Six Minutes With Satch: I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) / If I Could Be WIth You (One Hour Tonight)
One month after yesterday's "Ding Dong Daddy" / "I'm in the Market for You" coupling was recorded, Louis Armstrong was back in a California recording studio to record two more songs with Vernon Elkins's band on August 19, 1930.
This, my friends, is a major, major record, one of the most important ones in this series. The trumpet playing is astounding and the solo on "Confessin'" was particularly influential to an entire generation of trumpet players.
But those vocals! Nothing had ever been captured on record quite like this before. Pure, passionate, intense, erotic sounds, the sounds of black sexuality hitting the pop market like an explosion. Seriously, take some time to go on YouTube and look up the many other contemporary recordings of these two songs from 1930. Listen to them all, even when sung by an African American like George "Fathead" Thomas, it's just not the same. (To make it easier, here's another link to a 2015 blog I did on these two performances, with more details, more audio and links to many different versions.)
My goodness, this was quite a week, with lots of trumpet fireworks on the likes of "Dear Old Southland," "Tiger Rag," "Dinah," and "Ding Dong Daddy," plus the once-in-a-lifetime meeting with Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel Number 9." But "Confessin'" and "If I Could Be With You" really stand out from the pop world of the day, showing that not only was Louis comfortable in the role of a pop star, but he was simultaneously breaking and writing new rules about how to approach this material. Nothing would ever be the same!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS SEBASTIAN NEW COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Leon Elkins (tp, cond), Unknown (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Leon Herriford, Willie Stark (as), William Franz (ts), Charlie Lawrence (p), Ceele Burke (steel-g *), Reggie Jones (tu), Lionel Hampton (d).
OKeh recording session - Los Angeles, CA August 19, 1930
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS SEBASTIAN NEW COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Leon Elkins (tp, cond), Unknown (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Leon Herriford, Willie Stark (as), William Franz (ts), Charlie Lawrence (p), Ceele Burke (bj), Reggie Jones (tu), Lionel Hampton (d).
OKeh recording session - Los Angeles, CA August 19, 1930
YouTube links:
This, my friends, is a major, major record, one of the most important ones in this series. The trumpet playing is astounding and the solo on "Confessin'" was particularly influential to an entire generation of trumpet players.
But those vocals! Nothing had ever been captured on record quite like this before. Pure, passionate, intense, erotic sounds, the sounds of black sexuality hitting the pop market like an explosion. Seriously, take some time to go on YouTube and look up the many other contemporary recordings of these two songs from 1930. Listen to them all, even when sung by an African American like George "Fathead" Thomas, it's just not the same. (To make it easier, here's another link to a 2015 blog I did on these two performances, with more details, more audio and links to many different versions.)
My goodness, this was quite a week, with lots of trumpet fireworks on the likes of "Dear Old Southland," "Tiger Rag," "Dinah," and "Ding Dong Daddy," plus the once-in-a-lifetime meeting with Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel Number 9." But "Confessin'" and "If I Could Be With You" really stand out from the pop world of the day, showing that not only was Louis comfortable in the role of a pop star, but he was simultaneously breaking and writing new rules about how to approach this material. Nothing would ever be the same!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS SEBASTIAN NEW COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Leon Elkins (tp, cond), Unknown (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Leon Herriford, Willie Stark (as), William Franz (ts), Charlie Lawrence (p), Ceele Burke (steel-g *), Reggie Jones (tu), Lionel Hampton (d).
OKeh recording session - Los Angeles, CA August 19, 1930
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS SEBASTIAN NEW COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Leon Elkins (tp, cond), Unknown (tp), Lawrence Brown (tb), Leon Herriford, Willie Stark (as), William Franz (ts), Charlie Lawrence (p), Ceele Burke (bj), Reggie Jones (tu), Lionel Hampton (d).
OKeh recording session - Los Angeles, CA August 19, 1930
YouTube links:
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