Anatomy of an All Stars Concert - 1959-1963
This week, I revived my "Anatomy of an All Stars Concert" blogs, which originally found me analyzing sets lists from the 1947-1951, 1952-1955 and 1955-1959 eras of the band. I've re-posted those three entries this week and now it's time to finish the job with new entries today and tomorrow on the 1959-1963 and 1964-1971 eras. Let's continue!
We left off wit Louis's marathon tour of Europe in 1959, that, after a quick jaunt back to the States in early June, ended with a heart attack suffered in Spoleto, Italy later that month. Armstrong had a rough time in the hospital for about a week but then returned home in early July. Not heeding any warning to take it easy, he had an after hours with Jack Teagarden the night he arrived back in the city and then made a surprise walk-on appearance at a birthday concert in his honor at Lewisohn Stadium, singing and playing for 15 minutes.
After a little more time off, Louis and the All Stars went back to the grind in mid-July 1959. Drummer Danny Barcelona told me that it was like nothing happened. Reporters like Leonard Feather checked out Armstrong shows of the period with a great deal of curiosity and reported the same thing. However, there were subtle changes; Armstrong was still blowing great, but was beginning to lose a little steam on some of his more demanding features. After struggling through his standard three-chorus rideout on "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" on The Ed Sullivan Show in September, that routine disappeared for good. Otherwise, Armstrong kept pushing himself into the early 60s and the band's repertoire remained almost deceptively large during this period.
We'll start off with another rarity of rarities: a standard, two-set All Stars one-nighter. As discussed in the other parts, it sometimes seems like the only All Stars shows that survive were recorded by major labels or recorded in Europe, where Louis offered shorter shows usually with similar repertoire. But it's the one-nighter shows, especially in the United States, that best show what he did night in and night out. In October, the All Stars played such a show at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. With Louis that night were trombonist Trummy Young, clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, pianist Billy Kyle, bassist Mort Herbert, drummer Danny Barcelona and vocalist Velma Middleton. Here's how it went down:
We left off wit Louis's marathon tour of Europe in 1959, that, after a quick jaunt back to the States in early June, ended with a heart attack suffered in Spoleto, Italy later that month. Armstrong had a rough time in the hospital for about a week but then returned home in early July. Not heeding any warning to take it easy, he had an after hours with Jack Teagarden the night he arrived back in the city and then made a surprise walk-on appearance at a birthday concert in his honor at Lewisohn Stadium, singing and playing for 15 minutes.
After a little more time off, Louis and the All Stars went back to the grind in mid-July 1959. Drummer Danny Barcelona told me that it was like nothing happened. Reporters like Leonard Feather checked out Armstrong shows of the period with a great deal of curiosity and reported the same thing. However, there were subtle changes; Armstrong was still blowing great, but was beginning to lose a little steam on some of his more demanding features. After struggling through his standard three-chorus rideout on "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" on The Ed Sullivan Show in September, that routine disappeared for good. Otherwise, Armstrong kept pushing himself into the early 60s and the band's repertoire remained almost deceptively large during this period.
We'll start off with another rarity of rarities: a standard, two-set All Stars one-nighter. As discussed in the other parts, it sometimes seems like the only All Stars shows that survive were recorded by major labels or recorded in Europe, where Louis offered shorter shows usually with similar repertoire. But it's the one-nighter shows, especially in the United States, that best show what he did night in and night out. In October, the All Stars played such a show at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. With Louis that night were trombonist Trummy Young, clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, pianist Billy Kyle, bassist Mort Herbert, drummer Danny Barcelona and vocalist Velma Middleton. Here's how it went down:
October 1959 - Keesler Air Force Base
FIRST SET
When It's Sleepy Time Down South (opening theme)
Indiana
Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Ole Miss
Perdido (Billy Kyle feature)
After You've Gone (Peanuts Hucko feature)
Blueberry Hill
Love is Just Around the Corner (Mort Herbert feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
Nobody Loves a Fat Girl (Velma Middleton vocal)
That's My Desire (Louis and Velma)
When the Saints Go Marchin' In
Mop Mop
SECOND SET
Struttin' with Some Barebecue
C'est Si Bon
La Vie En Rose
The Faithful Hussar
Undecided (Trummy Young feature)
Rockin' Chair (Louis and Trummy)
Girl of My Dreams (Billy Kyle feature)
Stealin' Apples (Peanuts Hucko feature)
Christopher Columbus (Mort Herbert feature)
Mack the Knife
St. Louis Blues
Don't Fence Me In (Louis and Velma)
Muskrat Ramble
Black and Blue
Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans
Ol' Man River (Mort Herbert feature; Louis vocal)
Big Butter and Egg Man (Louis and Velma)
When the Saints Go Marchin' In
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
That's a long, fully packed show. And I might add, it's one where Louis's chops took some time getting warmed up; they never fully did but he managed to get around it because somehow, his upper register sounded great, but he struggled in the middle. So one glance shows that he still did a LOT of blowing on a B+ night for his lips. If you remember the last installment, I dissected a set list from Sweden in January 1959. The biggest similarity is in the pacing: opening with 6 or 7 numbers climaxed by "Ole Miss," then throwing it to Kyle, then Hucko, then Herbert, coming back for "Mack," letting Barcelona do "Savoy" then finishing off the first set with Velma. The second set follows a similar pattern: heavy Louis up front, more features, etc.
