Customer Reviews

Louis Armstrong: Ken Burns JAZZ (The Definitive)

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This is a superb CD that anybody who is curious about jazz or Louis Armstrong should buy (lets face it, if you already are a Pops fan you probably have all these tunes). It serves as an almost perfect introduction to Satchmo and successfully highlights each stage of his career. Please note that each one of the tunes on this cd are masterpieces and may take time to absorb. If you are unfamiliar with jazz and bought this CD for Louis's ballads, it may take a few listenings to absorb some of the more unorthodox tunes. But if keep an open mind and listen carefully, you will have a divine experience. You can get high off of this music. The tunes on the cd are as follows:

Chimes Blues - delightfully simple tune that shows how Satchmo was a master at phrasing (he transforms a simple solo into a work of genius just by the way he expresses each note). Ken Burns appropriately introduced Louis by putting this very old tune from King Oliver's Band first.

Cake Walkin' Babies (from home) - Louis transforms another simple tune into a masterpiece with his brilliant expressional ability. It is simply a stunning experience to listen the fiery solos of Louis's trumpet and Sidney Bechet's soprano saxophone.

Heebie Jeebies - Strictly New Orleans tune that is historically significant containing the first recorded improvised vocal solo of Louis. The solos are entertaining, but in my opinion this is not one of the best Hot Fives and Sevens recordings. However, its historical significance and element of brilliance more than justify Ken Burns's placement of this tune in the compilation.

Potato Head Blues - My favorite jazz tune of all time

West End Blues - A great tribute to Satchmo's talent. The introduction to this tune is very difficult and was not successfully copied for a long time after Louis made this recording. The rest of the tune follows suit as Louis builds impressive statements that logically follow eachother with his instrument.

Tight Like This - If i had any quarrels with Ken Burns for his compilation, it would have to be with this tune. It is pretty good and I do enjoy it, but there are better recordings that could have taken its place.

Mahogany Hall Stomp - Another nice tune that shows how Louis could flawlessly weave around a melody chorus after chorus.

Ain't Misbehavin - A rather startling introduction to Louis's unrivaled ability to sing expressively. Satchmo gives new meaning to yet another tune.

Black and Blue - Again, Louis shows his musical fervor in this beautiful tune.

St. Louis Blues - Louis displays how he is the epitome of conservative playing on this piece where his relatively simple solos reach a state of divinity through perfect phrasing.

When It's Sleepy Time Down South - Another pleasant tune imbued with Louis's singing.

Blue Again - This tune was recorded right before Louis's trumpet ability began its unfortunate atrophy that would give way to his singing. However, "Blue Again" almost justifies this transition from trumpet to voice by showing how Louis had as much control over words as he did over trumpet notes.

Lazy River - I think you are starting to get the point by now... Louis by this time could effortlessly imbue a sung chorus with unrivaled zeal, phrasing, and expression. His mastery of time is especially evident in "Lazy River".

Star Dust - An unbelievable performance, my second favorite tune on this cd after Potato Head Blues.

Shadrack - Louis sings with a what sounds like a church choir. Interesting and pleasant, even though it isn't really jazz.

I Double Dare You - Nice tune.

When The Saints go Marching in - The best version of When the Saints go Marching In i have ever heard. It is mind boggling how Louis can turn an old and (lets face it) boring tune into a new and invigorating masterpiece.

Marie - Nice blend of Louis and two other great singers.

Rockin' Chair, Blueberry Hill, Mack the Knife, A Fine Romance, Hello Dolly, What a Wonderful World - I know it may seem ignorant for me to put all these tunes in the same category, but they really are ... all in the same category. They are all ballad-like songs in which Louis expresses his musical ability with his voice. What a Wonderful World steels the prize here, but they are all fine performances. If you bought these CDs just for Louis's later singing, then these will satisfy you. If you bought it for Louis's jazz trumpet, these will still be enjoyable. To this day i still believe that the unbridled genius of Louis Armstrong is shown in Potato Head Blues rather than What a Wonderful World. Either way, Ken Burn's Louis Armstrong CD is a perfect introduction to Satchmo. If you wonder why he hasn't included your favorite Armstrong tune, keep in mind that Armstrong made hundreds of exceptional recordings (and more unexceptional ones). It must have been torturous to throw out classics like "Struttin' With Some Barbecue Sauce", but such things are inevitable when trying to make a one CD compilation of Louis's work. You can not explain history in a page.

