Customer Reviews

Louis Armstrong - Greatest Hits

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Louis Armstrong - Greatest Hits put out by RCA Victor gives us a solid assortment of numbers by the immortal Louis Armstrong. The sound quality is really rather good; and the artwork is excellent.

The track set opens with "Sugar" performed by Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven band. The quality of the sound surprises me considering the age of the recording. Louis sings this to perfection and beyond; and his buddies play so well. I think "Sugar" makes a great starting track for this album. "St. Louis Blues" does have a bit of surface noise; but it doesn't interfere with the sound of the music. Louis wails out great and this number really jams! The trumpet playing Louis adds to "St. Louis Blues" really impresses me--but, then again, was there ever a time when Louis Armstrong disappointed anyone?

"I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues" features some more great singing by the great Louis Armstrong; and the melody is beautiful. The brass enhances the number so well; and this number holds its own effortlessly. "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues" is definitely a highlight of this CD. Listen also for "Ain't Misbehavin';" this W.C. Handy number sparkles like gold when Louis and his buddies perform this flawlessly. Together Louis and his band bat "Ain't Misbehavin'" straight out of the ballpark! It's an awesome number that I always liked because it's so playful.

"Mood Indigo" is a more recent recording that features Louis squarely in the spotlight--and this comes off without a hitch! There's a beautiful arrangement for the flute that rounds out the musical arrangement very nicely. I love how Louis sings those lyrics for "Mood Indigo."

"My One And Only Love" again places Louis in the spotlight; and the lush musical arrangement works wonders for this ballad. Louis delivers this love song with panache and it's a very memorable tune. The CD also ends very nicely with Louis on "What A Wonderful World." This rendition of "What a Wonderful World" has a spoken introduction; and this ballad was easily a huge hit for Louis in the later years of his career. It's a very sweet, optimistic ballad; and it leaves you wanting more. Don't be surprised if you find yourself pushing the "play" button on your CD player to listen to this one all over again!

Louis Armstrong fans will appreciate this album without any doubt; and people who like classic jazz vocals and even classic pop vocals will love this CD, too.

I bought this cd because I was looking for the best version of "West End Blues", and this one is definitely the best for me. I had the same one in a CD called "1 heure avec Louis Armstrong", which I lost and I wanted to have again. But I guess that CD is out of print because I have searched it over and over and never found it again. I simply adore this version of "West End Blues", it's really worth the price of the CD. It was recorded at a concert in Milan in 1955. The liner notes says it's an "exceptional performance", and you bet it is. Though it's not flawlessly recorded (lot's of applause at the beginning and at the end, like some other guy said in these reviews), you can appreciate a slower, better and more mature version than the one you can find on the majority of the other Satchmo's collections (I guess that one is from the 30's). His trumpet at its max, the trombone at its best, and the piano solo is simply taken out of heaven. This song reminds me of my childhood, my mom playing it over and over again in our old tape stereo. I can assure this song made me love jazz the way I do.

There are several Armstrong Greatest Hits albums and even an "All Time Greatest Hits", which I also own. Apparently some of the reviewers are confused because they are mentioning songs that aren't on this album. This one has 13 songs, which of course doesn't begin to cover all of Satchmo's hits, but compared to All Time Greatest Hits, which has 18 songs, I enjoyed this one much more. Never was a big fan of Armstrong; his unique voice takes some getting used to. In spite of that, I found this album very entertaining and do feel that it represents enough of his best hits to really get a feel for what he was all about. Anyone who appreciates good music should enjoy this album very much. I believe it was Armstrong when asked about differents kinds of music said: There are only two kinds: good and bad. Louis Armstrong definately performed the good kind of music. I particular enjoyed "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans". In the thousands of tracks of music that I own, it's the only vocal I have of that song and it's a good one.

My granddaughter found a card for my birthday that played "What a Wonderful Day". It brought back so many memories. I loved his songs and had just forgotten how much I missed hearing them. So I went right on Amazon and got two CDs of his music. He is funny, gentle and just good to listen to. It did have a "jazzed up" version of "Georgia". I didn't like that one. I like the original "Georgia". But the rest of the CD makes up for that.

I bought this for my mom, she really enjoyed the old tunes. The seller delivered as promised.

My cousin who is a fan of Amstrong music was very but very happy.
He loved the record.

Thank you

ALL TIME BEST OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG (aka Louis Armstrong's Greatest Hits) includes the original KAPP singles of "Hello Dolly" and "What A Wonderful World." These and three other tracks come from the MCA archives. The other six songs here, CAPITOL recordings all, have Satchmo in tandem with Bing Crosby. Conspicuously missing are "Mack The Knife" and "A Kiss To Build A Dream On." A one-page bio rounds out this budget package, which has fine audio fidelity throughout.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 31:14

Louis Armstrong re-recorded his hits for so many different labels over his 50-year career that any label could cobble a "greatest hits" from what they had available. RCA Victor's version, part of a jazz introduction series, states on the back cover that its material was recorded from "January 1933 - May 1970," eras wide-ranging and near cariacture as Al Hirschfeld's unflattering drawing on the CD cover.

You get electrifying versions of "Basin Street Blues," "St. Louis Blues," and a hits medley from his first decade recording, all scatting and swinging manically nearly 70 years later. Then to All-Star recordings (1947's swinging "Sugar," and "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Someday You'll Be Sorry," a sweet "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans") and, finally, four unusually compelling songs recorded just over a year before his death (busy, adult soul versions of "Everybody's Talkin'," "Mood Indigo" and "My One And Only Love.") No liner notes, photographs, or even a chronological order to the songs, just compiler Chick Crumpacker's tribute putting Armstrong "at the absolute center of American popular music."

The final song is a remake of what today is Armstrong's signature hit, "What A Wonderful World," preceded with a moving introduction. "People say to me, 'Pops, how can you call this a wonderful world? How about all those wars all over the place...and hunger, and pollution...you call that wonderful?" he starts in that beloved growl. "...but if we all learned to love each other, we could solve more problems, and then life would be a gasser!"

This may have been what Mahalia Jackson meant when she said, "If you don't like Louis Armstrong, you don't know how to love." Despite scattershot song choice and skimpy packaging, the inherent love "Satchmo" gave and was returned shows all too well here. RCA's "Greatest Hits" is recommended, but also check out similar packages on Verve ("Essential," "Best of Ella & Louis") and the Columbia greatest hits collection spotlighting the early years.

I can't get too attached to any of the mountain of Louis Armstrong Greatest Hits packages, which all seem to feel a need to grab sides from all over his half-century+ long career, and this one isn't a whole lot better than the rest.

Armstrong plays great, as always, and the song selection is OK, if you're looking for familiar tunes. But none of his truly great stuff is here. These are live versions, and they aren't all well-recorded. "Cabaret," for instance, has some kind of synch problem that makes you feel as if someone is turning your bass/treble knob back and forth. On "Blueberry Hill" you can hear somebody mumbling at several points. Also, the producer evidently had never heard of that modern recording breakthrough, the VOLUME KNOB. If he had, he would have faded the tunes in and out, rather than going from dead silence to a roaring crowd in a split second, as he does on virtually every tune here.

"Muskrat Ramble," the oldest recording here, is the best performance, and the best recording, on the disk, though even it sounds like a copy of a copy of a copy of the original master recording.

By the way, the reviewer who complemented a version of ""Wonderful World" must have been referring to a different record. "Wonderful World" does not appear on this CD.

While the product was unavailable, I was most impressed with the prompt and personal emails from Colleen, which is deserving of 5 stars.