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With the release
of four major historical reissue projects – the newly-compiled
4-CD box set LOUIS ARMSTRONG – THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND
HOT SEVEN RECORDINGS, plus the restorations of SATCH
PLAYS FATS, AMBASSADOR SATCH, and SATCHMO THE
GREAT – the fanfare begins in honor of the 100th anniversary
of Louis Armstrong’s birth. The scope of his career will be
celebrated with a flourish as Columbia/Legacy announces June
27th as the in-store date for the three individual albums; to
be followed by the box set on August 22nd. All four releases
will be distributed by Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony
Music.
With masters gathered
over the course of more than three years from sources around
the world, LOUIS ARMSTRONG – THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND HOT
SEVEN RECORDINGS encompasses his seminal 60-plus OKeh combo
recordings of 1925-28. These are coupled for the first time
in one package with some 30 sides of historic attendant material
recorded (primarily) with the same musicians during the same
period, though frequently under different group monikers. Among
these is the only known alternate Hot Five take in existence,
of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” (Description
of each CD. Track
Listing.)
Resources for this
box set ranged far and wide, from the Library Of Congress to
priceless private collections, archives and museums. In an unprecedented
strategy, metal parts were shipped to 78 rpm master craftsman
Harry Koster in the Netherlands, who meticulously pressed brand-new,
one-of-a-kind mint discs. Since PVC manufacture is banned in
the Netherlands, a new plastic compound was developed to create
these records, which are now valued artifacts in the Sony Music
archive in New York.
Among the many musicological
significances of these sides is that they represent the transition
from so-called acoustical recording (into a giant hornlike device)
of Armstrong’s recordings in 1925-26, to the era of electrical
recording, utilizing a single microphone, the device which also
transformed the film industry from the silent era to talking
pictures. In Armstrong’s case, the move from acoustical recording
to electrical took place in sessions during November 1926 (see
complete details below).
Another critical
issue that plagued the 78 rpm era, and these 1920s recordings
in particular, when recording technology was still in its relative
infancy, had to do with correct pitch and key of the performances.
Recordings were invariably slightly slower (e.g. 74 rpm), resulting
in a slightly sharper sound when the disc was played back at
78 rpm on the family phonograph. This problem was easily remedied
with the speed control stick located next to the platter, adjusted
until the record was in tune with the live instruments and sheet
music on hand in the living room. But with the coming of the
LP era in the ’50s, the pitch of vintage 78 rpm recordings on
their 33 1/3 counterparts became lost forever.
For the first time
in the modern history of Louis Armstrong reissues, his 1920s
recordings are finally being heard in their proper key, according
to the input of such consulting musicologists as Wynton Marsalis,
Dan Morgenstern, Randy Sandke, and others.
The box set is complemented
by restored editions of three definitive Columbia LPs recorded
three decades later. In different ways, each album paid homage
to Satchmo’s musical roots while acknowledging his mid-’50s
stature as an internationally recognized star: SATCH PLAYS
FATS (a tribute to Fats Waller, 1955), AMBASSADOR SATCH
(a chronicle of his European tour, 1956), and SATCHMO THE
GREAT (soundtrack to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s documentary
film, 1957). Each album is reissued in its original sequence,
followed by a number of bonus tracks, some of which are previously
unreleased. (Track Listing.)
THE COMPLETE
HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN box set was researched and remastered
by jazz historian and long-time WKCR-FM (Columbia University,
New York) air personality Phil Schaap, whose diligence on Columbia/Legacy’s
1996 Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
led to three Grammy awards. The digital remastering process
was supervised by engineer Mark Wilder at Sony Music Studios
in New York. Accompanying the new box set is an essay on Armstrong
by Robert G. O’Meally, professor of American Studies at Columbia
University, who wrote the liner notes for Columbia/Legacy’s
brand-new Duke Ellington box-set entitled THE
DUKE, and who co-produced the Smithsonian Institution’s
Grammy-nominated 5-CD boxed-set, The Jazz Singers.
