In August 1950, trumpeter Louis Armstrong and alto saxophonist Louis Jordan record two sides together as a duet. Their pairing by Decca producer Milt Gabler was natural, since both superstars were signed to the label at the time. The recordings—Life Is So Peculiar and You Rascal You—are so good, it's a shame they didn't record a dozen more.
Armstrong and Jordan were backed by Jordan's Tympani Five—Aaron Izenhall (tp), Josh Jackson (ts) Bill Doggett (p) Bill Jennings (g) Bob Bushnell (b) and Joe Morris (d)—one of the hottest jump blues ensembles of its day. As Terry Teachout notes in Pops, his Armstrong biography: “On one memorable occasion, Gabler teamed Armstrong with Louis Jordan's Tympani Five for a hard-swinging duet version of You Rascal You, in which Armstrong ad-libs with colossal gusto, then tosses off three trumpet choruses full of the old-time fireworks. Armstrong's solo is all the more impressive given that his lip was in bad shape that day. 'Louis came to town and his lip had busted on him—had busted all the way down...Finally he says, Let's go, and we went and played it," Jordan recalled. “He even played those high C's and things with his lip busted."
Jordan was hardly a slouch. The two sing, swing and engage in vocal repartee, with Jordan at one point doing an imitation of Armstrong's scatting on Life Is So Peculiar, which was writen by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. On You Rascal You, by Sam Theard, Armstrong and Jordan have a knee-slapping time exchanging lyrics. Armstrong blowing lines behind a singing Jordan while Jordan blows cool when it's Armstrong's turn to “talk about it for a while."
Interestingly, You Rascal You was first recorded by Armstrong in 1932 with Jordan in his sax section. Reuniting with his old boss in '50, Jordan seemed eager to show his stuff and hold his own. And he does, gloriously. In any other hands, these songs would be considered corny novelty tunes. But Armstrong and Jordan turned these numbers into jumpers of the first order.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Life Is So Peculiar and You Rascal You on Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five: 1950-1951 here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Life Is So Peculiar...
And here's You Rascal You...
Armstrong and Jordan were backed by Jordan's Tympani Five—Aaron Izenhall (tp), Josh Jackson (ts) Bill Doggett (p) Bill Jennings (g) Bob Bushnell (b) and Joe Morris (d)—one of the hottest jump blues ensembles of its day. As Terry Teachout notes in Pops, his Armstrong biography: “On one memorable occasion, Gabler teamed Armstrong with Louis Jordan's Tympani Five for a hard-swinging duet version of You Rascal You, in which Armstrong ad-libs with colossal gusto, then tosses off three trumpet choruses full of the old-time fireworks. Armstrong's solo is all the more impressive given that his lip was in bad shape that day. 'Louis came to town and his lip had busted on him—had busted all the way down...Finally he says, Let's go, and we went and played it," Jordan recalled. “He even played those high C's and things with his lip busted."
Jordan was hardly a slouch. The two sing, swing and engage in vocal repartee, with Jordan at one point doing an imitation of Armstrong's scatting on Life Is So Peculiar, which was writen by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. On You Rascal You, by Sam Theard, Armstrong and Jordan have a knee-slapping time exchanging lyrics. Armstrong blowing lines behind a singing Jordan while Jordan blows cool when it's Armstrong's turn to “talk about it for a while."
Interestingly, You Rascal You was first recorded by Armstrong in 1932 with Jordan in his sax section. Reuniting with his old boss in '50, Jordan seemed eager to show his stuff and hold his own. And he does, gloriously. In any other hands, these songs would be considered corny novelty tunes. But Armstrong and Jordan turned these numbers into jumpers of the first order.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Life Is So Peculiar and You Rascal You on Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five: 1950-1951 here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Life Is So Peculiar...
And here's You Rascal You...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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