians he met referred to as his "African Woodbines".
10. Lazy River (Carmichael/Arodin) Peermusic (UK) Ltd.
11. Stardust (Carmichael/Parish) Lawrence Wright Music Co.Ltd.
12. Georgia On My Mind (Carmichael/Gorrell) Campbell Connelly & Co.Ltd.
Personnel as track 9. Chicago November 1931
Few writers of American popular song have come closer to capturing the true spirit of Mark Twain than Hoagy Carmichael, and his laconic compositions suited Armstrong perfectly. Carmichael's mother at first counselled her son against his nascent career, advising the young law student that "music is fun, Hoagland, but it don't buy you cornpone". These three songs, however, were to buy their composer more cornpone than he could ever have dreamed of, in particular Stardust, the 20th century's second most recorded song outdone only by Silent Night. Lazy River was an amiable companion piece to Lazybones, the pensive standard Georgia On My Mind provided Ray Charles with his major breakthrough in 1960, and Louis' affectionate readings emphasise throughout the gentleness at the heart of these most quintessentially American songs.
13. Swing That Music (Armstrong/Gerlach) Peermusic (UK) Ltd.
Armstrong, Leonard Davis, Gus Aitken, Louis Bacon (trumpets), Jimmy Archey, Snub Mosely (trombones), Henry Jones, Charlie Holmes (alto saxes), Bingie Madison (tenor sax/clarinet), Greely Walton (tenor sax), Luis Russell (piano), Lee Blair(guitar), Pops Foster (bass), Paul Barbarin (drums) New York May 1936
14. Dippermouth Blues (Armstrong/Oliver/Melrose) Herman Darewski Music Publ.Co.
Armstrong, George Thow, Toots Camarata (trumpets), Bobby Byrne, Joe Yukl, Don Mattison (trombones), Jimmy Dorsey, Jack Stacey (alto sax/clarinet), Fud Livingston, Skeets Herfurt (tenor sax/clarinet), Bobby Van Esp (piano), Roscoe Hillman (guitar), Jim Taft (bass), Ray McKinley (drums) Los Angeles August 1936
15. Struttin' With Some Barbecue (Armstrong/Raye) Universal/MCA Music Ltd.
Armstrong, J.C.Higginbotham (trombone), Charlie Holmes (alto sax), Bingie Madison (tenor sax), Luis Russell (piano), Lee Blair (guitar), Red Callender (bass), Paul Barbarin (drums) Los Angeles January 1938
In 1936 in Los Angeles, Armstrong recorded Swing That Music, his own composition noted for its attractive woodwind arrangement with Luis Russell, Dippermouth Blues with Jimmy Dorsey, and in the same year embarked on his movie career with Pennies From Heaven, co-starring Bing Crosby in the first of many collaborations. Although some jazz fans were by now expressing misgivings about what they saw as a lurch towards more popular entertainment at the expense of artistic expression, Louis himself had few qualms about giving full measure to his public in the most accessible manner possible. He was also accused in some quarters of acting in an Uncle Tom way, although Billie Holiday offered a perceptive comment on that - "Pops toms with a heart" - and he did later react with appropriate anger to a particularly disgraceful racial problem in Arkansas, angrily accusing President Eisenhower of having "no guts". Some of the "pop" records - and the movies, too, including the all-black Cabin In The Sky and High Society - held considerable charm and his music remained so accomplished, of course, that the results continued to satisfy. Dippermouth Blues features Louis eschewing his mute for a spirited open chorus, and Struttin' With Some Barbecue is also an exciting reworking of what was a celebrated Hot Five recording.
