Happy Birthday, Louis Armstrong

The great jazz trumpeter and singer, Louis Armstrong, was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Armstrong was one of the greatest influences in the history of jazz and shifted the focus of jazz from the collective music of the traditional New Orleans ensemble to a music that valued solo performance and virtuosity.

In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends two records of Louis Armstrong:

• Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines: The Genius of Louis Armstrong, Vol. 1 1923-1933 (Columbia CG 30416, 2 LPs)
• Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines: Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines, 1928 (Smithsonian Collection R-002, 2 LPs)

Unfortunately, these are only available in vinyl. Jim Determan, who has updated Lyons's list of albums for CD, recommends instead the following Columbia titles:

• Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
• Louis Armstrong: Hot Fives and Sevens (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
• Louis Armstrong: The Big Band Recordings 1930-1932 (Buy at Amazon.com)
• Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives, Volume I (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
• Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives & Hot Sevens, Volume II (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
• Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives & Hot Sevens, Volume III (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
• Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines: Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines, Volume IV (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
• Louis Armstrong: Louis in New York, Volume V (Buy at Amazon.com)
• Louis Armstrong: St. Louis Blues, Volume VI (Buy at Amazon.com)
• Louis Armstrong: You're Drivin' Me Crazy, Volume VII (Buy at Amazon.com)
• Louis Armstrong: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1923-1934 (Buy at Amazon.com)

A good example of Armstrong's improvisational genius is "Weather Bird," in which he and pianist Earl Hines turn a traditional ragtime piece into a brilliant interchange of call and response and broken rhythms.

 
Robert
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