Louis Armstrong compilation of early work, recorded between 12 November 1925 through 23 June 1926. Released 22 April 2003 on Columbia/Legacy label, catalog# 86999, US.
Legacy has seen fit - and rightfully so - to reissue the complete recordings of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Seven as individual volumes instead of just a box set. This is a solid way to go for collectors trying to fill holes. It's also the best way for a beginner, not only with Armstrong's music but that of early-recorded jazz, to become acquainted with the development of improvisation in the music. Volume 1 concentrates on the Hot Five material from 1925 and 1926. The first band included Armstrong, Kid Ory on trombone, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, pianist Lil Hardin, and banjo boss Johnny St. Cyr. These 20 recordings were made for the Okeh label. The blues model on which all of these tunes were based is extrapolated upon and remade in the image of first the ensemble and then in the image of the soloist. From "My Heart" and the amazing "Oriental Strut" to "Lonesome Blues," to "Come Back Sweet Papa," to the introduction of scat singing in Lil Hardin's "Skid-Dat-De Dat," the exuberance and professionalism just drip from these tunes. But notions of harmonic invention are also present, places where the soloist slips outside the changes and moves toward reaching a musical unity with the ensemble by whatever means necessary as long as it swung. The sound here is as good as it gets for the time, and after one or two listens, the hiss is barely recognizable. What's important is the fidelity of the music, and it's excellent.
Vol. 1
01 My Heart - 2:25
Lil Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
02 Yes! I'm in the Barrel - 2:39
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
03 Gut Bucket Blues - 2:42
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
04 Come Back, Sweet Papa - 2:28
Luis Russell
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
05 Georgia Grind - 2:34
Spencer Williams
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
06 Heebie Jeebies - 2:54
Boyd Atkins
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
07 Cornet Chop Suey - 2:57
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
08 Oriental Strut - 3:02
Johnny St. Cyr
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
09 You're Next - 3:16
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
10 Muskrat Ramble - 2:32
R. Gilbert / Edward "Kid" Ory
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
11 Don't Forget to Mess Around - 3:03
Louis Armstrong / Paul Barbarin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
12 I'm Gonna Gitcha - 2:45
Lil Hardin Armstrong / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
13 Droppin' Shucks - 2:52
Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
14 Who'sit - 2:46
Richard M. Jones
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
15 King of the Zulus - 3:05
Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
16 Big Fat Ma and Skinny Pa - 3:00
Richard M. Jones
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
17 Lonesome Blues - 3:04
Willie Dixon
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
18 Sweet Little Papa - 2:45
Edward "Kid" Ory / Kid Ory
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
19 Jazz Lips - 3:02
Louis Armstrong / Duke Ellington / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
20 Skid-Dat-De-Dat - 3:02
Lil Hardin Armstrong / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
Vol. 2
The second volume of Legacy's brilliant collection of Louis Armstrong's complete Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings reveals the transition from quintet to septet. The first four tunes have May Alix added on vocals, and then Harry Clark replaces Kid Ory, who briefly went off to start his own band. In May of 1927, however, John Thomas takes over the trombone chair, Baby Dodds joins on drums, and Pete Briggs on tuba to round out the septet. But the band changes to a tentet a few days later on a different session with Earl Hines on the piano and bass added to the mix as well as a second cornetist. The personnel changes were confusing during this era, but the music wasn't. The sound here developed into something so gloriously complex and rich that neither New Orleans nor anyone else had heard anything like it before. Duke Ellington, who was leading his first real band in 1927, was deeply enamored with these recordings -- especially "Wild Man Blues," "Chicago Breakdown," and "Melancholy." In September of that year, the original band reunited, bringing it back down to the Hot Five for the remainder of 1927 and, as such, on tracks such as "Ory's Creole Trombone," "The Last Time," and the amazing "Got No Blues." The sound quality is slightly better here in that there is a bit less hiss. The fidelity and integrity of the tracks themselves are nearly flawless.