16. I Got Rhythm (Gershwin/Gershwin) Warner/Chappell North America
Armstrong, Roy Eldridge (trumpet), Jack Teagarden (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Art Tatum (piano), Al Casey (guitar), Red Norvo (vibes), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Sid Catlett (drums) New York January 1944
17. Basin Street Blues (Williams) EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
Armstrong, Jack Teagarden (trombone), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Art Tatum (piano), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Sid Catlett (drums) New York January 1944
18. Snafu (Feather) Campbell Connelly & Co.Ltd.
Armstrong, Neal Hefti (trumpet), Jimmy Hamilton (clarinet), Johnny Hodges (alto sax), Don Byas (tenor sax), Billy Strayhorn (piano), Remo Palmieri (guitar), Chubby Jackson (bass), Sonny Greer (drums) New York January 1946
After the enforced gap in wartime recording, Louis made some excellent sides with his Esquire All-Stars lineups, three examples of which are included here. He starred at Esquire's Metropolitan Opera House concert in January 1944, and plainly revelled in such exalted company, particularly with fellow trumpeter Roy Eldridge to compete against, and Coleman Hawkins to enjoy, heard in especially fine form on Basin Street Blues. Snafu, dating from two years later, was a further pinnacle of this period, a Leonard Feather composition which featured silky solos by both saxmen Johnny Hodges and Don Byas, together with other alumni from the Ellington orchestra and Duke's arranger Billy Strayhorn. It also included Neal Hefti on trumpet, another to become a well-known arranger, especially for Basie in the 50s and 60s, and the composer of Li'l Darlin' for the Count and the Batman theme for TV.
19. Frim Fram Sauce (Evans/Ricardel) Campbell Connelly & Co.Ltd.
Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald (vocals), Billy Butterfield (trumpet), Bill Stegmeyer (alto sax/clarinet), George Koening (alto sax), Milton Schatz (baritone), Jack Greenberg, Art Drellinger (tenor saxes), Joe Bushkin (piano), Danny Perri (guitar), Trigger Alpert (bass), Cozy Cole (drums), Bob Haggart (arranger) New York January 1946
20. My Sweet Hunk O'Trash (Johnson/Miller) EMI Harmonies Ltd.
Armstrong, Billie Holiday (vocals), Bernie Privin (trumpet), Sid Cooper, Johnny Mince (alto saxes), Art Drellinger, Pat Nizza (tenor saxes), Billy Kyle (piano), Everett Barksdale (guitar), Joe Benjamin (bass), Jimmy Crawford (drums), Sy Oliver (arranger) New York September 1949
21. Jack-Armstrong Blues (Armstrong/Teagarden) Sinclair Music Inc. (NS)
Armstrong, Jack Teagarden (vocals, trombone), Bobby Hackett (cornet), Peanuts Hucko (tenor sax/clarinet), Ernie Caceres (clarinet/baritone sax), Johnny Guarnieri (piano), Al Casey (guitar), Al Hall (bass), Cozy Cole (drums) New York June 1947
22. Rockin' Chair (Carmichael) Peermusic (UK) Ltd.
As above
Four tracks featuring excellent late 40s Armstrong close this CD, each including star vocalists who admired him immensely and therefore worked together in obvious harmony. The partnership with Ella Fitzgerald flourished later, of course, with their explorations of the American Songbook, but Frim Fram Sauce was a harmless piece of nonsense verse which both clearly enjoyed to create a rival version to the minor hit made by the eccentric duo of Slim (Gaillard) and Slam (Stewart). Billie Holiday also savoured the light tone of her 1949 alliance, arranged by Sy Oliver, and old friend Jack Teagarden stepped up eagerly to join Armstrong on two carefree outings recorded in June of 1947. This All Stars format was rapturously received and gave a timely impetus to Louis' career; he could thus command much higher fees and perform without restraint in congenial, respected company, as he duly did for the remainder of his career.
Hoagy Carmichael's urbane Rockin' Chair, which he had recorded with the composer back in 1929, provides a suitable coda from the session for this period of Armstrong's career, later embellished by recognition in the pop charts with his recordings of Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill and Kurt Weill's Mack The Knife. In 1964 his Hello Dolly replaced the Beatles at No.1 and four years later What A Wonderful World gave him another hit single before his death in 1971.
Miles Davis proffered this characteristically succinct assessment of his legacy: "You can't play nothing on trumpet that doesn't come from him."
Neil Kellas
Based in Greenwich, South London, Neil Kellas is a freelance compiler and music writer responsible for over 400 CDs. |
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