tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73236430899044004432024-03-12T20:29:08.169-04:00The Wonderful World of Louis ArmstrongA celebration of Louis Armstrong's life and music, one song and video at a time. Ohhhhh yeah!Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.comBlogger743125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-45243632752436230802021-03-23T10:21:00.004-04:002021-03-29T14:36:19.845-04:00In Loving Memory of Jack BradleyThe ranks are thinning, my friends. And the world just got a whole lot less fun. Jack Bradley has left us, passing away on March 21 at the age of 87. I've had less than a day to process the news but mentally, I'm already planning a series of tributes on the Louis Armstrong House Museum's "That's My Home" virtual exhibit site, as well as on social media. I know Jack's close friend Mick CarlonRicky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-34313581564449496862021-02-26T09:05:00.001-05:002021-02-26T09:05:21.386-05:00Handy and Fats: 1954/1955 vs. 1986 vs. 1997 vs. 2000 vs. 2021This is a post for what I'm sure is a limited audience: discographical junkies and Armstrong nuts who have purchased every official reissue of Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy and Satch Plays Fats in the C.D. and digital era. Of course, with my recent forays into nearly half-hour long videos on edits and splices, I'd say I'm already aiming at a niche market, thus, I might as well go all theRicky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-70934812970726340062021-02-18T22:04:00.001-05:002021-02-18T22:04:56.036-05:00Behind the Scenes Videos - "Mack the Knife" and "Blue Turning Grey Over You"We're getting closer by the minute to the April 10 release of The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Recordings 1946-66 by the good folks of Mosaic Records. Earlier this month, I posted three videos of me discussing the minutia of set, explaining some of the crazy amounts of splicing and editing and discographcial detective work that went into putting the set together.Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-27156156993584781872021-02-06T16:03:00.001-05:002021-02-06T16:03:28.277-05:00Behind the Scenes Videos - The Mosaic Way!Last week, I nearly exploded with glee on this here blog when given the green light to finally announce the new 7-CD Mosaic Records boxed set, The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Recordings, 1946-1966, due out April 10. The reception has been gratifying to say the least. Look at that cover again--it's a beaut!Co-producer Scott Wenzel, a Mosaic legend, has called this Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-20131527183231615032021-01-31T12:46:00.001-05:002021-01-31T12:46:58.305-05:00New Mosaic Records Louis Armstrong Set Up For Pre-Order! Behold!Due out April 10!Read all about it in this terrific Lydia Liebman press release HERE.Then head over to Mosaic Records's website and pre-order it HERE. I don't know what to say next. Part of me is so elated and exhausted, I'm just tempted to stop here and go hibernate until the set shows up at my front door in April. But needless to say, this set was a very personal project and Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-68463420530534209862020-10-09T00:00:00.001-04:002020-10-09T10:49:49.535-04:0025 Years Ago.....It all started 25 years ago today....I think. Well, in all truthfulness, the events of August and September 1995 are almost just as important as what happened on this date. For those unfamiliar with my "origin story," in the late summer of 1995, I was going through phases of watching both Woody Allen and James Stewart movies (for someone born in 1980, I might have been the only 15-year-old going Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-83064614921969796682020-10-07T20:41:00.002-04:002020-10-08T09:10:51.673-04:00Hooey About Louis: The "Jazz World" vs. Louis ArmstrongThis is a post I've thought
about doing for several years but never had the energy to put together, mostly
because it consists of ground already covered in my two books. However, I think
the time is right to run with it because of Michael Ullman's review of my new
book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong,
received last week in ArtsFuse. Let me get all Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-37802407216190282832020-10-03T00:00:00.002-04:002020-10-03T00:00:04.495-04:00Pops, The King of Pop: Putting Louis Armstrong in Context 1935-1947 Last week, I shared my Spotify and Apple Music playlists that attempted to put Louis Armstrong's 1929-1934 output in the context of revolutionizing more than just jazz, but popular music as a whole. The goal was to illustrate how Armstrong transformed the same songs and arrangements utilized by many of the white popular dance orchestras and crooners into the swinging embodiment of Black Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-24002058370527442772020-09-27T10:13:00.004-04:002020-09-27T10:13:42.070-04:00Pops, The King of Pop: Putting Louis Armstrong In Context 1929-1934My book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, has been out for about a month now and I've been extremely gratified by the initial reactions coming in from friends around the world. JazzTimes ran a lengthy excerpt in its latest issue and I've done interviews about it with Library Journal, Josh Jackson of WRTI, on Marcus Smith's radio show Constant Wonder