However, there are differences in repertoire: in Sweden, Louis played "Basin Street Blues," "Royal Garden Blues," "I Get Ideas" and the medley of "Tenderly" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." Keesler has "Bucket's Got a Hole In It," "Blueberry Hill," "Struttin' with Some Barbecue," "Rockin' Chair," "Don't Fence Me In," "Muskrat Ramble," "Black and Blue," "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" and "Big Butter and Egg Man." Phew! And in neither show do you get "Someday You'll Be Sorry," "Back O'Town Blues," "Tin Roof Blues," "The Gypsy," "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" and others staples.
One difference, though, regards "The Saints"; after struggling on Ed Sullivan a few weeks before, Louis discarded the three-choruses of trumpet playing he always ended it with. Instead, he performed it twice, but the first time, where he'd normally play, he threw it to Danny Barcelona with "Mop Mop" and the second time, he stopped on a dime and headed into a closing "Sleepy Time." This May is the 75th anniversary of Louis's first version of "The Saints" so I'll have more about that then. Also, Louis opened "Tiger Rag" up in Europe, doing encore after encore, driving the the tune up to 9 minutes sometimes! That ended with the heart attack; from then on, "Tiger Rag" would be a quick, 90-second romp. And if you notice the different title to Velma's blues, she began singing new lyrics around this point ("Nobody Loves a Fat Girl") and seems to have eliminated her split.
In 1960, three single set performances survive, now with Barney Bigard replacing Hucko. It's worth showing the sets to illustrate what Louis would choose when he only had an hour (or less) to wow his fans and feature his All Stars. The first one comes from Madison Square Garden and it's one of the few things from this period that I've actually never heard but have always wanted to because it's pretty action packed:
That's a long, fully packed show. And I might add, it's one where Louis's chops took some time getting warmed up; they never fully did but he managed to get around it because somehow, his upper register sounded great, but he struggled in the middle. So one glance shows that he still did a LOT of blowing on a B+ night for his lips. If you remember the last installment, I dissected a set list from Sweden in January 1959. The biggest similarity is in the pacing: opening with 6 or 7 numbers climaxed by "Ole Miss," then throwing it to Kyle, then Hucko, then Herbert, coming back for "Mack," letting Barcelona do "Savoy" then finishing off the first set with Velma. The second set follows a similar pattern: heavy Louis up front, more features, etc.
However, there are differences in repertoire: in Sweden, Louis played "Basin Street Blues," "Royal Garden Blues," "I Get Ideas" and the medley of "Tenderly" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." Keesler has "Bucket's Got a Hole In It," "Blueberry Hill," "Struttin' with Some Barbecue," "Rockin' Chair," "Don't Fence Me In," "Muskrat Ramble," "Black and Blue," "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" and "Big Butter and Egg Man." Phew! And in neither show do you get "Someday You'll Be Sorry," "Back O'Town Blues," "Tin Roof Blues," "The Gypsy," "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" and others staples.
One difference, though, regards "The Saints"; after struggling on Ed Sullivan a few weeks before, Louis discarded the three-choruses of trumpet playing he always ended it with. Instead, he performed it twice, but the first time, where he'd normally play, he threw it to Danny Barcelona with "Mop Mop" and the second time, he stopped on a dime and headed into a closing "Sleepy Time." This May is the 75th anniversary of Louis's first version of "The Saints" so I'll have more about that then. Also, Louis opened "Tiger Rag" up in Europe, doing encore after encore, driving the the tune up to 9 minutes sometimes! That ended with the heart attack; from then on, "Tiger Rag" would be a quick, 90-second romp. And if you notice the different title to Velma's blues, she began singing new lyrics around this point ("Nobody Loves a Fat Girl") and seems to have eliminated her split.
