Of course there will be many, such as myself, who have at least two, if not all three of the original albums on vinyl. Satch Plays Fats and Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy are justifiably rated as two of the greatest jazz albums ever recorded although the jury is still out on his collaboration with Brubeck, Lambert-Hendricks-Ross and Carmen McRae - The Real Ambassadors.
In addition there are also a host of singles that came out as 78 rpms - some more jazzier than others - that many will have fond memories of. There's also tracks from a flexible disc promoting a new, at the time, 1959, Remington electric razor - Music to Shave By - which I've still got somewhere or other. It features, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and the Hi-Los as well as Armstrong and includes such priceless lyrics as When You're Shaving and Ain't Misbehavin', I'm shaving myself for you...!
Throughout, the trumpet maestro is surrounded by some of the best sidemen in the business, most notably clarinetists Barney Bigard and Edmond Hall and, trombonists and occasional vocal sidekicks, Jack Teagarden and Trummy Young. In fact Trummy's solo on St. Louis Blues from the Handy set is quite amazing! Imagine Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden and Vic Dickinson rolled into one and you've got it!
To round off this splendid package there's a 44 page 12" x 12" glossy booklet complete with blow by blow description by Armstrong authority Ricky Riccardi, 40 photos from the Louis Armstrong House Museum Archives where Riccardi is Director of Research Collections, and a comprehensive discography ... and when I say comprehensive, I mean comprehensive and that's the rub!
This is both the strength to some and the weakness to others. As well as the issued takes there are rehearsals and alternate takes-a-plenty and that's a-plenty for me! I mean do I really need nine takes of Mack the Knife? Fortunately, the alternate takes are on separate discs so it becomes a question of take it or leave it. I guess most people will play them all as, apart from the music, the alternate tracks often have interesting comments by the musicians both before and after takes, and then go for the finished product which, we're told, often involved splicing different takes. A practice that has been, and still is, going on since time immemorial to get the best result. Personally, I prefer to remain blissfully ignorant.
There are too many musicians, titles/alternate titles to post all the info but it is all available via the Mosaic link below. Lance
*3,500 copies.
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