andRicky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-57265473981515979472020-09-01T15:00:00.001-04:002020-09-01T15:00:00.007-04:00Heart Full of Rhythm: Soundtrack to a Book It is September 1 meaning today is the official U. S. release date for my new book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. Hallelujah!With friends writing in to let me know that their copies are on the way, I thought I'd cobble together some playlists to make it easier to listen along while you read. If you're still clinging to physical media, it's actually not too Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-12659192826322665542020-08-06T10:25:00.000-04:002020-08-06T10:25:07.799-04:00"Heart Full of Rhythm" - An UpdateThe hardcover edition of my new book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, is still due to be delivered on September 1, but I'm thrilled to announce the it is available as an ebook NOW! This even caught me by surprise, but I happy it's out there. Personally, I'm a purist and don't believe I've ever purchased an ebook, but I know it's how a lot of folks read in the 21st Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-40494390538188069802020-07-13T07:33:00.000-04:002020-07-13T07:33:26.358-04:0013 Year Anniversary, That's My Home, Heart Full of Rhythm (and Other Dispatches From a Pandemic)13 years ago today, I finished a day of painting houses outside in the sweltering heat, came home, kissed my wife hello, plopped down and wrote my very first blog, I was full of ideas about Louis Armstrong but with a book proposal routinely getting rejected and stuck painting houses for a living (armed with a master's degree), I figured a blog was the way to go in those days just before social Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-46670333355509752082020-04-17T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-17T00:00:01.819-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Will You, Won't You Be My Baby / Song of the VipersWe've come to the finale--for now--of "Six Minutes With Satch." I've had a ball and it's been gratifying getting so much positive feedback on social media about these daily posts. But as many of you might now know (especially if you read the Washington Post this week), I'm currently devoting much of my time to curating content for the brand new That's My Home virtual exhibit page Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-62147904703161172132020-04-16T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-16T00:00:04.160-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: On the Sunny Side of the Street Parts 1 and 2After yesterday's marathon post on "Super Tiger Rag" and two takes of "St. Louis Blues," I can relax and cover a single song today, Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields's 1930 composition, "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Newspapers report Armstrong performing it in a revue at Connie's Inn in late 1932 with Chick Webb's Orchestra; his concept must have made an impression on Taft Jordan, who joined Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-57716188989151857202020-04-15T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-15T00:00:00.429-04:00Six....Actually Nine Minutes With Satch: St. Louis Blues / Tiger Rag / Saint Louis BluesOn November 7, 1934, Louis Armstrong recorded six numbers for French Brunswick, all of which pulled almost immediately because he was still under contract to RCA Victor. They eventually saw the light of day on a Vox album in 1947 but still aren't very well known; in fact, the three selections I'm covering today are on none of the streaming sites! I did a series on all these sides back in 2014 (Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-90382660669778879962020-04-14T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-14T00:00:05.065-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Swing, You Cats / SnowballWe've reached the end of Armstrong's RCA Victor/Bluebird period, but I'll admit up front that this whole post is something of an anomaly. For one thing, it includes a repeated song in "Snowball," which I already blogged about here. Next, the other side, "Swing You Cats," has been removed from all streaming platforms so I can only share a YouTube video below. This is extra bizarre since it Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-65604709072388432882020-04-13T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-13T00:00:08.630-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Laughin' Louie / Tomorrow Night
Before I get too deep into today's analysis, I'd just like to say that the "Six Minutes With Satch" series will be taking a break after this Friday. This is week 11 meaning that when Friday afternoon rolls around, I will have covered 55 Louis Armstrong singles in the last 11 weeks, a total of 110 sides. Thanks to all who have been enjoying it but it's been a lot of work to keep going, plus I'm Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-42702626220923177142020-04-10T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-10T11:37:28.791-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: I Wonder Who / Don't Play Me CheapAnother week of "Six Minutes With Satch" comes to an end at the same time we've reached the end of RCA Victor's official 78 RPM releases of 1932-1933 Louis Armstrong sides--well, kind of. RCA rejected three titles at the time and only released them a few years later on their cheaper Bluebird subsidiary. We'll get to those next Monday and Tuesday.
