CD One
Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography, part two
2. If I Could Be with You
4. Body and Soul
6. Memories of You
8. You Rascal, You
10. When It’s Sleepy Time Down South
12. I Surrender, Dear
14. Them There Eyes
16. Lazy River
18. Georgia on My Mind
20. That’s My Home
22. Hobo, You Can’t Ride This Train
24. On the Sunny Side of the Street
Louis Armstrong and the All Stars:
Louis Armstrong – Trumpet, vocal (tracks 6, 10), narrator (all odd number tracks)
Trummy Young – Trombone
Edmond Hall – Clarinet
Billy Kyle – Piano
Squire Gersh – Bass
Barrett Deems – Drums
Added Personnel:
Hilton Jefferson – Alto sax (tracks 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 22), replaces Ed Hall (track 6)
George Dorsey – Alto sax (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24)
Seldon Powell – Tenor sax (track 8, 22)
Dave MaRae – Baritone sax (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24)
Everett Barksdale – Guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24)
Lucky Thompson – Tenor sax (tracks 2, 4, 6, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24)
Barney Bigard – Clarinet, replaces Ed Hall (track 10)
Arvell Shaw – Bass, replaces Squire Gersh (track 10)
Recorded over several sessions, New York, between Jan. 26, 1955 and Jan. 28, 1957.
Satchmo Plays King Oliver (alternate takes)
26. St. James Infirmary
27. I Want a Big Butter and Egg Man
28. I Ain’t Got Nobody
29. Panama
30. Dr. Jazz
31. Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
Louis and the Good Book
32. This Train
CD Two
Louis and the Good Book
1. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen
2. Shadrack
3. Go Down, Moses
4. Rock My Soul
5. Ezekiel Saw de Wheel
6. On My Way
7. Down by the Riverside
8. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
9. Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child
10. Jonah and the Whale
11. Didn’t It Rain
Louis Armstrong – Trumpet, vocal (all tracks)
Trummy Young – Trombone
Edmond Hall – Clarinet (tracks 2, 4, 6, 11)
Billy Kyle – Piano
Mort Herbert – Bass
Barrett Deems – Drums
Everett Barksdale – Guitar (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9)
Nickie Tagg – Organ (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 11)
Hank D’Amico – Clarinet (tracks 3, 5, 8, 9)
Dave McRae – Clarinet (tracks 1, 7, 10; CD One 32)
George Barnes – Guitar (tracks 1, 7, 10; CD One 32)
Unnamed backing choir (all tracks)
Recorded in New York, Feb. 1958
Satchmo Plays King Oliver
12. St. James Infirmary
13. I want a Big Butter and Egg Man
14. I Ain’t Got Nobody
15. Panama
16. Dr, Jazz
17. Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
18. Frankie and Johnny
19. I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of This Jelly Roll
20. Drop That Sack
21. Jelly Roll Blues
22. Old Kentucky Home
23. Chimes Blues
Louis Armstrong – Trumpet, vocal (tracks 12, 18, 19, 13, 14, 22)
Peanuts Hucko – Clarinet
Trummy Young – Trombone
Billy Kyle – Piano
Mort Herbert – Bass
Danny Barcelona – Drums
Recorded in Los Angeles, Sept./Oct. 1959
This double CD set, Part Two, concludes Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography. (Avid AMSC 1082 is Part One of the Musical Autobiography, a
double CD set containing the first three original LP’s.) CD One of this set contains the fourth and final Musical Autobiography LP, followed by a half
dozen alternate takes of tracks from Satchmo Plays King Oliver and one track, This Train, from Louis and the Good Book. CD Two of
the set contains the two other sessions: the issued tracks of Satchmo Plays King Oliver and those of Louis and the Good Book (minus, of
course, This Train). However, the organization of the material in this two-disc set leaves something to be desired. It seems to me that it would
have been better to begin Louis and the Good Book on CD One after the conclusion of the Autobiography, then continue it on CD Two and include This Train there in its proper position. Then all of Satchmo Plays King Oliver plus the alternate tracks would have followed and been on CD
Two, thus allowing anyone who wanted to compare the issued tracks and their alternates to do so more easily, rather than having to switch back and forth
between discs.
Of the first dozen selections, which comprise the last part of the Musical Autobiography, almost all are played by augmented versions of the All Stars,
thus resembling some of the “big bands” that Armstrong led during the thirties and forties until the advent of the All Stars in 1947. (The only exception
is When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, which is played by the six members of the All Stars of 1955 only.) The tunes chosen reflect some personal
attachments Armstrong had to them, as he tells us in his introductions—for instance, on the first recording he made of Memories of You in 1930, he
had a 17-year-old Lionel Hampton on drums; or of what became his theme song, When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, he says he carried it around “in
[his] trunk for a whole year” before recording it in 1931; or Them There Eyes about which he recounts that Chick Webb, when Armstrong was with
him, would come up and say, “Hey, Pops, play ‘Them Eyes’ for me,” and Armstrong chuckles at the memory. These performances of the tunes, all arranged by Sy
Oliver except for When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, are first rate and invite comparison with the original recordings, in many cases surpassing
these.
The first of the other two “classic” albums here reprised, Louis and the Good Book, consists of gospel songs and spirituals that feature Armstrong’s
gravelly voice but not much of his trumpet playing. However, they are a joy to hear as he can swing almost anything and does so here, backed ably by the
unidentified choir. What he says at the end of Ezekiel Saw de Wheel—“…old Zeke was wailin’ that time”—could apply equally to his singing of all of
these numbers.
The other “classic” album, Satchmo Plays King Oliver, gives more time and space to drums than Oliver ever did, and Barcelona displays his
considerable chops. However, I was never as keen on his drumming as Armstrong obviously was. Barcelona was a bit manic, tending to hit everything in
sight—and often—not realizing that most of the time “more is actually less.” Armstrong is not trying to “recreate” here, trying to do these as Oliver did,
but rather to interpret them à la All Stars mode, and quite satisfying they are. And Armstrong is in no rush to get through them. St. James Infirmary is taken at a dirge-like tempo throughout—no doubling up here for the second half—as is Jelly Roll Blues. Another
“variant” tempo is that of Dr. Jazz, which Armstrong takes at a very sedate tempo, one few other bands attempt. Still another tune taken at a slow
pace is Drop That Sack, making the breaks of the piece very dramatic, and Chimes Blues is also a good bit slower than the King Oliver
Creole Jazz Band’s version. Frankie and Johnny is a small jewel, consisting only of Armstrong’s inimitable vocal with a superb accompaniment by
Billy Kyle on a barroom-sounding piano.
Of the alternate takes, found on CD 1, there is little variation from the issued ones, with perhaps the exception of I want a Big Butter and Egg Man where the solos on the issued track are eight measures long, and they are doubled on the alternate to sixteen, thus
elongating the time from a little under four minutes to a little over five. For the rest there is little difference between the two—no essential changes to
solos, only minor things, such as the trombone being muted rather than open or a scat vocal on a second strain rather than a straight one, etc.
These two CD’s are worthy additions to the Armstrong canon, and fans will want to have them. Unfortunately, there are no new liner notes by Ricky Riccardi
as was the case with Avid AMSC 1082, Part One, but the remastering of the tracks from these LP’s by David Bennett on Part Two is again first-class—another
good reason to acquire them.
Bert Thompson
CD Reviews
Avid Jazz AMSC1083
