Customer Reviews

Jazz Icons: Louis Armstrong Live in '59

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

 

 

I seldom write reviews for items on Amazon, but I felt compelled to do so in this instance as the only other reviewer of this DVD on Amazon at this time gave this disc only a four star rating. Fewer than five stars for this DVD seemed like a real injustice to me.

This is with no doubt the best Louis Armstrong concert DVD currently in print. There are a handful of documentaries, but, if you are looking for a concert, your only other choice is the 1962 Louis Armstrong performance with Eddie Condon and the Bobby Hackett Sextet. Although that DVD is also a classic, there are only 6 songs with Louis Armstrong appearing on them, and, by contrast, his performance is more subdued than in this 1959 concert.

In this concert, Louis is in his absolute prime, hitting a series of truly astounding notes, singing and scatting at his best, and performing with an ebullience that was unique only to Louis Armstrong in his prime. In one sequence he chases his trombone player around the piano in a phenomenal dueling horn solo. If you are a Louis Armstrong fan in the least, please do not debate buying this DVD... If you can spare the cost, simply buy it and be enriched by the brilliance of a true American master in his prime. There is good reason why the pioneering jazz masters were called America's classical musicians, on a par with Europe's classical masters, and this DVD provides ample proof of that claim.

Reelin' in The Years Productions presents "LOUIS ARMSTRONG:LIVE IN BELGIUM 1959", features the following -- Trumpet, Vocal : Louis Armstrong --Clarinet: Peanuts Hucko -- Trombone: Trummy Young -- Piano: Billy Kyle -- Bass: Mort Herbert -- Drums: Danny Barcelona -- Vocal: Velma Middleton --- The best there is from the Live World of Jazz with the greatest showman bringing what he does naturally -- play music with his heart and soul, we love you Pops.

Jazz Icons: Louis Armstrong - Live in '59 (Track Listings)
1. When It's Sleepy Time Down South [3:19]
2. (Back Home Again In) Indiana [4:18]
3. Basin Street Blues [6:17]
4. Tiger Rag [3:23]
5. Now You Has Jazz [5:32]
6. Love Is Just Around the Corner [3:03]
7. C'est Si Bon [2:29]
8. Mack the Knife [3:01]
9. Stompin' at the Savoy [5:40]
10. St. Louis Blues [5:54]
11. Ko-Ko-Mo (I Love You So) [2:38]
12. When the Saints Go Marching In [4:00]
13. La Vie en Rose/Credits [3:19]

Features:
16-page booklet
Foreword by Wynton Marsalis
Liner notes by Rob Bowman
Cover photo by Herman Leonard
Booklet photos by Paul Hoeffler, Bob Willoughby, Susanne Schapowalow, Jamie Hodgson
Memorabilia collage

BIOS:
Louis Armstrong (aka: Louis Daniel Armstrong)
Nickname: Satchmo (diminutive of 'Satchel Mouth') and Pops
Date of Birth: 4 August 1901 - New Orleans, Louisiana (not for sure on the year)
Date of Death: 6 July 1971 - New York City, New York

Here are some known and unknown facts about our favorite Jazz trumpeter and band leader.

1. Pictured on a 32¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of American Music series, issued 1 September 1995.
2. Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (under the category Early Influence).
3. Charter inductee of the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1978.
4. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7601 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

This one of a kind collection is a clean, crisp and completely enjoyable without a doubt, picture and sound is extraordinary --- In an interview Satchmo said: "I never tried to prove nothing, just always wanted to give a good show. My life has been my music, it's always come first. But the music ain't worth nothing if you can't lay it on the public. The main thing is to live for that audience 'cause what you're there for is to please the people." --- ain't it the truth and this collection proves just that.

Special footnote -- This may be the only complete performance by Louis Armstrong that exists on film --- This rare treasure represents an important document of one of the most important jazz musicians ever to swing it, all with the compliments from Pops --- can you dig it!

Total Time: 55 on DVD ~ Jazz Icons TDK ~ (9/26/2006)

Although his style was relatively conservative, Louis Armstrong's position as a founding father of jazz, and as a world-class performer, is indisputable. Here he is, at peak form, playing his heart out in an hour-long late-1950s European concert, backed by a band that seems to take as much pleasure blowing the old-style New Orleans trad as Satchmo himself. The music is thematically static, but each song is so joyful, you hardly mind. Armstrong throws himself wholeheartedly into each melody and every note, and his enthusiasm, though obviously the product of intense professionalism, is irresistible. This is a wonderful look at one of the greatest showmen of the 20th Century. Recommended!

I love jazz..and to watch a louis Armstrong show was really nice. My sister owns this program, and the only problm was that it was to short. I loved all 55 minutes of it.

I am a huge Jazz fan! This a must have for any Louis Armstrong fan. Well worth the price of addmission...Coop

There are surprisingly few video recordings of Armstrong and his All-Stars in concert. This is one of the best. While the audio and video quality are hardly pristine by today's standards, obviously great care has been invested in this restoration. The disc is an important historical record. Even more, Pops--even late '50s Pops--was never less than joyous in his music-making and showmanship.