But for now, the glorious RCA sides end with a Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-54698168573166503872020-04-09T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-09T00:00:05.236-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Honey, Do! / SnowballLouis Armstrong's January 27, 1933 RCA Victor session began two out-and-out classics we've already covered--"Some Sweet Day" and "Basin Street Blues"--so you'd expect a bit of a dropoff for the third and final song recorded that day. And there is, insofar as "Honey, Do!" might not be one for the pantheon. But it's still a swinging number, Louis turns in more great vocal and trumpet work and it's Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-44908640414643489472020-04-08T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-08T00:00:00.206-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Basin Street Blues / Mighty RiverThere's a bit of an aquatic theme to today's sides, "Basin Street Blues" and "Mighty River." We've been dealing with Louis Armstrong's April 1933 output for much of the week and "Might River" is indeed from his April 26 session, but the main event here, "Basin Street Blues," is from the incredible January sessions that RCA had been neglecting for a while has long been one of Louis Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-86512330383338147192020-04-07T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-07T00:00:05.328-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Honey, Don't You Love Me Anymore / There's a Cabin in the Pines"Honey Don't You Love Me Anymore," written by the team of Fred Meadows and pianist Terry Shand, was the first song recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra at their marathon RCA session on April 24. It's historic as Armstrong's regular drummer, Yank Porter, left and 23-year-old Big Sid Catlett had to fill in on drums, marking the start of one of jazz's great partnerships. Catlett was Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-88549674086410926962020-04-06T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-06T00:00:04.532-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Mississippi Basin / Sweet Sue, Just YouWelcome back to "Six Minutes With Satch" as we continue mowing down Louis Armstrong's 1933 RCA Victor output this week. First up is "Mississippi Basin," recorded on April 24, 1933 and written by two esteemed songwriters, Andy Razaf and Reginald Foresythe. Razaf and Foresythe had joined forces to compose "He's a Son of the South," which Louis recorded successfully in January. Hoping to go to the Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-33541380970063363402020-04-03T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-03T00:00:00.131-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: Dusky Stevedore / St. Louis BluesThis entire week has been devoted to Louis Armstrong's January 1933 RCA Victor recordings but we're actually closing out the week with two sides recorded in April. I'm really enjoying tackling the music in this fashion, covering it as it was issued instead of as it was recorded. Because the January sessions yielded 12 sides in three days, enough for six 78s, I always assumed those were issued Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-14782117121700061332020-04-02T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-02T00:00:02.377-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: He's a Son of the South / Some Sweet Day
This week has dealt with a lot of stone cold Armstrong classics--"I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues," "I've Got the World on a String," "Mahogany Hall Stomp," "High Society"--but starting today, we hit some of the lesser-known RCA recordings. Of course, lesser known doesn't mean "bad"; sure enough, there's some wonderful moments on these sides.
"He's a Son of the South," from the formidable team Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7323643089904400443.post-91829131581481697462020-04-01T00:00:00.000-04:002020-04-01T00:00:10.394-04:00Six Minutes With Satch: I've Got the World on a String / Sittin' in the Dark
"I've Got the World on a String" was the first song to be recorded at Louis Armstrong's marathon January 26, 1933 session, but it was the third released. Like yesterday's "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues," it was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, but this time for a"Cotton Club Parade" show (it was also recorded by Cab Calloway for Victor before Armstonrg got to it).
“I’ve Got the Ricky Riccardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18000638350101809298noreply@blogger.com0