[78-L] Louis Armstrong

[Julian Vein]

fnarf at comcast.net wrote:
Julian Vein:

 > > Unfortunately, whatever Armstrong's qualities as a human being, we are
 > > left with his recorded legacy, a lot of which is superficial and
 > > patronizing to his audiences and routine.

I know you're being deliberately provocative here, but you couldn't be 
more wrong, even if you'd said "Duke Ellington was a mediocre rock 
guitarist from Slovenia".

For starters, Armstrong's legacy includes the invention of jazz and the 
invention of jazz singing. He is by a wide, wide margin the most 
important figure in American music, and in ANY music since 1900. In MY 
pantheon, Louis Armstrong is the single most important American who ever 
lived, with Lincoln and perhaps Mark Twain up there on the podium with him.

Yes, yes, I know other people were playing "jazz" before him, but 
Armstrong broke through the rhythmic and tonal barriers that imprisoned 
all early players. His innovations led to EVERYTHING; there is before 
Louis and after Louis. He was the big bang. In a way, every instrumental 
player since Armstrong, in every genre, has been trying to recapture the 
magic of the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. And mostly coming up short. The 
thing is, you can come up short to Armstrong and still be the best ever 
in your field.

And singing: he's not just the first, he's still by a wide, wide margin 
the best that ever was. NO ONE has ever phrased like him. And, as with 
playing, every singer since him has tried to capture that warmth and 
tone and rhythm. Every jazz and pop singer in the post-Jolson world owes 
him EVERYTHING. What a singer; his voice was so much larger, and had so 
many more rooms in it, and so many fabulous, jaw-dropping, and beautiful 
ways to get around a word, he doesn't even sound like a man; he sounds 
like an entire nation of men. You could pick out single NOTES that 
surpass most careers.

When people talk disparagingly about Armstrong's recorded legacy, 
they're talking about a handful of records from late in his career when 
he was certainly no longer an innovator. But there are two things to say 
about that: innovation is overrated, and Armstrong had already packed 
more innovation in his career than any other musician in history, so who 
cares? Armstrong innovated more one ONE DAY in November 1925 than any 
other jazz musician did in his entire career.

And after that, he made a HELL of a lot of great, great records. His 
later sessions with Ella Fitzgerald are stone cold magnificent. If he 
had only ever recorded those, as a vocalist, and never touched a trumpet 
in his life, he'd be an all-time great. You can say that about a lot of 
his stuff; if the only thing he ever did was "High Society" he'd be 
revered today.

No one has a recorded legacy like Armstrong. No one.

I haven't even read the Teachout book yet!
_______________________________________________
I agree Louis was the standout jazz musician, but he was often 
surrounded by mediocrity, from the Hot Five onwards. Johnny Dodds was in 
diffident mood on these, Kid Ory was no great shakes as an improviser. 
Then, later, there were Fred Robinson and Jimmy Strong. If only he had 
used J.C.Higginbotham, Albert Nicholas etc. They only appeared when 
Armstrong recorded with the Luis Russell band, but they were mainly used 
a a backdrop for his playing.

As great as Louis is on the Hot Fives, I consider the ensemble work to 
be "general purpose"--just to fill in time between solos. I don't recall 
anyone ever praising the Hot Five ensemble work, only Armstrong's solo 
or, perhaps, his lead work.

As I understand it, Louis had a fear of going hungry again, and this 
probably influenced his decision to take his career the way it did. 
Can't blame him for that, but that doesn't mean we have to be 
unquestioning about his recorded legacy. Seems to me his recording 
career took a nosedive when he formed the All-Stars and nearly 
everything started to become routine. And I never want to hear any 
version of "Rockin' Chair" with him and Teagarden again.

      Julian Vein


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