Customer Reviews

The Complete Town Hall Concert Jazz Tribune No. 43

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was an historic concert. Louis had gotten through the late 1930s and 1940s, fronting various big mediocre swing bands with his trumpet and vocals, and frankly,even on the best of the records the excitement was the contrast between Louis's excellence and the stiffness of the swing bands.

For this concert a smaller band, close to the hot fives and sevens and the King Oliver, to the Dixeland units Louis had made his historic recordings of the 1920s was put together, a great hall in NYC was hired, and the rest is history.

The beat here is stronger and better heard than in the records of the 1920s, Louis is more at ease, more in charge, and is sharing the fact that he is having fun, more than on those record. Of course we don't have any live recordings of Louis from the 1920s. We do know that one of the numbers on this record, Ain't Misbehavin', though written by Fats Waller was introduced by Louis in a Broadway Play in the 1920s. Louis's performance was so good that the show was usually interrupted for two or three encore performances of Ain't Misbehavin'. People who'd already seen the show would often show up at the theater trying to get in just to hear the song!

We see the first time on record what would become a collaboration for the rest of their playing lives of Louis and the great Jack Teagraden, a collaboration of mutual fun, mutual music and, one suspects mutual appreciation of non tobacco cigarettes.

This is where Louis Armstrong decided to stop fronting a big swing band and establish Louis Armstrong's all-stars, a small dixieland band like this featuring such veterans of the music at various times as Teagarden, Trummy Young, Barney Bigard, Sid Catlett, and Earl Hines. From this point, Louis Armstrong returned to the repertoire of the 1920s and early 1930s leavened with new songs done in those styles. This group, the Louis Armstrong All Stars recorded some of the swingest records ever made at any time. Moreover, they helped kick off the now-forgotten Dixieland revival of the 1950s!

To be sure, the many recordings they made including some alluded to by other reviewers, are better recorded and better practiced than these cuts. However, the spontaneity, the personality, and Louis's reactions to and from the musicans and the audience and the history being made here make this a unique and necessary recording.

Who do we have to write, petition, boycott, picket, or plead to get this CD reissued!!!!!

Okay, so the sound quality isn't 21st century state-of-the-art, but come on! It's not that bad, and considering that this concert was recorded in 1947 it's not bad at all, actually.

This disc really shows what a seminal figure Louis Armstrong was. Much, much more than just a happy-go-lucky black man who growled "What A Wonderful World" in a gravelly bass-baritone, he was and still remains the most important figure in jazz music, and even the most casual listener should appreciate this magnificent performance.
Surrounded by the first incarnation of his legendary "All Stars", Armstrong plays definitive versions of "Ain't Misbehavin" and "Back O'Town Blues", a fantastic "Dear Old Southland" backed only by the rhythm section, and a driving "Tiger Rag".
But there are only highlights here, really, and Armstrong's solos are pure liquid fire all the way through.

At once highly accessible and utterly magical, "The Complete Town Hall Concert" is Louis Armstrong at his best. Not to be missed!

while the performance is fantastic, the sound quality of the cd really detracts from an enjoyable listening experience. try the W.C. Handy cd instead for a real treat!

One of my all-time favorite jazz albums, combining Louis Armstrong on trumpet with the perfect counterpoint of Jack Teagarden on trombone, plus the rest of the all-starts. One for the record books.

We are not used to hearing the old-time style of playing jazz that this recording aptly demonstrates. If your not used to the funky sounds of the imperfect recordings of the time, you most likely will not care for this one. But if you are a vintage-jazz fan, this is a happy sound of Louis Armstrong and his cohorts at a special time in "Dippermouth's" career. If you close your eyes, lay back in your chair, and "go with it" - you'll be transported to a moment in time that is lost forever - BUT - that can be revisited whenever you play the recording.