Dave Rickert
September 2001

Combing the Catalog
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By David Rickert

Louis Armstrong: A Musical Autobiography
Louis Armstrong
1957/2001

“Folks, if you’re ready to join me, I’d like to do a little reminiscin’”. Thus begins A Musical Autobiography, Louis Armstrong’s sprawling, three CD trip down memory lane in which he revisits the rich musical highlights of his past. At this point in his career, Armstrong was living quite a life; he had already written his autobiography, told a raunchy joke to the Pope, and cancelled a tour of the Soviet Union over the school integration in Little Rock. Muscially, however, Armstrong was now touring with his All-Stars, playing a milder version of the swing and Dixieland of his youth that found favor with the pop market.

A Musical Autobiography, recorded with the All-Stars, represents a retreat back to the rough and tumble ‘20s and ‘30s in faithful renditions of old chestnuts like “Struttin” With Some Barbecue”, “Potato Head Blues”, and “Body and Soul”. In a jazz landscape dominated by hard bop, third stream and cool jazz, these new recordings represent an exercise in playing traditional music which everyone, including Armstrong, seemed to have abandoned. Armstrong may have wanted to return to his musical roots to preserve these tunes and their origins, or maybe just longed to get some people together and blow hard on a few favorites. Whatever the reason, the premise is simple: Armstrong re-records eleven years worth of his old favorites, starting with songs he recorded with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and concluding with his big band work of 1934. Essentially a greatest hits package in which the artist records entriely new versions of each tune (which is in itself a pretty compelling idea) the real charm here is Louis’ brief commentary, some of which include famous names like King Joe Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, and Bessie Smith. Some tales are humorous, like Johnny Dodds playing in gloves and a scarf at Lincoln Gardens because the owner was too cheap to turn on the heat, or how Armstrong’s solos on “Wild Man Blues” ran so long Earl Hines used to go to the kitchen to eat dinner until he was done. Mainly, though, the introductions merely tell the origins of the tunes and where they were first recorded; with Kyle’s cocktail flourishes behind him, the overall effect is of Satchmo telling stories to a room full of friends. Few artists have the charm to make this enjoyable as Armstrong does (although it’s fun to imagine Miles, with his vast catalog and sour, foul-mouthed disposition, doing the same thing.)

At this late point in his career, Armstrong had the benefit of assembling a band made up mostly of veterans from the early days of jazz who have had an additional thirty years to hone their chops. Armstrong, of course, is terrific, sounding fiery and inspired at every turn, having lost none of his proficiency. The others seem to have spent the past several years refining their technique because everyone is in superb form; Edmond Hall and Trummy Young’s soloing in particular have aged especially well. The youger members, although staying true to tradition, can’t help but add a modern sheen here and there; Kyle adds a boppish tickle in the background occasionally and guitarist Barnes (no banjos here!) comps like Eddie Lang but solos like Charlie Christian playing rockabilly licks.

Many, however, may find fault with how these traditional tunes have been refashioned, straying from their original roots. Sy Oliver and Bob Haggart have provided brand new arrangements for most of these songs that turn the group improvisation of Dixieland into rehearsed charts, complete with one of the two of them conducting. Oliver, who also contributed to Armstrong’s more mainstream recordings from the same decade, infuses the later tunes with a little more swing, copping licks from the original records and scoring them as entire horn charts. Bob Haggart was given the task of providing new arrangements for most of the earlier tunes, including the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, (which even by this time were sacrosanct) most of which can’t help but pale next to the originals. Occasionally the arrangements do sound like an approximation of the Dixieland style rather than the genuine article; however, for the most part everything works quite well on its own terms, providing a fresh attack while staying true to the original idea. Overall, the glossy production and crisp remastering gives the effect of a score of tunes sheathed in amber and preserved for all time, a time capsule of music for future generations.

For the most part, everything proceeds chronologically. The first disc is devoted mainly to instrumental tunes Armstrong first recorded with Joe Oliver and Fletcher Henderson, then proceeds to the Hot Five and Seven recordings and big band work, with Velma Middleton substituting for Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. Disc Two highlights several recording from the time when Armstrong was leading his own bands; again, the focus is mostly on instrumentals. Disc Three highlights Louis’ vocal work and more pop-oriented side as the band is rounded out to a full orchestra. This disc sounds the most contemporary, probably because this is the type of stuff Armstrong was dabbling with at the time with arrangers like Oliver and Gordon Jenkins. It’s hard to pick out highlights since everything is performed impeccably; even missteps like “King of the Zulus” don’t detract from the overall enjoyment. Add to this package a supreme set of liner notes with an extensive 20 pages of biography and appreciation and you have as good of an overview of the work of Armstrong as any other record.

Although the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings are arguably the most influential jazz records ever made (and certainly more essential), this set gives a fairly complete look at what Armstrong was up to throughout his career. At this point he still had a lot left to play; he continued to craft hit records after this, asserting his influence on the singles charts. It was he, after all, who finally knocked the Beatles out of the Number One spot.

Tracks: Disc One: Dipper Mouth Blues, Canal Street Blues, High Society, All The Wrongs You’ve Done To Me, Everybody Loves My Baby, Mandy, Make Up Your Mind, See See Rider, Reckless Blues, Court House Blues, Trouble in Mind, New Orleans Function: Flee as a Bird/Oh, Didn’t He Ramble, Gut Bucket Blues, Cornet Chop Suey, Heebie Jeebies, Georgia Grind, Muskrat Ramble, King of the Zulus, Snag It, Frog-I-More Rag.

Disc Two: Wild Man Blues, Potato Head Blues, Weary Blues, Gully Low Blues, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue, Hotter Than That, Two Dueces, My Monday Date, Basin Street Blues, Knockin’ a Jug, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Mahogany Hall Stomp, Some of These Days, When You’re Smiling, Song of the Islands, I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me, Dear Old Southland, Exactly Like You. Disc Three: If I Could Be With You, Body and Soul, Memories of You, You Rascal, You, When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, I Surrender Dear, Them There Eyes, Up A Lazy River, Georgia On My Mind, That’s My Home, Hobo, You Can’t Ride This Train, On The Sunny Side of the Street, My Monday Date.

Personnel: Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocal); Yank Lawson (trumpet); Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young (trombone); Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall (clarinet); George Dorsey, Hilton Jefferson (alto saxophone); Bud Freeman, Seldon Powell, Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone); Dave McRae (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, bass saxophone); Dick Cary, Earl Hines, Billy Kyle (piano); Everett Barksdale, George Barnes (guitar); Squire Gersh, Arvell Shaw (bass); Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Barrett Deems, Kenny John (drums); Velma Middleton (vocals); Bob Haggart, Sy Oliver (arranger, conductor).

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