Jazz vinyl from Louis Armstrong - Satchmo’s golden favorites
November 21st, 2008 | by Tom |At the time Louis Armstrong could have been elected Mayor of the South Side; he was loved. I can still see him being carried clear across the dance floor of that huge Savoy Ballroom by his cheering fans.
Art Hodes, from Hot man
Chicago and Louis Armstrong
It took the return of Louis Armstrong from New York to create the first substantial body of recordings in jazz history to contain extended virtuoso solos. In his work with King Oliver, both on record and in live performance, Armstrong had retained a deference for his mentor, and in total of just four solo choruses in approximately forty different discs by the Creole Jazz Band, there is little more that a glimpse of the talent that was to emerge over the next couple of years.
His solo career began in earnest while he was in New York in 1924-25, in live appearances and recordings with Fletcher Henderson’s band and on a series of freelance recording dates. Two aspects of Armstrong’s work emerged clearly in this latter group of discs - first, his ensemble playing with Clarence William’s Blue Five, and second, his instrumental blues accompaniments for such singers as Bessie Smith.
Somehow, Armstrong manages the almost impossible feat of continuing to provide a swinging, forceful lead while actually holding the excessive zeal of his rhythm section in check.
What Armstrong brought to small-group jazz was a sense of swing ; a relaxed, yet even more dramatic and original way of interpreting a melody than that of trumpeters like Keppard and King Oliver.
Satchmo’s golden favorites tracklist:
- Jeepers creepers
- A kiss to build a dream on
- Old man mose
- Shadrack
- I can’t give you anything but love
- The whiffenpoof song (baa baa baa)
- La vie en rose
- Someday you’ll be sorry
- Blueberry hill
- On the sunny side of the street
- You rascal you (i’ll be glad when you’re dead)
- When it’s sleepy time down south
Tags: chicago jazz, louis armstrong, satchmo