In 1960, three single set performances survive, now with Barney Bigard replacing Hucko. It's worth showing the sets to illustrate what Louis would choose when he only had an hour (or less) to wow his fans and feature his All Stars. The first one comes from Madison Square Garden and it's one of the few things from this period that I've actually never heard but have always wanted to because it's pretty action packed:
June 3, 1960 - Madison Square Garden
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
Ole Miss
Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home
Back O'Town Blues
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Perdido (Billy Kyle feature)
Pretty Little Missy
St. Louis Blues (Louis and Velma)
Ko Ko Mo (Louis and Velma)
Like I said, I haven't heard that one but Louis must have been feeling good to call so many demanding numbers in a row (it was also part of a "World Series of Jazz" festival so maybe his competitive instincts kicked in). Almost all trumpet showpieces; no "Blueberry Hill," no "Kiss to Build a Dream On," not even "Mack the Knife." But we do see "Back O'Town Blues," which we haven't encountered in a concert setting since October 1955. And there's also "Bill Bailey," which Louis did in the 1959 film The Five Pennies. After that came out, it became a favorite of Louis's until Jewel Brown joined the band in 1961 and took it over.
Then it was off to Newport:
July 1, 1960 - Newport Jazz Festival
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
My Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Ole Miss
Girl of My Dreams (Billy Kyle feature)
C-Jam Blues (Barney Bigard feature)
Blueberry Hill
Undecided (Trummy Young feature)
I'm Beginning to See the Light (Mort Herbert feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
St. Louis Blues (Louis and Velma)
Ko Ko Mo (Louis and Velma)
After You've Gone
When The Saints Go Marchin' In
Star-Spangled Banner
Now that's a pretty straightforward concert (and one that can be listened to at Wolfgang's Vault here): you've got the hits ("Blueberry," "Mack," "Saints") but also some numbers for the strictly jazz crowd ("Bucket," "Ole Miss") and Louis plays on all the features except Kyle's. "After You've Gone" was a Hucko feature but after Hucko left, Louis liked it, so he began playing it as a hot instrumental to escort Velma offstage. For proof that this was the standard one set show, here's the standard one set show as performed at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, Oregon in September 1960. This one survives on LP and I've always thought it captured a somewhat tired performance by the band:
September 2 or 3, 1960 - Oregon State Fair
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
Back O'Town Blues
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Ole Miss
Pennies from Heaven (Billy Kyle feature)
China Boy (Barney Bigard feature)
Blueberry Hill
Undecided (Trummy Young feature)
It's Only a Paper Moon (Mort Herbert feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
St. Louis Blues (Louis and Velma)
Ko Ko Mo (Louis and Velma)
When The Saints Go Marchin' In
Mop Mop
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
I have to admit that I just copied and pasted the Newport set list and made minimal changes; everything's intact except the sideman play some different feature (nice to hear Louis on "China Boy") and for his "New Orleans" segment, Louis substituted "Back O'Town Blues" for "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It."
But WAIT! Don't give up on Pops just yet! In the middle of all of that, in late July 1960, Louis played the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, IL. Young John McDonough (yes, the great jazz journalist) was there and recorded some of it on a portable tape deck whose batteries must have been a little low at some point. McDonough had discerning taste so when Louis threw it to the other All Stars, he switched off the recorder, so I don't know the full sets. But selected tracks have survived and they're incredible. Here's a selection of what he played at Ravinia
July 27 and 29, 1960 - Ravinia Festival
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
My Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tiger Rag
Basin Street Blues
Perdido (Billy Kyle feature)
I Surrender Dear (Barney Bigard feature)
I Get Ideas
West End Blues
On the Sunny Side of the Street
The Faithful Hussar
Bill Bailey
Some great stuff there including IT: "West End Blues," which we haven't seen with the All Stars since Chicago 1956. We also haven't seen "Sunny Side of the Street" with the All Stars since Chicago 1956, or "Basin Street Blues" and "I Get Ideas" since Europe 1959. On "Basin Street," Louis even improvised some brand new lines and played a rare encore, complete with a quote from "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue." And "I Surrender Dear" was a feature for Bigard that also included some beautiful singing and playing by Pops. So this show might have started the same as the others from 1960, but as it got deeper, Louis proved that the All Stars book was just as deep as ever.
