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Louis Armstrong: Live in Zurich, Switzerland 18.10.1949
by Graham L. Flanagan
In the movie Manhattan (1978), Woody Allen's depressed protagonist dictates a list of the things he believes make life truly worth living. Along with Willie Mays and Cezanne's paintings of apples and pears, Allen includes Louis Armstrong's recording of “Potato Head Blues." Whenever you listen to Louis Armstrong, you are doing right by your soul. And you can keep doing right by it in 2009, thanks to this live date from Switzerland, which comprehensively chronicles a performance ...
Continue ReadingLouis Armstrong All Stars: Live in Zurich, Switzerland 18.10.1949
by John Barron
If you're looking for a quick-fix, musical pick-me-up, Louis Armstrong is usually a sure-fire guarantee. A wonderful example can be heard in this gem of a radio broadcast, recorded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1949. Featured with the trumpeter is the incomparable Jack Teagarden (trombone) and Barney Bigard (clarinet) romping through a set of toe-tapping familiar fare.
The feel throughout the concert is loose and relaxed. Armstrong and company are obviously relishing in the enthusiastic response of the audience, who seem ...
Continue ReadingLouis Armstrong All Stars: Live in Zurich, Switzerland 18.10.1949
by David Rickert
Just how good was Armstrong's band in 1949? For one thing look at the lineup; you have some of the best players associated with him, like Jack Teagarden, Barney Bigard, and the crack rhythm section of Earl Hines, Cozy Cole, and Arvell Shaw. This version of the All-Stars, weaned on Armstrong's music, was very familiar with the intricacies of every tune. Also, the group was playing to enthusiastic Europeans who still embraced Armstrong's music as the real deal, which positively ...
Continue ReadingBack to the Roots with Louis Armstrong
by C. Michael Bailey
Why must we still listen to this tin-horn, old fashioned, moldy fig jazz when we have cool labels like ECM and Winter & Winter pressing the most cutting edge music imaginable? One reason is because the iconic cornet player Buddy Bolden left no recordings, thus making trumpeter/cornetist/singer Louis Armstrong the ground zero center of jazz. Armstrong changed the entire direction of jazz with his then novel improvisation techniques.
Live In Zurich, Switzerland 18.10.1949 and Live At The 1958 ...
Continue ReadingNew Orleans Celebrates Louis Armstrong
by Sandy Ingham
Satchmo Summerfest 2007 New Orleans, Louisiana August 2-5Jazz fans have myriad reasons to be thankful for Louis Armstrong. One of them is the annual birthday bash in his hometown, New Orleans. The first Satchmo Summerfest was in 2001, on Armstrong's 100th birthday. The seventh stretched over four sun-drenched days, August 2-5, and was very much like its predecessors. Dozens of the city's jazz artists played and sang in their own unique ways the music that ...
Continue ReadingLouis Armstrong: Louis Armstrong In Scandinavia
by Andrew Velez
Throughout this collection of Louis Armstrong's Scandinavian appearances from 1933-1967, he's greeted with affectionate roars of excitement from his audiences. Six live performances included here from 1933 in Stockholm and Copenhagen may actually be the earliest ever recorded live jazz. Even without that being added to his accomplishments, Louis “Pops Armstrong's place in the jazz pantheon remains as secure as those of Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker. In these days of raving over instantly famous “American Idols, ...
Continue ReadingLouis Armstrong: Storyville Masters of Jazz: Louis Armstrong
by Greg Thomas
Was Louis Armstrong more an entertainer or artist? The dichotomy suggested by this question won't be resolved by this disc because it's a matter of perspective, like particles and waves in physics. Although liner notes author Mike Hennessey claims that he was “an entertainer first, a brilliantly gifted jazzman second, Armstrong made it clear that “the cause of happiness ultimately defined his power of intention. He kept the blues at bay by his graceful authority, down-home humor ...
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