Search - Louis Armstrong :: Louis Armstrong Big Band 1930-32

Louis Armstrong Fronting Big Bands of the Early 1930s

GEORGE HUNT | Maple Shade, NJ USA | 12/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In August 2000 Louis Armstrong fans were treated to the Sony 4-CD box set The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings. The year 2000 must have placed Planet Earth close to Heaven, because now (December 2000) we are being treated to the JSP 2-CD set The (Louis Armstrong) Big Band Recordings 1930-1932. Of course, the Hot Five and Hot Seven were small jazz bands led by Louis. The new 2-CD set gives us a chance to hear some of the big bands Louis fronted just before the Big Band Era was about to take off.The Hot Five and Hot Seven were strictly recording studio bands; they never appeared in public. During those years (1925 to 1929) Louis made his living by working as a sideman in big (theater) stage bands and big (ballroom) dance bands on the South side of Chicago. Before that time, Louis had worked as a sideman in Fletcher Henderson's big band in New York for one or two years in the early 1920s. By 1929 Louis was well known as the best jazz trumpeter in the world, and music managers and promoters wanted to present Louis to the public in front of a big band. Louis Armstrong never really recruited, rehearsed, or conducted big bands. He didn't like to do that. He wanted to concentrate on playing the trumpet, singing, and otherwise entertaining the people.I believe the thrill of listening to big swing band music is due to the amalgamation of disciplined, trained, musicians playing written music scores and free-wheeling, high spirited, musicians playing the ad-libbed jazz solos. This 2-CD set presents Louis Armstrong with some of the big bands he fronted during the early 1930s. Music lovers get a chance to hear the greatest jazz trumpet player of all time, Louis Armstrong, playing and singing in front of good big bands. It does not matter that Louis Armstrong never really organized his own big band; but, instead, took over existing big bands, including the bands of Carrol Dickerson, Les Hite, and Luis Russell during his career. Music lovers got the opportunity of hearing Louis Armstrong sing and play jazz in the rather unique setting of big swing bands.This 2-CD set presents 42 very good examples of Louis Armstrong singing (on 41) and playing jazz trumpet (on all 42) in front of some of those good big bands. Now, listen to what it sounds like in Heaven!"

Fabulous Value - "old Satchelmouth" at his best

Maria-Rosa de Hacia | 02/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow - 42 tracks of Louis simply doing what he did best - blowing his horn and "singing up a great big storm" (as Frank Sinatra would later ad-lib on his tribute to Louis with "Hello Dolly"). There are so many wonderful songs on this set, where do I start?Of course, one cannot overlook "Stardust", simply delectable, but look what else is here: "I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me", "All of Me", "Body and Soul" (more magnificence), "You're Drivin' Me Crazy", "Shine", "Blue Again", "Dinah"...you get the idea! For those who want to dive into various stages of the great man's career, this is a heaping slice of the early 30's. Here we get an idea of the entertainer that Satch was becoming, a true crowd pleaser who clearly lived for the stage.An important point is how the technique of recording had advanced from the 20's to the 30's, providing a far better fidelity than was available on the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens recordings that had come before. I've heard many complain that the earlier records sounded cheap and crude, but of course that couldn't be helped. You won't have that complaint here, though.If you're one of those who is discovering the fabulous talent of Louis Armstrong, and want to go beyond "Greatest Hits" sets and repackages, give this set a shot. The price is in the same range as a typical Back Street Boys or Britney Spears outing, but will those performers sound as vital as this 70 years into the future? You decide...!"

The great musical personality

bukhtan | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 09/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What musician compares to Louis for sheer assertion of distinctive selfhood? In the jazz world, perhaps Bechet, Ellington, Dizzy and Miles. Beyond, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven ... We would all have our own list. And everyone has their favorite Louis Armstrong. For many people, the end of the Okeh era in 1930 - 1932 covered by these two discs displays Armstrong at his height.
You won't find, however, the great musical interactions of the Twenties, when Louis played with such New Orleans giants at Kid Ory and Johnny Dodds, or those musicians from elsewhere, just as forward looking as he was, such as Earl Hines or Don Redman. These sides on "The Big Band Recordings" give us bands which were not much more than a backdrop to Louis' Karajanish trumpet playing and Shakespearian vocalizing. Only the first ten or so 78's feature drummer & vibraphonist Lionel Hampton (who, legend has it, lied to Louis when he told him he knew how to play vibraphone - he'd only heard of the instrument)and the great trombone romantic Lawrence Brown, who would later become one of Ellington's greatest soloists (would you believe me if I said that at least one of his solos on these songs is ALMOST as good as Louis'?).
The great re-masterer John R. T. Davies has presented these sides in the only package currently available, to my knowledge, other than the "Chronogical Classics" sets for the corresponding years. Thought his product is certainly adequate for full enjoyment of the music, those listeners familiar with the clarity and presence of his Hot Five & Hot Seven re-issues, still unmatched by the recent Columbia remasterings, may be a bit disappointed by these pieces, which do not seem to have been taken from 78's of comparable mint quality. And perhaps none such are available. Listeners should be aware, too, that Mr. Davies does not use heavy noise reduction, so both the maximum of music and most of the surface noise remain. Otherwise, I would only wish that the 78 issue numbers had been provided, though in truth reliable documentation is easy to find in standard discographies of Armstrong such as "Boy from New Orleans"."