Customer Reviews

Louis Armstrong - The Hot Fives - Volume 1

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This collection shows what happens when a musician has both the genius and the skill to redefine not only music, but also the way you can look at the world. I love the older Pops, but this stuff, this is transcendental. These are fugues from the delta, the voices of fertility gods telling you to get it going. This is sweet and this is fun.

Miles Davis once said that nobody has played anything that Louis Armstrong didn't play first. Dizzy Gillespie said that all horn players should get on their knees and thank Pops. I even heard some author compare Pops to Albert Einstein (he must have been reading, or wrote, Art and Physics) Louis Armstrong deserves incredible respect for his trumpet playing (personally, as a horn player, I hold him in awe)in addition to the affection he enjoyed for his personality.

What more can be said about probably the most important recordings in the history of jazz. Without these sides, jazz may never have been given the respect, and certainly not the monetary backing, that it received going into the late '20's. Seminal is the only word I know to describe these recordings. Along with Volume 2: The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, this summarizes Pops' early career and shows very clearly where he came from and why he became the star he was.

This music is sheer joy, as Armstrong showcases his formidable talents, charisma, and passion while stretching the parameters of the genre. Kid Ory and the band are outstanding. Toss this in on Sunday morning and smile right into the afternoon.

THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL RECORDINGS THAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG MADE FRONTING HIS OWN BAND AND THEY ARE QUITE SIMPLY, THE STARTING POINT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE IN JAZZ THAT WAS TO FOLLOW. ARMSTRONG WAS SUCH A POWERFUL PERFORMER, HAD SUCH GREAT CHOPS, THAT HE TURNED AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC ON ITS' EAR WHEN THESE RECORDINGS WERE MADE. SO MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT SATCHMO AND HIS INFLUENCE ON MUSIC, HE WAS PROBABLY THE 20TH CENTURY'S MOST IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL MUSICIAN AND THAT'S SAYING A LOT.

Get over the bad sound quality and you're going to love this album. This is Louis at his best. I prefer his earlier works to his later ones because they seem more lively, but that is just my opinion. Even if you like later works better, there's still no reason you shouldn't buy this album. Its got the first good scat recording on "Heebie Jeebies", which is a riot to listen to, and a host of other hilarious songs. Not a very serious, heartfelt album, but that's why I love it. If you have a preconceived image of Louie as singing only loving soft jazz songs such as "What a Wonderful World", I suggest you listen to this album, because it has nothing like that. What it does have is wild dance songs such as "Oriental Strut" and one crazy tune with Jamaican voice-overs, "King of the Zulus". A truly wonderful album and an essential for all lovers of early jazz.

This superb set captures Armstrong at a critical point in his artistic evolution,-having served his apprenticeship in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in 1923,he first lit a fire at the trumpet chair in Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra the following year and then he played and recorded with small combos with the likes of Sidney Bechet and Clarence Williams and now in 1925 he leads his own combo of all-stars.There is nothing negative to be said about this CD,unless you wish to quibble over the sound,which is low-fi compared to more recent releases in box sets but I much prefer the warmer,rounder tone of this CD;in a similar vein,there is nothing negative to say about the MUSIC on this CD either - this is prime classic jazz at its very finest,from the polyphonic brilliance of "My Heart" to the darting playfulness of "Big Fat Ma And Skinny Pa" and "King Of The Zulus",here was a major musical genius just beginning to stretch his legs.An essential buy,darn the sound quality its perfectly great sounding on my player!

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It's a shame that these Columbia classics are discontinued, for they are very well done. There's little I can add about these first sides from Louis Armstrong's Hot Five - classic, unforgettable music that changed jazz soloing for all time. From the early classics like "Cornet Chop Suey" and "Heebie Jeebies" to the lesser known gems like "You're Next" and "Yes! I'm In The Barrel", it's all here. There are excellent examples of Louis' early jazz singing along the way ( "Georgia Grind", "I'm Gonna Gitcha", and of course "Heebie Jeebies", which introduced scat singing to a national audience ).
A definite must for anyone's classic jazz collection.

Yeah, audiophiles won't dig the sound (hey, this was the 20s, remember?). But if you get past that, this CD is full of FUN! "Heebie Jeebies" was quite influential in it's day, today it's a good way to make you smile. "Big Fat Ma and Skinny Pa" sounds like the soundtrack to a late 20s-early 30s cartoon. One can easily imagine the goings-on that this tune desribes (as is also the case with "Georgia Grind." Satch's first recorded vocal, "Gut Bucket Blues" where he enthusiastically cheers his comrades on, reminds you of the "shout outs" on modern rap songs. "You're Next" is an uncharacteristically moody piece from this era, with an interesting classical piano intro from Lil Armstrong. So DAMN the poor sound. Imagine that grandpa and grandma are crankin' up the old victrola and have a ball!

Whoever remastered this collection obviously thought that old records should sound OLD, and by george, that's what he gave us. Everything here sounds like it's played on great-grandma's windup Victrola as heard over a telephone circa 1910. It's totally inexcusable--all these sides were recorded electrically, and so should sound like *music*. As presented here, you can't even hear half of what was going on.

I was about to toss this CD, but I decided to see if it was salvageable. Seventy minutes later, I finished remastering it to sound like real people playing real instruments, and finally I can hear why Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives set the jazz world on fire.

Too bad Columbia Records couldn't be bothered to spend an extra hour and 10 minutes on producing this CD.