The Great Summit

Artistas: Louis Armstrong

LP
1
37027

€12.39

THE JEAN-PIERRE LELOIR COLLECTION

180 pure virgin vinyl LPs in Gatefold packaging

INCLUDES 1 BONUS TRACK

As the original album’s title indicates, "Together for the First Time" marked the first collaborative album by the legendary jazz giants Louis Armstrong and DukeEllington. By the time the LP was recorded in 1961, both musicians had already enjoyed long and prosperous careers and had known each other for decades.

These sessions, however, are the only ones that capture them truly interacting together. The album was warmly received at the time of its release, with Down Beat giving it a rating of four and a half stars. ““We have A&R man Bob Thiele and Roulette to thank for what is the most inspired Armstrong record performance since the W.C. Handy session for Columbia a few years ago”, wrote Don DeMicheal, who added that: “Most of the credit for the quality of the date, however, must go to Ellington, whose presence evidently brought out the creative powers that Armstrong still possesses. Ellington is playing better now than he has ever before. A successful album, a good turn that deserves another.” The album has since been given a five-star rating in All Music Guide.

PERSONNEL:

LOUIS ARMSTRONG, vocals & trumpet
DUKE ELLINGTON, piano
TRUMMY YOUNG, trombone
BARNEY BIGARD, clarinet
MORT HERBERT, bass
DANNY BARCELONA, drums

New York, April 3 & 4, 1961.

(*) BONUS TRACK (B6):
Louis Armstrong (vcl) with Russell Garcia’s Orchestra:
Frank Beach, Buddy Childers, Cappy Lewis (tp),
Milt Bernhart, Marshall Cram, James Henderson, Lloyd Ulyate (tb),
Vincent DeRosa (frh), Paul Smith (p), Tony Rizzi (g),
Joe Mondragon (b), Alvin Stoller (d), Russ Garcia (arr, cond).
Los Angeles, August 14, 1957.

SIDE A:

01 DUKE’S PLACE
02 I’M JUST A LUCKY SO AND SO
03 COTTONTAIL
04 MOOD INDIGO
05 DO NOTHIN’ TILL YOU HEAR FROM ME

SIDE B:

01 THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN
02 BLACK AND TAN FANTASY
03 DROP ME OFF IN HARLEM
04 THE MOOCHE
05 IN A MELLOW TONE
06 DO NOTHIN’ TILL YOU HEAR FROM ME (*)

(*) BONUS TRACK

Format: LP
Discs: 1
Label code: 37027

Reference LPS 149125

Louis Armstrong

In every jazz collection, and even for any jazzman in training or already consecrated, the name of Louis Armstrong is placed on the podium of the most important artists of the genre from its beginnings to the present day

And the fact is that Satchmo and Pops, as he was also known, left a legacy as a trumpeter and singer of the most unique, turning jazz, which was considered a dance music rhythm, into a consolidated artistic manifestation.

Who is not moved when listening to Louis Armstrong: What a wonderful world? And if you get to see him sing this song, where Louis seems to embody with his heartbreaking voice and his eloquent teeth every sound, every word, every feeling... Is it possible not to take a leap in time and be enraptured by his music? It is totally worthwhile to know him, to have his music, to leave him in a privileged place in our musical preferences. Louis Armstrong 1920s and other years surprised us with his art.

BIOGRAPHY

The story of Louis Armstrong (Trumpet, vocalist, cornet) is the classic tale of the child who grows up in poverty, commits petty crimes and is a victim of racial segregation, only to be saved and redeemed by his talents, in this case his musical talent. So this man is born in a New Orleans slum and after being abandoned by his father and left in the care of his grandmother, he suddenly finds himself working for a family of Lithuanian Jews, the Karnofskys, who took the boy as a member of their family.

The Karnofskys were decisive in the life of little Louis. For some reason they insisted on strengthening his taste for music, keeping him away from the problems of the street. Even when Armstrong was summoned by music, the same family gave him his first trumpet.

For Louis Armstrong, "jazz" was just a word he heard from the New Orleans brass bands. He learned to play the cornet in the reformatory, with the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs band, and when he left there, after doing all kinds of jobs, he managed to get into cabarets in Storyville where nightclubs abounded. He then managed to meet the renowned cornetist Joe King Oliver, his instrumental master and almost father, as he later considered him.

Like many musicians, Louis Armstrong (Satchmo) migrated to Chicago to join King Oliver's Creole Jazz band and then moved to New York, where he came to the attention of Fletcher Henderson, who hired him in his orchestra. It was in New York where Louis switched to the trumpet, debuted with it at the Roseland Ballroom and revolutionized jazz with a unique and innovative style, until he achieved the prestige that accompanied him for the rest of his life.

MUSICAL INFLUENCES

In music, popularity is synonymous with innovation and Louis Armstrong was, above all, an innovator. It can be said that his entry into the American Jazz scene is part of the invention of jazz singing, supported by his marvelous capacity for melodic improvisation and his talent for scat, improvisation of nonsense syllables.

Names such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, are an example of the repertoire of musicians who were influenced by Louis. His legacy and musical contributions left an indelible mark on the jazz voices and bands that emerged after his appearance. In fact, after Louis Armstrong, the trumpet became a solo instrument, a participation that only served to accompany the rest of the orchestra's performances.

COLLABORATORS IN PERFORMANCE

The stars who collaborated with Louis Armstrong: Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith, Bing Crosby, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Rodgers... In the case of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, both recorded three important albums: "Porgy and Bess", "Ella and Louis Again" and "Ella and Louis".

Other collaborations also include the participation of the film industry in the projection and promotion of Louis Armstrong's music. Films such as Good Morning, Twelve Monkeys and James Bond On Her Majesty 's Secret Service; Hello, Dolly; A son is born and High Society are part of the tapes that helped immortalize this New Orleans figure.

DISCOGRAPHY

A total of 31 albums were recorded by Louis Armstrong, although some of them were shared with other jazz stars.

Meet his most important repertoire in chronological order of appearance, given its relevance in terms of music and popularity:

1923: Clarence Williams' Blue Five (CSB)

1928: Hot Fives And Sevens, Vol. 3 (JSP)

1931: Stardust (Portrait)

1956: Ella and Louis (Polygram Records)

1956: High society

1957: Porgy & Bess (Polygram Records)

1957: Ella and Louis Again (Polygram Records)

1957: Meets Oscar Peterson

1960: Happy Birthday, Louis! Armstrong & His All-Stars (Omega)

1961: The Great Summit

1962: The Real Ambassadors W/ Dave Brubeck

1963: Hello, Dolly! (Mca)

1968: What a Wonderful World (ABC Records)

1968: Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (Disney)

1969: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Capitol).

MOST FAMOUS SONG

Among the undisputed hits of this jazzman are: "Louis Armstrong: Hello, Dolly", the classic Louis Armstrong music: "What a Wonderful World", and productions such as: "We Have All the Time in the World", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Stardust", "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Stompin' at the Savoy", "Ain't Misbehavin", "La vie en rose", "Summertime", "Mack the Knife".

Then of course there are the songs with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, and the classics recorded with his old mentor Joe Oliver. Even the song "Melancholy Blues", performed by Louis and Hot Seven, is currently traveling in space, inside the Voyager space probe, as part of the most precious human creations collected by the spacecraft, in case it ever has an encounter with other civilizations.