CD1
1. Cornet Chop Suey
2. Muskrat Ramble
3. Who’sit
4. Jazz Lips
5. I’m Goin’ Huntin’
6. If You Wanna Be My Sugar Papa
7. Wild Man Blues
8. Potato Head Blues
9. Melancholy Blues
10. Weary Blues
11. Twelfth Street Rag
12. Keyhole Blues
13. Struttin’ with Some Barbecue
14. Got No Blues
15. Once in a While
16. Two Deuces
17. Savoyager’s Stomp
18. No
19. Beau Koo Jack
20. Weather Bird
21. Mahogany Hall Stomp
22. After You’ve Gone
23. St Louis Blues
24. Dear Old Southland
25. Tiger Rag
CD2
1. Swing That Music
2. To You, Sweetheart, Aloha
3. My Darling Nelly Gray
4. When the Saints Go Marching In
5. The Song is Ended
6. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen
7. Perdido Street Blues
8. Down in Honky Tonk Town
9. Coal Cart Blues
10. Joseph ‘n his Brudders
11. Back o’ Town Blues
12. I Want a Little Girl
13. Sugar
14. Blues for Yesterday
15. Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?
16. Where the Blues Were Born in New Orleans
17. Rockin’ Chair
18. Fifty-Fifty Blues
19. Please Stop Playing Those Blues, Boys
20. Lovely Weather We’re Having
21. You Don’t Learn That in School
22. I’ll Keep the Lovelight Burning
23. Blueberrry Hill
24. La Vie en rose
25. C’est si bon
CD3
1. A Kiss to Build a Dream On
2. Cold Cold Heart
3. When It’s Sleepy Time Down South
4. Indian Love Call
5. I Laughed at Love
6. Your Cheating Heart
7. Sittin’ in the Sun
8. Someday You’ll be Sorry
9. Loveless Love
10. The Memphis Blues
11. Atlanta Blues
12. Black and Blue
13. Blue Turning Grey Over You
14. Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now
15. Easy Street
16. Mack the Knife
17. I’ll Never Be the Same
18. I Was Doing All Right
19. What’s New?
20. Just One of Those Things
21. Shadrack
22. Since Love Had its Way
23. Lonesome
The publicity says that this album is part of a “new series” called “Jazz Characters” but the same company (Le Chant du Monde) released in 2011 a very
similar album containing some of the same tracks, in a series called “Immortal Characters”. Having got that out of the way, I am happy to say that this
triple CD, presented in a four-panel Digipack, makes a very good introduction to the work of Louis Armstrong. The tracks are arranged in (almost)
chronological order, which makes it possible to trace Armstrong’s career from 1926 to 1961.
As it starts in 1926, this compilation omits Louis’ work with King Oliver and Fletcher Henderson. In fact the choice of recordings doesn’t include all the
items one might expect. For instance, it leaves out Heebie Jeebies (the first example of Armstrong’s scat singing) and West End Blues
(with its famous unaccompanied introduction). Instead, the choice of tracks sometimes seems perverse, as in the inclusion of the mediocre Who’sit,
with a decidedly shaky trombone solo from Kid Ory and a solo on the swanee whistle played by an uncredited musician. Listeners may expect this sort of
collection to include the greatest hits but perhaps that was not the intention of the compilers, who may have wanted to avoid the obvious.
Even in these early tracks, Armstrong was an assured and technically brilliant player. His long solo on Wild Man Blues is a tour de force. And Potato Head Blues is a classic, not least for Louis’ subtle phrasing. As for his singing, the sleeve-notes credit him with vocals
on some of the early tracks but he is not actually heard singing until Keyhole Blues, where his scatted vocals are clearly an extension of his
trumpet playing. It was probably this “instrumental” aspect of his singing that was most influential on later vocalists.
Throughout much of the first CD, the pianist is Earl Hines, who is particularly
good in Savoyager’s Stomp. His greatest achievement was Weather
Bird, the album’s title-track: a duet with Louis in which they
seem to be in total telepathic contact with one another.
At the start of the second CD, Louis does straightforward vocals on Swing
That Music with Jimmy Dorsey’s orchestra, and he adds a stimulating
solo. The next track is a complete contrast, as Louis goes Hawaiian,
singing with the Polynesians on this 1936 recording. He also does
a couple of numbers with the Mills Brothers as well as singing some
spirituals. These more “commercial” tracks illustrate Armstrong’s
versatility and show how he threw himself into every situation he
encountered: a true professional. He even refreshes the hackneyed
Saints with a fine solo.
Tracks 7 to 9 include the ever-competitive Sidney Bechet, but Louis holds his ground. Towards the end of CD2 and the beginning of CD3, tracks with the
orchestras of Sy Oliver and Gordon Jenkins mark Louis’ increasing profile as a popular entertainer whose vocals were virtually as important as his trumpet
playing. This emphasis might have been reinforced if the collection had included such hits as Hello Dolly, What a Wonderful World and We Have All the Time in the World but these are – perhaps fortunately – absent.
The transition from the forties to the fifties is indicated here through several tracks by the Armstrong All Stars. Some critics accused Louis of dumbing
down with this ensemble but I think it was one of his happiest moves. He was surrounded by sympathetic musicians like Barney Bigard and Billy Kyle, who
were also technically adroit, and Louis combined entertainment with superb musicianship. A track like The Memphis Blues has a wonderful
conversation between trumpet and trombone (Trummy Young). And Louis’ solo on Blue Turning Grey Over You shows that he had lost none of his
powerful eloquence.
The third CD ends with some recordings that Armstrong made with Oscar Peterson
and Dave Brubeck, proving that Louis could fit in comfortably with
more “modern” musicians. All in all, this is a remarkable compilation
containing music clearly remastered – and several surprises!
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Le Chant du Monde 274 2401.03