1 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Big Butter And Egg Man
2 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Sunset Café Stomp
3 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– You Made Me Love You
4 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Irish Black Bottom
5 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Willie The Weeper
6 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Wild Man Blues
7 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Chicago Breakdown
8 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Alligator Crawl
9 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Potato Head Blues
10 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Melancholy
11 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Weary Blues
12 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Twelfth Street Rag
13 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Keyhole Blues
14 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– S.O.L. Blues
15 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– Gully Low Blues
16 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven– That's When I'll Come Back To You
17 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Put 'Em Down Blues
18 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Ory's Creole Trombone
19 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– The Last Time
20 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Struttin' With Some Barbeque
21 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Got No Blues
22 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five– Once In A While
Vol.3
The final volume of Louis Armstrong's Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings features 25 tracks. These recordings reveal how deeply and broadly Armstrong had begun to use improvisation as it played into the heart of the blues, as well as how complex the arrangements had gotten while still remaining accessible as music to be listened to and danced to. They also represent the final three recordings Lil Hardin Armstrong made with the band, as she and Louis were divorced in early 1928 (with no less than Lonnie Johnson on guitar -- check his solo on "I'm Not Rough"). Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, and Johnny St. Cyr, all original members, also departed.
Earl Hines enters the picture with the next Hot Five, as does Fred Robinson on trombone, Jimmy Strong on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Zutty Singleton on drums, and Mancy Cara on banjo. Armstrong and Hines both sang in this formation, which accounts for the vast majority of the material found here, beginning in June of 1928 with the OKeh single "Fireworks" and including the famous "Basin Street Blues" as well as "Sugar Foot Strut," "West End Blues," and Hardin's classic "Don't Jive Me," among others.
The band changed names and some members later in the year. Hines and Robinson remained, but the great Don Redman joined on clarinet and alto and became the arranger, as did Dave Wilborn on banjo and guitar. This faction, known as Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five, recorded such monstrously successful cuts as Armstrong's "Muggles" (before the creator of Harry Potter was a thought in her grandmother's mind), "Weather Bird," and Redman's amazing "Save It, Pretty Mama." On the 12th of December, a week after this session, the Savoy Ballroom Five actually included seven members, with Mancy Cara and Jimmy Strong being added back into the fold for new treatments of "St. James Infirmary," "Tight Like This," and "Hear Me Talkin' to Ya." Throughout, what is heard is a tightening of arrangements by Redman, whose musicality and sense of harmonic unity is as keen as Duke Ellington's in this period, and the fact that improvisation played a role that was as central as that of a bridge in a pop song later in the century. As with the other two volumes, this is indispensable.
01 I'm Not Rough - 3:04
Louis Armstrong / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
02 Hotter Than That - 3:04
Lil Hardin Armstrong / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
03 Savoy Blues - 3:27
Kid Ory
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
04 Fireworks - 3:10
Spencer Williams
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
05 Skip the Gutter - 3:09
Spencer Williams
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
06 A Monday Date - 3:14
Earl Hines / Sydney Robin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
07 Don't Jive Me - 2:49
Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
08 West End Blues - 3:21
King Oliver / Clarence Williams
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
09 Sugar Foot Strut - 3:21
Matty Matlock / Billie Pierce
Louis Armstrong
10 Two Deuces - 2:58
Lil Hardin Armstrong / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
11 Squeeze Me - 3:25
Fats Waller / Clarence Williams
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
12 Knee Drops - 3:26
Lil Hardin Armstrong / Lil Hardin
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
13 No (Papa, No) - 2:53
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
14 Basin Street Blues - 3:17
Spencer Williams
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
15 No One Else But You - 3:23
Don Redman
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five
16 Beau Koo Jack - 3:01
Louis Armstrong / Alex Hill / Walter Melrose
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five
17 Save It, Pretty Mama - 3:17
Joe Davis / Paul Denniker / Don Redman
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five
18 Weather Bird - 2:47
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
feat: Earl Hines
19 Muggles - 2:52
Louis Armstrong / Earl Hines
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
20 Hear Me Talkin' to Ya - 3:18
Louis Armstrong / Ma Rainey
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five
21 St. James Infirmary - 3:14
Joe Primrose / Traditional
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five
22 Tight Like This - 3:11
A. Curl
Louis Armstrong
feat: Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five