The only two-set show from 1960 comes from Elisabethstad, Ketanga in the Belgian Congo, November 1960. It's worth comparing it to the Keesler show of the previous October:
November 1960 - Belgian Congo
FIRST SET
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
My Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Ole Miss
All the Things You Are (Billy Kyle feature)
Perdido (Billy Kyle feature)
Tea for Two (Barney Bigard feature)
I Surrender Dear (Barney Bigard feature with Louis vocal)
Blueberry Hill
Rockin' Chair(Trummy and Louis)
Body and Soul (Mort Herbert feature)
How High the Moon (Mort Herbert feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
St. Louis Blues (Louis and Velma)
Ko Ko Mo (Louis and Velma)
]When The Saints Go Marchin' In
Mop Mop (Danny Barcelona feature)
SECOND SET
Struttin' with Some Barbecue
C'est Si Bon
La Vie En Rose
Undecided (Trummy Young feature)
Nobody Loves a Fat Girl (Velma Middleton feature)
That's My Desire (Louis and Velma)
I Can't Give You Anything But Love/Bill Bailey
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
The first set is pretty much the standard cookie-cutter 1960 single set, but the All Stars double up on their features. This was a grueling tour and perhaps Louis needed to slow it down (but again, he played on every one of their features except All the Things You Are" so it wasn't like he was napping). But in the second set, we get the first versions of "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," "C'est Si Bon" and "La Vie En Rose" since 1959, plus a few bars of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" before "Bill Bailey." Like his European shows, it's packed with hits (still no "Kiss to Build a Dream On"!) but still has a lot of trumpet features, especially in that short, second set.
However, that would be the last surviving audio of a set with Velma Middleton; she died in February 1961. The All Stars played a single set in Sweden that month and frankly, they sound a little lost, grouping some tunes into medleys, Trummy singing "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" and otherwise, just trying to make it through the grief. After that, Louis took a month off and spent the rest of the year at home, which as usual, means very little survives. But does survive is very interesting.
First Louis returned to Newport on June 30, 1961, but this time, the Festival only gave him 30 minutes instead of an hour, which I'm sure bothered him (he also had 30 minutes his first year at Newport in 1955 and he fumed about it in a private writing). Armstrong had a new vocalist in Jewel Brown and made sure she got two numbers. Otherwise, he could only play seven tunes and six should be no surprise by this point: "Sleepy Time," "Indiana," "Bucket's Got a Hole In It," "Tiger Rag," "Now You Has Jazz" and "The Saints." But the seventh was extra special: "That's My Home," which you could hear on this blog from December. He played it on Ed Sullivan when he returned to the United States after that exhausting tour and liked it enough to keep it in the book. This is the only surviving performance of it from the 1960s but Arvell Shaw, who rejoined the band in 1963, remembered it being a staple (and I've found a review of a 1964 concert that praised it so we must assume it was regularly called in the early 60s).
But just when you might think Louis was getting in a rut, like the Ravinia set, I have another surprise. In September 1961, The All Stars played at Freedomland in New York. The amusement park's sound engineer, Pete Denis, recorded them on September 7. He didn't get the entire show, but what he did get was illuminating. Louis, Trummy, Kyle, Barcelona and Brown were still there but now Joe Darensbourg was on clarinet and Irv Manning was on bass. The two tapes Denis recorded were donated to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2012 and I just transferred them last week. Because they're the property of the Armstrong Archives, I cannot share any audio, but here are the sets that survive (discographers take note!):
September 7, 1961 - Freedomland
SECOND SET (assumed)
Struttin' with Some Barbecue
I Surrender Dear
Jazz Me Blues
West End Blues
T'aint What You Do (Trummy Young feature)
Ain't Misbehavin' (Irv Manning feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
All of Me (Jewel Brown feature)
Looking Back (Jewel Brown feature)
My Man (Jewel Brown feature)
THIRD SET (assumed)
Muskrat Ramble
Blueberry Hill
Basin Street Blues
Undecided (Trummy Young feature)
How Long Blues (Joe Darensbourg feature)
Mop Mop (Danny Barcelona feature)
Mop Mop (Danny Barcelona feature)
How High the Moon (Irv Manning feature)
The Next Time You See Me (Jewel Brown feature)
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (Jewel Brown feature)
Bill Bailey (Jewel Brown feature)
After You've Gone
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Wow! Armstrong played three short sets daily at Freedomland (possibly more) so these obviously don't constitute the first "Sleepy Time/Indiana/High Society songs" set. But it does prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Louis was still digging deep into his bag of tricks. I mean, "West End Blues"??? He was 60 (and take my word for it, it is TREMENDOUS). Barney left, but Louis kept "I Surrender Dear" as a feature for himself (and take my word for it, it is TREMENDOUS). He hadn't touched "Jazz Me Blues" (in front of a recording device) in ten years. We haven't seen "Muskrat" since 1959. Even Trummy hadn't done "T'ain't What You Do," with any regularity, the last surviving version being from 1955. (Unfortunately, the tape did not capture Manning's complete feature on "Ain't Misbehavin'" so I'm not even sure if Louis played or sang on that one, though I'd assume he did.)