I was lucky enough to see the great Mr Armstrong perform in New York in the early 60's. ALthough I was just a teenager his music touched me and I started to collect his albums. This CD is way too short and although it does have some great material I would highly recommend the Best of Collection here on Amazon. It's about the same price and has a lot more to offer of Louie ! Although I still collect Jazz today the past masters of the 30's, 40's and 60's continue to amaze me.

I must admit that my love of jazz is a recent event and because of that my exposure to Louis Armastrong's music has been, for the most part, saturated with "Hello Dolly" and "What a Wonderful World". Both of those songs do not even come close to telling you what a tremendous jazz musician this man was, and this collection is a good introduction into that. The humor, also, in some of these songs is infectious. I'm driving with a silly grin on my face when this CD is in the car. "Rockin' Chair," in particular for me, is a gem. Just listen to how Louis comes in after the dialogue is done, it will almost make you weep. This CD will without a doubt make you go out and get another one of his CD's.

Mr. Armstrong had a recording career of more than 45 years, and there are about 200 CD's floating around with his talent on them, so how could one pick just the right tunes for only one disc? I am not well-versed in Satchmo's catalogue, but I would not know how to fault the souls who put this compliation together. About 74 minutes' worth, 25 selections, as old as 1923 and as fresh as 1967, four years before he died. Here he begins as a featured player with the King Oliver Band and ends with "What a Wonderful World", a great vocal performance from the '60's which found a fresh audience because of its use in a '90's movie. Maybe Louis invented improvisational solos, the cornerstone of modern jazz playing, or maybe he didn't, but for the first half of the 20th Century he was the most well-known symbol of jazz around the world...the Muhammad Ali of music. This item is a bargain, and would be worth it for the last five songs alone (his late career "pop" ballads) or for the first five numbers due to their historical importance. It would also be a bargain if the CD only had "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "St. Louis Blues" and "Lazy River" and "Chinatown" and "Stardust" and "When the Saints." Guess what? ALL that stuff is available here, in nice sound considering the age of some tunes, and with a nice booklet.

Iam new to jazz and I love this cd!It has all his big hits.It's like listening to the history of Louie Armstrong through his trumpet and words.You can tell he had a vision of jazz music and that is through his trumpet.He lived to play even when he took ill,What an amazing performer!He seen that vision when he sang WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD,That song can still move me to tears.A song he sang of a beautiful world which it fits perfectly in a not so perfect world.Listen to the best he has to offer and you'll be saying LONG LIVE POPS.

I always have considered myself a jazz fan, untill I bought Ken Burns film Jazz. There was so much that I didn't know about the genre and felt awful for calling myself a fan. But since then my jazz collection has grown and this album is the first one in the jazz section. This album pin points great moment's of Armstrong's carrer, from the Hot Seven to Hello Dolly. Some of the greatest cuts from jazz can be found on this disc. I promise you, this CD will not let you down.

My top 5:
West End Blues
Chinatown, My Chinatown
Mack the knive
Stardust
Heebie Jeebies

It doesn't take much to convince someone why Louis Armstrong is probably the greatest American musician of all time, but this CD would be a great place to start the process.

This CD encompasses much of Armstrong's long career. There are songs from his Hot 5 sessions (considered his best period by some critics), and most of his big hits are here: "Hello, Dolly" and the posthumous hit "What A Wonderful World" (which surprisingly doesn't include his trademark trumpet). "Cake Walking Babies", despite the lyrics that need translation, swings to an intense degree; "Black and Blue" talks about racial issues; "When it's Sleepy Time Down South" encompasses some of the stereotypes of the entertainment of Armstrong's time; "When the Saints Go Marching In" will have even the most concrete of curmudgeons singing and flailing. All of the music here is of an exceptional quality.

Some obvious ommissions are songs from what many consider his best work: "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy" from 1954. Understandably, a career with such breadth as Armstrong's cannot be summed up on a single CD; there's simply too much great work.

This CD is a great place to start learning about one of America's greatest musicians and entertainers ever.

