- Sugar
- I Want a Little Girl
- Blues for Yesterday
- Blues In the South
- Endie
- Do You Know What it Means to Miss New
Orleans?
- Where the Blues Were Born in New Orleans
- Mahogany Hall Stomp
- Ain’t Misbehavin’
- Rockin’ Chair
- Back O’Town Blues
- Pennies From Heaven
- Save It, Pretty Mama
- St James Infirmary
- Jack-Armstrong Blues
- Fifty-Fifty Blues
- Please Stop Playing Those Blues
- A Song Was Born
I have all the Armstrong
albums in this series and there is no doubt
at all, that this is the best to date. In
1946 Louis disbanded his Big Band, the popularity
of the large bands was fading and in any case
Louis was such an outstanding player and singer
that he overwhelmed the Big Bands he lead.
There is an example of the last Big Band on
track 5, the band is certainly well up to
scratch, but not the right vehicle for Louis
to be involved in.
Tracks 9 to 14 come from
the famous New York Town Hall concert of May
17, 1947, I originally bought them on 78rpm,
then on LP and now on CD. They are fine examples
of Louis at the peak of his playing career
and what a peak it was. With a line up of
Louis on Trumpet, Bobby Hackett on Cornet,
Jack Teagarden on Trombone, Peanuts Hucko
on Clarinet, Dick Cary on Piano, Bob Haggart
on Bass and Sid Catlett on Drums, it was called
the Louis Armstrong All Stars and it set the
pattern that Louis used for his bands for
the remainder of his long and highly successful
career. It also brought to the attention of
a wider audience the great abilities of Jack
Teagarden, not only as a superb Trombone player
and vocalist, but also as a foil for Louis
in the ‘entertainment’ department. The contribution
of Bobby Hackett should not be underestimated,
I suspect he was included on the ‘gig’ to
give Louis a break when he needed one, but
he is a major contributor to the success of
the show. It is quite interesting that Ain’t
Misbehavin’ was taken at a faster tempo than
usual, but Pennies from Heaven was a lot slower
than might have been expected. Perhaps everyone
was a bit excited that night!
On the previous three tracks
6 to 8, Kid Ory was on Trombone and whilst
he was the master New Orleans style trombone
player, his contribution of rhythmic phrases,
did not give the instrument anything like
the possibilities Teagarden created. Barney
Bigard however demonstrated his superb control
on the clarinet, he was without doubt on of
the great clarinet players of the time and
at a later date joined the Armstrong All Stars
as a replacement for Peanuts Hucko. He can
be heard with the band on track 17. He was
one of a very few musicians to be featured
by both Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong
Track 18 had Louis with Jeri
Sullavan and the Golden Gate Quartet, plus
Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton
& Mel Powell on a track which has some
good solos, but one wonders what market it
was aimed at.
This album has Louis Armstrong
in his prime and is a must for all serious
jazz collectors. As usual NAXOS have done
an excellent job on noise removal and there
is a very good sleeve note by Scott Yanow.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
NAXOS
JAZZ LEGENDS 8.120817