That same month, part of a broadcast survives from Pottstown, Pennsylvania (jazz capital of the world) and it has Louis doing "Pretty Little Missy" and most surprising, "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)" which we literally have not documented since 1953! "West End Blues,""Jazz Me Blues," "Confessin'," "Back O'Town Blues," "Muskrat Ramble," "Struttin' with Some Barbecue," "Pretty Little Missy," "I Surrender Dear," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," I Get Ideas," "La Vie En Rose," "C'est Si Bon," "Basin Street Blues," "The Faithful Hussar"....so many different numbers to choose from in 1960 and 1961 yet if the Ravinia and Freedomland tapes didn't surface (neither are in the definitive Armstrong discography, Jos Willems' All of Me), it would be easy to assume that the All Stars were getting into that "same songs every night" rut in the early 1960s. Not quite...
....but close enough. Because we now arrive at 1962 and for me, this is where things start to change. Louis blew tremendously in the two years after the heart attack and obviously was still choosing from a very deep repertoire of tunes. But that all changes for the most part in 1962. Well, maybe it does, maybe it doesn't; perhaps some rare concert tapes will surface that will blow this theory to smithereens. But for now, 1962 is the year when things start to solidify a bit.
Perhaps one reason for this is the sheer number of concerts that survive from Europe. As related in past entries, Louis knew he didn't see his European fans as often as those in the United States, so he usually set up a tight show and didn't change it much throughout his tours. There's always SOMETHING to change it up a bit but for the most part, these shows are identical. I'll detail the changes in a minute, but for the most part, this was the 1962 European tour show:
April 12, 1962 - Hildesheim, Germany
FIRST SET
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
A Kiss to Build a Dream On
My Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tin Roof Blues
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Ole Miss
When I Grow Too Old to Dream (Billy Kyle feature)
I Get Ideas
Yellow Dog Blues (Joe Darensbourg feature)
Lover Come Back to Me (Jewel Brown feature)
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (Jewel Brown feature)
Bill Bailey (Jewel Brown feature)
SECOND SET
Struttin' with Some Barbecue (assumed)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
Blueberry Hill
The Faithful Hussar
S'Wonderful (Billy Cronk feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
St. Louis Blues (Jewel Brown feature)
When the Saints Go Marchin' In
After You've Gone
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
First thing we notice: "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" is back for the first time in a documented All Stars show since 1956!! And brother, it ain't leavin'; as long as Pops's chops were up, it was a mainstay until illness forced him to stop performing regularly with the band in 1968. But this was it. Louis would come out and still do more than a half hour, but now you got the usual "Sleepy Time" and "Indiana," always followed by "Kiss to Build a Dream On," the trip to New Orleans with "Bucket" and sometimes "Tin Roof Blues," a quick "Tiger Rag," the songs from High Society and a demanding "Ole Miss." Then after a Billy Kyle feature, Louis would do something: in Hildesheim, it's a wonderful "I Get Ideas," the last surviving version of it and the only other one in the 60s after Ravinia in 1960. Sometimes, he saved "Tin Roof Blues" for that segment.
After the features for the sidemen and Jewel Brown, the first set usually ended with "The Saints." And though it's not on the surviving audio, the second set always began with "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" and then Louis announcing a medley of three numbers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," "Blueberry Hill" and "The Faithful Hussar." Interestingly, he does not perform them as a medley; they're three standalone performances. But then the sidemen take it out (Bill Cronk now on bass, playing Barney Bigard's old feature of "S'wonderful" and Louis would end with "After You've Gone" into "Sleepy Time." It's especially nice to see "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," which had never been part of the All Stars' book. Louis had filmed a performance of it for a Goodyear film in April and it stayed in for much of the year.
