Louis Armstrong: Potato Head Blues

Track

Potato Head Blues

Group

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven

CD

The Hot Fives & Hot Sevens (Columbia 44253)

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Musicians:

Louis Armstrong (trumpet), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Hardin (piano), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), Baby Dodds (drums),

John Thomas (trombone), Pete Briggs (tuba)

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Composed by Louis Armstrong

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Recorded: Chicago, May 10, 1927

Albumcoverlouisarmstrong-portraitoftheartistasayoungman-1923-1934

Rating: 100/100 (learn more)

In the 1890s, architect Louis Sullivan perceived that switching from masonry to steel-frame construction required an equally transformative aesthetic. The new methods and materials of modern high-rise skylines rendered historical design styles obsolete. In the 1920s, also in Chicago, another Louis similarly redrew America's musical landscape. Whereas Sullivan's triumph was the skyscraper, Armstrong's was the solo. This track finds him in mid-revolution, before his less visionary accompanists could adjust. With strumming banjo, oompah tuba, and strident, herky-jerky clarinet as flimsy foundation, Armstrong's trumpet rises as prodigiously as a gleaming girder amidst the crumbling masonry. Jazz would never be the same.

Reviewer: Alan Kurtz

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  • 1 Jason Lobe // Feb 27, 2009 at 03:27 PM
    It was very informational!
  • 2 Brandon Grace // Feb 27, 2009 at 03:28 PM
    It was great!