The three original
albums, SATCH PLAYS FATS, AMBASSADOR SATCH and
SATCHMO THE GREAT were all originally produced by George
Avakian, who also wrote the extensive and authoritative liner
notes for the first two, notes that are reproduced in the new
editions. The personnel for all three albums (with slight changes)
was the current version of Louis Armstrong & The All Stars:
the leader on trumpet and vocals (although Velma Middleton is
heard on three Fats Waller tunes), Trummy Young on trombone,
Edmond Hall on clarinet (except for the Fats Waller album, with
Barney Bigard), Billy Kyle on piano, bassist Arvell Shaw, and
drummer Barrett Deems.
In a unique concept,
SATCH PLAYS FATS producer Avakian, who also co-produced
the current reissue with Nedra Olds-Neal, follows up the original
9-song LP sequence (and four edited alternate versions, previously
unreleased) with Armstrong’s original OKeh recordings of five
of the tunes, circa 1928 to ’32. One of these, “Squeeze Me,”
actually appears on the 4-CD box set. Avakian then adds two
more non-LP Fats Waller compositions, “Sweet Savannah Sue” and
“That Rhythm Man,” as recorded on OKeh by Louis Armstrong and
His Orchestra in 1929. This is now the complete Columbia collection
of Armstrong performing Waller.
Avakian’s original
1956 liner notes lauded AMBASSADOR SATCH as “a souvenir
– recorded on the spot – of Louis Armstrong’s concert tour of
Western Europe in the fall of 1955.” But it is known today that
the album augmented recordings from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam
and the theatre in Milan with three tracks cut five weeks later
in New York and Hollywood. Reissue producer Nedra Olds-Neal
adds two more previously unreleased tracks from Milan and another
from Hollywood as bonus tracks. (Ms. Olds-Neal is the Grammy-nominated
reissue producer of the 1991 Columbia/Legacy box set, Louis
Armstrong: Portrait Of the Artist As a Young Man, 1923-1934.)
“SATCHMO THE
GREAT,” wrote Nat Hentoff in his voluminous 1957 liner notes,
“is the title of the first feature film to be devoted to the
international hegemony of a jazz musician.” This project took
the world-class concept of AMBASSADOR SATCH a step further,
by utilizing the synergy of CBS Records and CBS Television’s
“See It Now” news journalist Edward R. Murrow and producer Fred
Friendly to create a 63-minute documentary.
As Hentoff summarizes,
“you travel with Louis and his combo on a victorious European
campaign in the fall of 1955; a British conquest in the spring
of 1956; a tumultuously festive first visit to Africa in May
1956; and a climactic debut (for jazz as well as Louis) at the
Lewisohn Stadium concerts in July of that year… joined by a
symphony orchestra composed of members of the New York Philharmonic
and conducted by Leonard Bernstein.” For this album, reissue
producer Didier C. Deutsch takes cues from Hentoff’s notes and
reinserts tracks that were not included on the original soundtrack
album but that Hentoff mentions as being in the movie, e.g.
“(Back Home Again In) Indiana” and “Mahogany Hall Stomp.” There
are also a number of previously unreleased tracks.
For Louis Armstrong,
who died in New York on July 6, 1971, the date of his birth
on July 4, 1900, in New Orleans was a fact that he took with
him throughout his life. While historical evidence discovered
in 1988 documents a different birth date of August 4, 1901,
there is still no reason to dispute Pops.
As a teenager, he
fell under the influence of renowned New Orleans jazz cornetist
Joe ‘King’ Oliver, and Louis’ own profile as a musician began
to blossom. When Oliver left town for Chicago in 1918 or ’19,
Louis took his place in Kid Ory’s band and started traveling
widely. He worked on trains and riverboats as well as in local
clubs in bands led by Ory, Fate Marable, and Zutty Singleton,
and in street parade groups such as Papa Celestin’s Tuxedo Band.