But just when it looks stagnant, here comes another curveball. On May 17, 1962, Louis played Nice and I'm assuming Hughes Panassie and members of the Hot Club of France were in attendance because Louis changed up his choices on the second set. Here's how it went down in Nice (available in near complete form on The Armstrong Box; I've plugged in the numbers I assume to be missing):
May 17, 1962 - Nice, France
FIRST SET
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
A Kiss to Build a Dream On
My Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tiger Rag
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Ole Miss
Perdido (Billy Kyle feature)
Tin Roof Blues
Yellow Dog Blues (Joe Darensbourg feature)
All of Me (Jewel Brown feature)
Georgia On My Mind (Jewel Brown feature)
Bill Bailey (Jewel Brown feature)
When the Saints Go Marchin' In (assumed)
SECOND SET
Struttin' with Some Barbecue
C'est Si Bon
Jazz Me Blues
Basin Street Blues
Blueberry Hill
Margie (Trummy Young feature)
The Man I Love (Billy Cronk feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
Lover Come Back to Me (Jewel Brown feature)
St. Louis Blues (Jewel Brown feature)
After You've Gone
When It's Sleepy Time Down South (assumed)
So for the Hot Club, Louis dispensed with "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and instead reached back for "C'est Si Bon" (when in France....), "Basin Street Blues" and the highlight, "Jazz Me Blues."
When Armstrong got back to the United States, it was back to the one-nighters. A two-set show was captured in Chicago on August 1. Much of it has been issued (but not in complete form) though it captures a strong, but subdued Louis playing in front of what sounds like a small, but subdued crowd. . Still, it's all we have from 1962 AND 1963 in terms of a complete two-set show, so this is probably how it went down for much of the time:
August 1, 1962 - Chicago
FIRST SET
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
A Kiss to Build a Dream On
My Bucket's Got a Hole In It
Tiger Rag
Blueberry Hill
Now You Has Jazz
High Society Calypso
Struttin' with Some Barbecue
When I Grow Too Old to Dream (Billy Kyle feature)
Basin Street Blues
Yellow Dog Blues (Joe Darensbourg feature)
All of Me (Jewel Brown feature)
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (Jewel Brown feature)
St. Louis Blues (Jewel Brown feature)
When the Saints Go Marchin' In
SECOND SET
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
New Orleans Function (Flee as a Bird/Oh, Didn't He Ramble)
C'est Si Bon
Ole Miss
La Vie En Rose
The Faithful Hussar
Undecided (Trummy Young feature)
Mack the Knife
Stompin' at the Savoy (Danny Barcelona feature)
Bill Bailey (Jewel Brown feature)
Have You Heard About Jerry (Jewel Brown feature)
After You've Gone
When It's Sleepy Time Down South (assumed)
Now, I don't have a copy of this show either; info is taken from the All of Me discography. But I do wonder about "Ole Miss" appearing in between "C'est Si Bon" and "La Vie En Rose," as well as the lack of a bass feature for the entire two sets. But overall, it's a good summation of what songs Louis was comfortable with heading deeper into the 1960s. The three big hits are now here to stay: "Kiss to Build a Dream On," "Blueberry Hill," "Mack the Knife." And for trumpet features, "Ole Miss" and "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" were the preferred features, while he also wasn't afraid to blow it out on the two French numbers and "The Faithful Hussar." The biggest surprise? "New Orleans Function"! Yes, Louis's recreation of the old New Orleans funeral procession was a standard second set opener in the early 1950s but it disappeared almost completely around 1954. But Louis did it for Italian TV earlier in 1962 so it might have made an extended comeback around this time.
So when you see "Jazz Me Blues," "I Get Ideas," "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," "New Orleans Function," "'C'est Si Bon," etc., it shows that Louis was still dipping into his bag of tricks...but the bag was getting smaller. This concert contains the last surviving surviving versions of those tunes. Also, from here on out, no more "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "West End Blues," "I Surrender Dear," "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans," "Confessin'," "The Gypsy"....the ranks were getting thinner.
Only one set survives from the entire year of 1963--an Australian TV show now on DVD--and it contains no surprises except for a very fine late version of "Basin Street Blues." A collector tells me a complete Louis in Japan concert survives from that year but I can't varify it. Jack Bradley did see Louis a lot in this time and in his Coda magazine columns of the period, he always raved. I've also also already mentioned that review where "That's My Home" is listed. So it's possible Louis still called out some different "good old good ones" but there's no recorded evidence of this.
But at the end of 1963, Louis recorded "Hello, Dolly!' and his world turned upside down. There are lots of sets to choose from from 1964-1968 so I'll analyze those next time out, bringing this series to a close. Til next time (and if you're still with me at this point, THANKS for sticking it out!).
Comments