For all intents and purposes, JAZZ begins with LOUIS "SATCHMO" (short for "Satchel Mouth") ARMSTRONG. It is impossible to overestimate his importance in American music. It is he who is responsible for transforming the musical genre into a virtuoso soloist's improvisational medium. It was SATCHMO who invented the vocal "scatting" technique ('HEEBIE JEEBIES') which has been employed at one time or another (with varying degrees of success) by nearly every Jazz vocalist since. It was SATCHMO who opened the door for the singers from every genre whose voices may have necessarily substituted "uniqueness" for classic purity and polished tones. And as far as I know, SATCHMO was the first to conceive of a "battle" between two musical instruments ('CHINATOWN, MY CHINATOWN').

ARMSTRONG was unquestionably a musical genius; years ahead of the Jazz curve, and an ideal ambassador for this genuinely American form of music.

What makes this set the perfect choice for the Armstrong initiate, or the person who simply wants the best overview of Satchmo's genius on one disc, is the fact that at 78 minutes, it samples his entire career, from his most innovative early period (1920s & '30s) to his mainstream Pop masterpieces from the 1940s through '60s.

Here you'll find most of the highlights like the raucous, CAKE WALKIN' BABIES and the trendsetting, POTATO HEAD BLUES and WEST END BLUES, to his personally-branded covers of American standards like AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' and WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHIN' IN (which he humorously introduces as a Sunday sermon from "The Reverend Satchmo.") Naturally, anyone who is a longtime Armstrong fan will bemoan one or two favorites omitted from this set (for me, it's BIG BUTTER AND EGG MAN and his emotionally heart-wrenching, MOON RIVER), but honestly, you can't really argue with the playlist; it's largely right on target.

Louis was the preeminent purveyor of instrumental Jazz during the 1920s and the early '30s. He began to focus on his Jazz vocals of standards in the late '30s and inspired many singers in his wake. By the '50s he had applied his distinctive gravelly voice to contemporary Pop songs and his career seriously flagged as the "purists" dismissed him as a sellout to commercialism and turned to more freeform Jazz explorations. But with an undiminished love for playing and entertaining audiences, SATCHMO continued doggedly to tour and record, and unexpectedly scored a #1 Billboard hit in 1964 with 'HELLO, DOLLY!' Suddenly he was rediscovered by the Jazzworld and was once again selling plenty of records and enjoying the praises of fellow musicians and critics who recognized his most highly esteemed place in the annals of music.

How evocative is Satchmo's music? Consider this : In 1980, Woody Allen made a film called, STARDUST MEMORIES, the defining scene of which manifested late in the movie when an ostensibly dead Sandy Bates (Allen) realizes that the most profound moment of his chaotic & celebrated life was nothing more than a simple minute or two in which he contentedly watched his girlfriend read a book while his record player serenaded them with Lous Armstrong's version of 'STAR DUST.'

Only a few years later, Satchmo's, 'WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD' (appropriately, the best song to come out of the embarrassing "Summer Of Love" - 1967) was used as the soundtrack for a montage of human experiences shown to a womb-clinging, reluctant Baby Addison (Bruce Willis) in an episode of MOONLIGHTING. It was a perfect melding of image & song. An underappreciated, but nonetheless brilliant TV moment!

That's the kind of inspiration that Satchmo's music can instill. It has thrilled awestruck musicians, successful filmmakers, and just regular folk like us. (In fact, one of the several nicknames I've had in my life was "Trummy", based on Trummy Young, Armstrong's late-period trombone player.) In some states, rightly so, there are laws on the books making it illegal not to own at least one LOUIS ARMSTRONG collection. Why risk jail when such a good one can be had at the click of a button?

No single CD can adequately summarize the artistry of the great Louis Armstrong but this one comes the closest. It contains some of his most significant recordings from 1923 through 1967 and covers almost every phase of his career.
The collection begins with Satchmo's groundbreaking jazz recordings from the 1920s and progresses through his long career as one of the world's most beloved entertainers.
For those who wish to have only one Louis Armstrong CD this is the one to get. For those who already have an Armstrong collection, a more essential and diverse complilation of Armstrong recordings on one disc will be hard to find.

We've just started listening to jazz and found this Louis Arstrong collection to be a fantastic way to get started.

It's been said that Armstrong "taught the world to swing". It's true for us. Every tract on this Cd pulses with energy! We purchased the CD for It's a Wonderful World, and found ourselves "grooving" to every song.

My personal favorite is Shadrack. With this song, I don't know if I,m in Sunday School or the dance hall. Either way this collection is great fun and appropriate for all ages.

I might add that the Amazon price is several dollars better than hat I paid at a local bookstore.