Jazz Articles about Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong: Louis Armstrong: The Ultimate Collection

by David Adler
April 1, 2001

The flood of Armstrong collections and boxed sets has only grown in the aftermath of Ken Burns’ Jazz documentary. If you’re in the market for one, Verve’s latest triple-disc release would have to rank as an exceptionally good value. With 21 tracks on the first two discs and 17 on the third, there’s no skimping at all. The packaging is attractive and durable, and the thick booklet contains photos, artwork, a biographical essay by Alun Morgan, and meticulous, track-by-track annotation. ...

Louis Armstrong: Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings

by Mark Corroto
September 1, 2000

Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings are jazz’s Holy Grail, a venerable guide for anyone with the desire to explore the roots of this now century old art. These recordings made between 1925 and 1929 ushered out the era of acoustic recording where the soloist played into a huge cone and ushered in the electric method utilizing microphones. But these weren’t Armstrong’s first recordings. He had begun recording in 1923 as a sideman in King Oliver’s Creole Band, ...

Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings

by C. Michael Bailey
August 1, 2000

July 4, 2000, Little Rock, AR.

Perpetuating a Myth. It was recently determined that Louis Armstrong's birthday is August 4, 1901. Armstrong himself is on record as stating his birthday as July 4, 1900. That would make today the centenary of Armstrong's birth. It seems appropriate to accept this bit of improvisation on his birth, as Armstrong is a priceless American Treasure who is as much a part of the American fabric as Washington, Franklin, Roosevelt, and King. After all, ...

Louis Armstrong: Satch Plays Fats / Ambassador Satch / Satchmo The Great

by C. Michael Bailey
August 1, 2000

Rumination. Gigabytes of criticism, consideration, and reconsideration have been expended on every note Louis Armstrong exhaled from his trumpet. I have nothing to add other than just the facts, ma'am. These three releases have be floated as a prelude to the release of the Complete Hot Fives and Sevens later this month. All of these discs have been remastered and contain both previously released and unreleased alternates in an effort the finally provide the listener as complete a chronicle of ...

Louis Armstrong: Love Songs

by Jim Santella
May 1, 2000

Louis Armstrong’s career covered many separate chapters and cemented a solid influential framework around just about every jazzman that followed. Columbia’s ballad compilation features several facets of that career and captures “Pops" in his prime. Recorded from 1929-61 (most are from 1930 and 1955 sessions), the program teams Armstrong with Lawrence Brown, J.C. Higginbotham, and later with Velma Middleton, Carmen McRae, Barney Bigard, Trummy Young and others. Billy Kyle, Arvell Shaw and Barrett Deems constituted a superb rhythm section for ...

Louis Armstrong and King Oliver: Creole Jazz

by Joel Roberts
July 1, 1998

The story goes that when young Louis Armstrong arrived in Chicago from New Orleans to join King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, he was so intimidated after hearing the group rehearse for the first time that he tried to flee town for fear that he couldn't hold his own with them. Just a few months later, Armstrong had so overcome his initial shyness and become such a dominant member of the band that for their first recording date, while his colleagues ...

Louis Armstrong: Master Of Jazz: Live In Chicago

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 1998

When many jazz musicians were hurting commercially in the early 1960s and found themselves playing to increasingly small audiences, Louis Armstrong could still fill up an auditorium or concert hall. The charismatic trumpeter/singer had nothing left to prove at that point, but he still gave 200% on stage and went that extra mile for audiences. Satch is in excellent form on this live Dixieland/swing performance, which Mobile Fidelity has reissued as a great-sounding gold audiophile CD. Joined by trombonist Trummy ...