Louis Armstrong: West End Blues
Track
West End Blues
Group
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
CD
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: 1923-1934 (Sony/Legacy 57175)
Musicians:
Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocals), Fred Robinson (trombone), Jimmy Strong (clarinet), Earl Hines (piano), Mancy Carr (banjo), Zutty Singleton (drums).
Recorded: Chicago, June 28, 1928
Rating: 100/100 (learn more)
"I felt," said trumpeter Max Kaminsky after hearing Louis Armstrong's leadoff cadenza, "as if I had stared into the sun's eye." He wasn't alone. Two weeks earlier, Louis's mentor King Oliver recorded this tribute to a cherished venue along New Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain. Nobody was blinded. But Armstrong switched from cornet—better suited to traditional ensemble jazz—to the more penetrating trumpet, and with his newfound clarion dominance set off a solar flare that dazzles to this day. By itself, either Louis's wordless vocal obbligato behind Strong or Hines's solo would make this track memorable. The trumpeter makes it immortal.
Reviewer: Alan Kurtz
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Tags: 1920s jazz · new orleans jazz · trumpet
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