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The Essential Louis Armstrong- Amazon |
Searching for years
2005-08-31
This CD brought together many old favourites. The quality of the re-mastered music is far superior to my original records, audio tapes and CDs. I'm so glad I was able to find this compilation and am very happy with the purchase. I also have to congratulate AMAZON for the prompt service and ease of ordering both books and music. Your prices are comparable and in fact cheaper, even allowing for the conversion from US to Australian dollars.
Pops was tops!
2005-06-15
All too often "Greatest Hits" collections are less than that; however, that is not the case with this fine selection, an excellent compilation of Armstrong's work in classic jazz.
If should be pointed out that another reviewer intimates that W.C. Handy was the composer of a substantial number of the tunes on this collection. That is not the case; only "St. Louis Blues" and "Aunt Hagar's Blues" are Handy compositions and "West End Blues" was written by Armstrong's mentor, Joseph "King" Oliver
You need it all
2005-01-28
This isn't a bad selection and it does give you a picture of Handy's massive but now often neglected contribution to the music. Moreover, it may be coincidental, but several of Louis's most crucial performances likes St. Louis Blues, and his West End Blues--which I think legitimately needs to be considered the greatest performance of musical art of the 20th Century--came on Handy numbers.
It is also nice to hear Louis's development over different periods. Folks should recognize that around 1933, Louis broke his lip and lost the superhuman physical ability on the trumpet he had up to that point, though he continued to be one of the world;'s great trumpeters and actually developed into a greater stylist and entertaininer. The stuff from the All Stars who are also too greatly neglected is nice. However, I question the selection. Louis is just too good. If you are going to buy a box set, get the box sets or the individual CDs by period. Once you hear Louis, you will want it all if you are serious about music. So having this selection based on composer will mean you will end up buying these tracks again and again as good taste will dictate that you navigate through Louis's entire career. Of course there are worse things than having several copies of an Armstrong recording!
A Truely Essential Collection
2004-09-03
This is a great collection of music by Louis Armstrong. The discs cover the entire period of Mr. Armstrong's career and have been beautifully remastered. The collection begins with recordings made in the 1920's (on the entire first disc) and takes us to 1930. Included are three tracks when Louis Armstrong played with Fletcher Henderson and the Clarence Williams Blue Five. There are five tracks with the Hot Five and Hot Seven that includes Heebie Jeebies (the first track on which Louis Armstrong sings), Willie the Weeper and West End Blues. The tracks of the Hot Five and Hot Seven are mostly instrumental and provide an excellent cross-section of the original records. One of the intriguing things about this collection is observing the name changes in Louis Armstrong's band. In 1929, Armstrong's band is called Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five. From this band are Beau Koo Jack, St. James Infirmary, Tight Like This and I Can't Give You Anything But Love. A quick name change in the same year gives us Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra. The tracks included from this band are: Ain't Misbehavin", Black and Blue, and St. Louis Blues. Also in 1930, the band takes the wonderful name: Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra. This band is recorded playing I'm Confessin'. This track is interesting for the inclusion of a steel guitar.
The second CD picks up in 1930 where the first left off and goes up to 1967. This CD has some of the more familiar Louis Armstrong songs like On the Sunny Side of the Street, Mack the Knife, Georgia On My Mind, When the Saints Go Marching In, Blueberry Hill and What A Wonderful World. The CD begins with Memories of You, with a prominent part for a vibraphone and Satchmo's familiar crooning. I have often heard that Louis Armstrong was a terrible vocalist but when you listen to these early recordings one gets a better appreciation of how good his voice was. The tracks that follow clearly demonstrate this, and Armstrong's voice only became raspy later on. Some tracks, like You Rascal You, bring on a smile with their comic performance. Another special track is A Fine Romance where Satchmo sings with Ella Fitzgerald. The second CD completes what is truly the essential Louis Armstrong. The insert has a short biography of Satchmo and a good selection of photographs. The covers of the records in this collection are pictured and each track has a listing of the band members and when the recording was made. If you already have many of these records this collection may not be of great interest unless you want to follow the evolution of Louis Armstrong's style and the composition of his bands. One thing of note: all of the records on this set were issued by Columbia Records but Sony has given itself credit for all of them. So you will see the phrase: Originally Released 1925 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. It would have been more honest if Sony gave credit to Columbia for the recordings instead of tucking their credit at the end of their copyright information. In any case, someone who does not have a big collection of Louis Armstrong's music, this will be an invaluable introduction. 
4.5 stars
2004-08-30
Everything here is just 5 stars, great tracks by the greatest artist of the last century. I applaude that most of the music in these discs are devoted to Satchmo greatest recordings, his earlier ones, instead of the most commercially oriented stuff he recorded later on. The only problem I have is that they could have put more music on each CD, at least 5 more songs on each one. Just because of that, I'd first recommend to buy Ken Burns definitive compilation, also because its half the price.
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