Armstrong joined Oliver in Chicago in 1922, made his first recording
with him in ’23, and married Oliver’s pianist Lillian Hardin
in ’24 (his second of four wives), the same year he moved to
New York to join Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra.
As indicated in
the liner notes to THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN RECORDINGS,
OKeh Records noticed in 1925 that certain discs in their acclaimed
series, Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, sold better than others.
All of these featured Armstrong playing, however anonymously.
OKeh signed him to an exclusive contract in the fall of 1925
and, in the image of Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, began to
record Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in Chicago starting
in November. “The value of the Hot Five trademark and OKeh’s
understanding of it never wavered. For this reason, even as
the combo was tinkered with over the first four years of Satchmo’s
recording career, the Hot Five name continued to be used.” It
is precisely the first three years of Armstrong’s recording
tenure at OKeh that is the focus of the box set, from November
1925 to December 1928, prior to his emergence as an orchestra
and big band leader recording standard repertoire the following
year. The contents of the box set, which is arranged thematically
first, and chronologically second, can be capsulized as follows:
DISC
ONE: This is as important as it gets, the foundations of
jazz by its first great quintet, Louis Armstrong and His Hot
Five: Louis Armstrong (cornet and later trumpet, vocals), Kid
Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet and occasional alto saxophone),
Lillian Hardin Armstrong (piano and occasional vocals), and
Johnny St. Cyr (banjo). Master by master, here are the first
24 (of 33) original recordings, covering the period November
1925 to November 1926, and including the classics “Heebie Jeebies”
(Satchmo’s first scat vocal release), “Cornet Chop Suey” (in
the key of F), Kid Ory’s “Muskrat Ramble” and “Sweep Papa,”
Lil’s “King Of the Zulus,” Louis’ “Big Butter and Eggs Man,”
“You Made Me Love You,” and many more.
DISC TWO:
The final nine original Hot Fives (September to December, 1927)
are presented, among them “Struttin With Some Barbecue,” with
guest guitarist Lonnie Johnson featured on the last three, including
“I’m Not Rough” and “Savoy Blues.” These are followed by related
“attendant material,” all dating from 1925-26: the Hot Five
backing Butterbeans & Susie on “He Likes It Slow”; the Louis
Armstrong Jazz Four backing vocalist Hociel Thomas (niece of
blues matriarch Sippie Wallace) on six numbers; Lil’s Hot Shots
on three tracks (which came about when rival Vocalion Records
circumvented Louis’ exclusive OKeh contract by recording the
Hot Five under the leadership of his wife Lil); and a reprise
of “Cornet Chop Suey,” this time in the key of E-flat, which
many scholars believe must be the likeliest key in which this
were played.
DISC THREE:
The advent of the Hot Seven in the spring of 1927 (which would
chronologically be placed between the end of Disc One and the
opening of Disc Two!) is, instead, given its own space here.
The addition of tuba and drums to the Hot Five’s spare and awkward
two piece rhythm section comprised only one week of recording,
May 7-14th, yielding 11 numbers – but what a song list it was:
“Willie the Weeper,” “Wild Man Blues,” “Potato Head Blues,”
“Keyhole Blues,” “Weary Blues,” “Twelfth Street Rag,” the risque
“Shit Outta Luck Blues.” The inspiration for the Hot Seven comes
in the form of the attendant material here, all six tracks from
the Johnny Dodds septet session for Vocalion on April 22nd (just
two weeks earlier). The disc closes with Louis Armstrong and
His Hot Four backing up singer Lillie Delk Christian on four
tunes, on June 26, 1928, a significant date because of the next
day’s events…
DISC FOUR:
On June 27, 1928, after a six month hiatus (from the middle
of Disc Two), the Hot Five returned, albeit a completely new
six-man lineup, but now featuring pianist Earl Hines and drummer
Zutty Singleton. 18 tracks recorded through December are distinguished
by the Hall Of Famer “West End Blues,” Fats Waller’s “Squeeze
Me,” Victoria Spivey’s “No (No, Papa, No),” Don Redman’s “No
One Else But You,” “St. James Infirmary,” and Armstrong’s own
“Muggles,” “Hear Me Talkin’ To You,” and “Weather Bird,” actually
a duet with Hines. So intent was OKeh on keeping its best-selling
Hot Five brand name in circulation, they even released several
1929 big band numbers as flip sides, included here: “I Can’t
Give You Anything But Love” (with the only known alternate Hot
Five take in existence!), “Mahogany Hall Stomp,” and “Knockin’
A Jug.”
