Recorde are reYiewed by Chris Albertson. Mike Bourne. Bill Cole, Alan.....,...... , WtiyneJonel. Larry Kart, Joe H. Klee, John Litweller, Terry Martin, John McDonough, Dan Morgenllem, Don Nelsen, Doug Ramsey, Larry Ridley, Harvey Siders, carol Sloane, and Jim Szantor Reviewl are signed by the writers. Ratlngsare: *****excellent , ****verygood , ***good, **fa ir, •poor. recordMost recordings reviewed are available tor purchase thOugh the dowll bNtltlaCOIIDCWII,, (For membership Information see delalla elaeWhere In this lnue or wrtle to REVIEV#S downbeat/RECORD CLUB, 222 W. Adams.Chicago , IL 80806)
miracle of fulln ess and brilli ance. quit e diff er performan ce. enhanced by Guarnieri 's deli ent fr o m the pre cedin g OKeh s and th e en cate cele ste acc ompaniment. LOUISARMSTRONG : Ju7 4, 1900-July 6, suing Eur opean Brun swi cks. The H ot Sevens. pre -To w n H all precursors 1-RCA VPM-6044; You'/ Wish You'd Never The trumpet pl ay in g and singing here are of th e path Lou is was soo n to take. have Born (a); Hust/in' and Bust/in ' for Baby ; magi cal. and w hile the sele ctio ns vary in qu al Di c ken son·s sly trombone and Zu11y Sing le 'In the Dark; He's a Son of the South ; Some ton ·s matchle ss drumming . and Loui s here t Day (b/; Honey, Don't You Love Me Any it y . none is w ithout merit - as. indeed. no ; Mississippi Basin ; Tomorrow Night ; DuskY Arm stron g record ev er was. Out stand ing are intr odu ces the dir ect . sober trumpet sty le that ore; I Wonder Who ; Don't Play Me Cheap S tt'l"edore, w ith it s fas t temp o and fant ast ic often marked the year s 10 co me. ;Ungerin My Arms a Little Longer , Baby ; What cadenza s. bre aks. and stop-time passages: Th e three O ctober . ·47 tune s repre sent the GonnaDo ; Joseph and his Brudders ; No Vari- fir st reco rding s by the formall y or ganized All 8/ues(d) : Back O'Town Blues (e) ; Blues In the Mis sissippi, here issued on LP for th e fir st th; I Want a Little Girl ; Sugar (f) : The Blues time an y where and a marvel of poignancy : Star s. The materi al shows that the proper Brewin'; Endie (g) ; I Believe ; Why Doubt My Siu i11' in the Durk , with a solo cadenz a as format -a mixture of jazz cla ssics and good ; You Don't Learn That in School (h); Fil- co ntemporary pop s - had not yet cry stallized. Fifty Blues; Someday (i) ; A Song Was Born ; fanciful as any Loui s ever dev ised. arti cul ated y WeatherWe 're Having; Please Stop Play with astoni shing power. and So me Sll"eet but Loui s and Tea and Big Sid are in fin e ThoseBlues , Boys (j); Ain 't Misbehavin '; Pen Day. especially for th e love ly mul ed work and fe1tle and work wonder s w ith the slight tun es. . FromHeaven ; Save it, Pretty Mama (e); Rain , the exult ant seco nd voca l c horu s - L ouis Finall y. we get a bo nus in th e form of a pair : I NeverSaw a Better Day (k) . Personnel: Armstrong , trumpet , vocal. (a): large as life . of superi or 1956 studi o pi eces i ssued on a 4.'i k WebbOrch. , Dec. 1932: Louis Hunt . Louis The band was one o f Lo ui s" better ones. single remembered o nl y by serious Arm on. Billy Hicks, trumpet: Charlie (Big ) Green . and there are solo glimp ses of the youn g Budd stron g co lle ctor s. On Rain. Rain - a tun e bone; Pete Clark . Edgar Sampson . Elmer ideall y suited to Loui s - th e pla ying and sing Iiams,reeds ; Don Kirkpatrick , pian o; John John son. alread y per sonal on tenor . and hi s heart. banjo; Elmer James , bass ; Webb , brother Keg 's fine tromb one, while the ing is as gr eat as anythin g from th e late perio d. ms, (b) Armstrong Orch ., Jan . 