The Essence of Louis Armstrong

by

Louis Armstrong

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This is a great collection of music by Louis Armstrong. The discs cover the entire period of Mr. Armstrong's career and have been beautifully remastered. The collection begins with recordings made in the 1920's (on the entire first disc) and takes us to 1930. Included are three tracks when Louis Armstrong played with Fletcher Henderson and the Clarence Williams Blue Five. There are five tracks with the Hot Five and Hot Seven that includes Heebie Jeebies (the first track on which Louis Armstrong sings), Willie the Weeper and West End Blues. The tracks of the Hot Five and Hot Seven are mostly instrumental and provide an excellent cross-section of the original records. One of the intriguing things about this collection is observing the name changes in Louis Armstrong's band. In 1929, Armstrong's band is called Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five. From this band are Beau Koo Jack, St. James Infirmary, Tight Like This and I Can't Give You Anything But Love. A quick name change in the same year gives us Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra. The tracks included from this band are: Ain't Misbehavin", Black and Blue, and St. Louis Blues. Also in 1930, the band takes the wonderful name: Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra. This band is recorded playing I'm Confessin'. This track is interesting for the inclusion of a steel guitar.

The second CD picks up in 1930 where the first left off and goes up to 1967. This CD has some of the more familiar Louis Armstrong songs like On the Sunny Side of the Street, Mack the Knife, Georgia On My Mind, When the Saints Go Marching In, Blueberry Hill and What A Wonderful World. The CD begins with Memories of You, with a prominent part for a vibraphone and Satchmo's familiar crooning. I have often heard that Louis Armstrong was a terrible vocalist but when you listen to these early recordings one gets a better appreciation of how good his voice was. The tracks that follow clearly demonstrate this, and Armstrong's voice only became raspy later on. Some tracks, like You Rascal You, bring on a smile with their comic performance. Another special track is A Fine Romance where Satchmo sings with Ella Fitzgerald. The second CD completes what is truly the essential Louis Armstrong.

The insert has a short biography of Satchmo and a good selection of photographs. The covers of the records in this collection are pictured and each track has a listing of the band members and when the recording was made. If you already have many of these records this collection may not be of great interest unless you want to follow the evolution of Louis Armstrong's style and the composition of his bands. One thing of note: all of the records on this set were issued by Columbia Records but Sony has given itself credit for all of them. So you will see the phrase: Originally Released 1925 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. It would have been more honest if Sony gave credit to Columbia for the recordings instead of tucking their credit at the end of their copyright information. In any case, someone who does not have a big collection of Louis Armstrong's music, this will be an invaluable introduction.

First, let me say that this is not a commentary on Louis Armstrong or his music. It is a commentary on the selection of music on this 2-CD set and how the title, "The Essential Louis Armstrong," is misleading. I expected to hear a good collection from throughout his career. Most of the recordings (except the last few tracks on the 2nd CD) are from early in his career when the recording quality is poor, so anyone with a decent ear and a decent audio system really cannot get the best of Louis Armstrong. There have to be better Louis Armstrong CD's out there.