Louis Armstrong: The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966

  The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966 collects studio tracks from the tail end of Armstrong’s RCA contract in the late Forties including two All Star sessions in 1947 with Jack Teagarden in the group, three Columbia albums (Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy and Satch Plays Fats, both recorded in 1955, and The Real Ambassadors, his collaboration with Dave Brubeck in 1961), plus some Columbia singles, highlighted by versions of Mack the Knife with and without Lotte Lenya. Add in a slew of alternate takes, breakdowns, and inserts, and it amounts to seven CDs of jazz joy, Satchmo style. While there are a few clunkers I could mention, like the 1959 Remington razor promotion Music To Shave By (!), Armstrong manages to bring at least a spark of interest to the even the most awkward situations. By this period, Armstrong had been a star for decades. That created a problem for record companies, trying to figure out what to do that he hadn’t already done to perfection. To these ears, the Fats Waller and W.C. Handy tributes represent the pinnacle of Armstrong’s work in his later years, and I don’t think too many fans would disagree. The other major production, The Real Ambassadors, a work of Fifties-era liberalism with lyrics by Iola Brubeck has its following, and still holds some cultural interest. But the dated vocal stylings of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross really sink this one for me. 

Louis Armstrong’s fabulous trumpet and inimitable vocals are, of course, the stars of the show, but he had a real champion and non-playing co-star in producer George Avakian, who was responsible for suggesting the Waller and Handy sets to Columbia and Armstrong. Of the three main producers represented in this compilation, Avakian, Leonard Feather on some of the RCA material, and Teo Macero, who did The Real Ambassadors, clearly it was Avakian who had the best sense of matching Armstrong with suitable material. And as Ricky Riccardi, Director of the Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and a co-producer of this box set, writes, from “listening to the session tapes, it’s clear that Armstrong had the most fun when Avakian was behind the glass” in the control room. There’s plenty of evidence of that good feeling in the copious outtakes included here. To the eternal credit of Mosaic’s Scott Wenzel and co-compilers Riccardi, Richie Noorigian, and David Ostwald, the original LP sequences of the three LPs have been preserved with alternates and breakdowns arranged in the same sequence afterwards. There are times when you really want to hear five takes of Aunt Hagar’s Blues or two attempts at Honeysuckle Rose in a row, because it’s deeply instructive about Armstrong and Avakian’s creative process. More often, though, you’ll just want to sit back and hear the album as it was released. Avakian is also revealed to have been a superb tape editor in the era of sharp knives and splicing tape, as well as a pioneer in the use of overdubbing. The most remarkable thing is how much work it took to make it all sound like it was no work at all. Just listen to the rehearsal takes and inserts for Mack the Knife to get a real sense of how Avakian, Armstrong, Lotte Lenya and the All Stars interacted in the studio in order to get it right. Even with nearly half an hour included in this set, the complete discographical information tells us that there are still more bits and pieces that remains unissued. And all just for a single.

In addition to the discographical data, the 44-page booklet includes Riccardi’s extensive and informative session notes and a selection of photographs mostly taken at the recording sessions. There also shots of Armstrong’s lyric sheet for Mack the Knife and the Music To Shave By cardboard disc. The 24-bit technology used throughout the production process really makes the music sparkle. It’s impossible not to recommend a collection that includes two absolute masterpieces in Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy and Satch Plays Fats, especially with so much previously unissued material from these sessions, so go to www.mosaicrecords.com and get one of the 3,500 sets in this limited edition while you can. 

Mosaic MD7-270; Disc 1, The RCA Victor Singles, 77:53; Disc 2, The RCA Victor Columbia Singles, 79:53; Disc 3, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Master LP & Alternates), 79:40; Disc 4, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Alternates), 76:49; Disc 5, Satch Plays Fats (Master LP & Alternates), 78:46; Disc 6, Satch Plays Fats (Alternates) & The Real Ambassadors (Master LP), 76:30; Disc 7, The Real Ambassadors (Singles & Alternates), 75:37. For full discographical information, go here.