OKeh was eventually
done in by the Depression. Its catalog was absorbed by Columbia
Records, whose parent company also owned OKeh. In the years
since OKeh’s demise in 1935, the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings
have been issued and reissued by Columbia, and have virtually
never been out-of-print. Today, under the stewardship of Legacy,
the music of Louis Armstrong is being restored with a spirit
of archival conscientiousness appropriate for the new digital
millennium. If his music is a cornerstone of the Columbia catalog,
then the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens are truly the Rosetta Stone
of jazz itself.
SATCH PLAYS FATS
by LOUIS ARMSTRONG (CK 64927, original LP released in 1955,
CL 708) Selections: Honeysuckle Rose * Blue, Turning Grey Over
You * I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby and My Baby’s Crazy ‘Bout Me *
Squeeze Me * Keepin’ Out Of Mischief Now * All That Meat and
No Potatoes * I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling * (What Did I Do
To Be So) Black and Blue * Ain’t Misbehavin’. (Bonus tracks
– Edited alternate versions, previously unreleased): (What Did
I Do To Be So) Black and Blue * I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby and
My Baby’s Crazy ‘Bout Me * Blue, Turning Grey Over You * I’ve
Got a Feeling I’m Falling . (Bonus tracks – original classic
recordings): Squeeze Me (rec. 1928) * (What Did I Do To Be So)
Black and Blue (rec. 1929) * Ain’t Misbehavin’ (rec. 1929) *
Blue, Turning Grey Over You (rec. 1930) * Keepin’ Out Of Mischief
Now (rec. 1932) * Sweet Savannah Sue (rec. 1929) * That Rhythm
Man (rec. 1929).
AMBASSADOR SATCH
by LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ALL-STARS (CK 64926, original
LP released in 1956, CL 840) Sel ections: Royal Garden Blues
* Tin Roof Blues * The Faithful Hussar * Muskrat Ramble * All
Of Me * Twelfth Street Rag * Undecided * Dardanella * West End
Blues * Tiger Rag. (Bonus tracks – previously unreleased): Clarinet
Marmalade * Someday You’ll Be Sorry. (Bonus track – not on original
Lp): When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along.
SATCHMO THE GREAT by LOUIS ARMSTRONG (CK 62170, original LP
released in 1957) Selections: Introduction * When It’s Sleepy
Time Down South * (Back Home Again In) Indiana (not in film)
* Paris Interview * Flee As a Bird To the Mountain/ Oh, Didn’t
He Ramble * Mack the Knife * Mahogany Hall Stomp (not in film)
* All For You, Louis (Sly Mongoose) * (What Did I Do To Be So)
Black and Blue * St. Louis Blues (Concerto Grosso). (Bonus tracks
– previously unreleased): Bucket’s Got a Hole In It * Royal
Garden Blues * On the Sunny Side Of the Street.
SATCHMO THE GREAT
by LOUIS ARMSTRONG (CK 62170, original LP released in 1957)
Selections: Introduction * When It’s Sleepy Time Down South
* (Back Home Again In) Indiana (not in film) * Paris Interview
* Flee As a Bird To the Mountain/ Oh, Didn’t He Ramble * Mack
the Knife * Mahogany Hall Stomp (not in film) * All For You,
Louis (Sly Mongoose) * (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue
* St. Louis Blues (Concerto Grosso). (Bonus tracks – previously
unreleased): Bucket’s Got a Hole In It * Royal Garden Blues
* On the Sunny Side Of the Street.
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