1933: Elmer rhythm is helped immen sely by Bill Oldham ·s and th e gentl e. charmin g Nl't"e r Saw A B<'ll l' r rtlock. Zilner Randolph , trumpet ; Keg John fine bra ss and siring bass wo rk. C hi ck Webb "s Da y is a perfect, nostalgic conclu sion to a ' trombone; Scoville Brown , Glen Oldham , Johnson, reeds; Teddy Wilson . pian o; Mike great drum s can be heard on Bom . a happ y marvelou s mu sical trip with the greate st of Kendrick, banjo; Bill Oldham , tuba ; Yank Por romp a la You Ru scul. You. th em all. Get on board! - M orge11.,, ,,,.,, ' drums. (c) same. April '33: Charlie Beal for We mo ve ahead rather abruptl y. I 3 year s n; Harry Dial for Porter . (d) same ; Apr il IM6: Ed Mullins, Fats Ford, Ludwig Jordan . Bil l almo st to the dat e. to some perform ances by lcott.trumpet ; Big Chief Moore . Al Cobbs , Adam Louis" last big band . Th ese, and som e oth ers rtin, Norman Powe, trombones ; Don Hill , fr o m 1947 , could not be c hara cteri zed as Gordon, Joe Garland , John Sparrow. Er BLOOD, SWEAT&TEARS amon g hi s gre atest . but li sten 10 th e jo you s as! Thompson. reeds: Ed Swanston , piano ; El BS&T 4- Columbia KC 30590: Go Do wn Gam llt' Warner, guitar ; Arvell Shaw. bass; Butch short trump et passages bet ween voca l seg bli n '; Cowboys And Ind ians ; John The Bapt ist; lilard, drums; Velma Middlet on, vocal. (e) ment s on You Don 't Lea m and the wo nderful Redempt ion ; Lisa . Listen To Me; A Lo ok To My townHall Concert, May•17 . '47: Bobby Hackett , sin ging on Blu es A re Bre1.-i11'.The ,band is Heart ; High On A Mounta in ; Valent ine's Day; t; Jack Teagarden , trombone ; Peanuts more "modern ·· th an th e now forgo11en argu Take Me In Your Arms ; For My Lady ; Mama Gets i'lcko,clarine t ; Dick Carey. piano ; Bob Haggart , High ; A Lo ok To My Heart . • : Sid Catlett, drums (George Wettling on singing on Blues A re Bre 11·i11'. The band is Personnel : Lew Soloff . trumpet , fluegelhorn , "SaveIt ... "). (f) Armstrong Hot Seven, Oct. '46: more "modern " th an the now -forgotl en argu piccolo trumpet ; Chuck Winfield , trumpet, flue \'leDickenson , trombone ; Barney Bigard . clari ment s between traditionali st s and bopp er s ac gelh orn ; Dave Bargeron , trombone , bass trom •:Charlie Beal, piano : Allen Reuss, gu itar ; Red bone , barit one horn , tuba. acoust ic bass ; Fred Callender,bass ; Zutty Singleton . drums (Leonard lover s) : the pr evi o usl y uni ssued Win · Douh r Lipsius , clarinet , alto sax, piano, organ : Don feather, piano, on " Blues . .. " ). (g) Armstr ong My Lo ,·e- an Arm stron g mel od y w ith Johnn y Heckman , clarinet , bass clarinet (tracks 8, 10 ~h .. Oct. '46: Mullins , Ford , Robert Butler , Me rc er ly ri cs. fin e vocal. and a mo vi ng ex only); Dick Halligan . tromb one, flute , pian o, or LouisGray , trumpets ; Moore , Nat Allen , James gan ; Steve Katz, electr ic and acousti c gu itar . har IIMney, Wadell Williams . trombones ; same pos ition of th e melod y with that burni shed . moni ca. mandolin , vocal ; Jim Fielder , electr ic llldsaslastbig band; Earl Mason , piano ; Warn mellow l one Loui s featured then. bass. guitar ; Michael Smith , congas (tra ck 4 • · guitar: Shaw, bass; Edmund Mcc onney , The po sition and err o neou s recordin g date only) ; Bobby Colomby , drums . per cussion; David drums.(h) same , March '47: Mullins , Butler , How Clayt on-Thomas, vocal. guitar . .ct Scott, Thomas Grider , trumpets; Moo re. given t o B ack O'T ,111·11 suggests that RC A IIMney, Alton (Slim) Moore , trombones ; Gor thou ght thi s to be th e 1946 big -band version Rating : **** llon, Arthur Dennis, Lucky Thompson , Garlan d, of the pi ece: it is. howeve r. th e T own Hall One advantage, pro babl y th e on ly advan Sparrow, reeds; rhythm as last except Joe Harris , C oncert int erpret ati on. Thr ee other pieces tage. of puttin g out a bad record is that it drums. (i) same. June '47: Hackett , co rnet ; Tea- 91rdeR,tromb one, vocal: Hucko, Ernie Caceres. from that mem orabl e event appear later on leaves so mu ch ro om for improvement. Off lllds; Johnny Guarnieri , piano; , celeste ; Al Ca the album. also inco rr ectl y dat ed. Apparentl y. hand . I can think of few reco rd s I liked le ss ll)', guitar; Al Hall. bass; Cozy Cole . drums . (j) th e album whi ch pr ev iousl y co ntain ed the se th an BS&T" s third album . but I'll li st en to ArmstrongAll Stars, Oct. '47: Teagarden ; Bigard ; anything once. Al so. wa s curi ous to hear if DickCarey , piano; Arvell Shaw, bass; Sid Catlett , (p lu s two oth er s and th e small -group S111111'• I «ums. (k) Hal Mooney 's Orch., Aug . '56: Manny clay and 1946 "H ot Sev en " tra c ks al so includ D on He ckman really co uld pla y the clarinet. I llein, Zeke Za