Nine Minutes With Satch: Medley of Armstrong Hits Parts 1 and 2
We have a first in the "Six Minutes With Satch" series today: a bona-fide 12-inch 78 release, two sides totaling almost exactly nine minutes of music. A good way to go into the weekend.
As discussed in my two previous entries, RCA Victor won the battle over OKeh to record Louis Armstrong and went to work cutting four sides with Chick Webb's Orchestra on December 8, 1932. Just 13 years later, Louis was back in RCA's Camden studio but this time with a Philadelphia-based theater bit band, led by trumpeter Charlie Gaines and featuring the recording debut of alto saxophonist Louis Jordan.
Because Armstrong had many legitimate hit records for OKeh, it made sense for his new label to capitalize on that by devoting the December 21 session to recording two "Medleys of Armstrong Hits" comprised of "You Rascal You," "When It's Sleepy Time Down South," "When You're Smiling," "St. James Infirmary," "Dinah"--and "Nobody's Sweetheart," a song never recorded by Armstrong before or after! How did it get into the medley? It's a mystery.
Also as previously mentioned, Louis was going through a period of sore chops, eventually hitting rock bottom just a few days later on a Christmas Eve gig with Webb's band in Baltimore, retold in excruciating detail by Mezz Mezzrow in Really the Blues. In 1996, RCA released an alternate of part 2 of the "Medley" and on the transition from "St. James Infirmary" to "Dinah," Louis hit an air note, more than hinting at what he was experiencing.
But on the master takes, he sounds quite wonderful, especially on a soaring version of "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" that is so perfect, RCA later chopped off "You Rascal You" and "Nobody's Sweetheart" and released it as a standalone side of a 78 single in the mid-1940s. "You Rascal You" and "When Your Smiling" are reduced to short vocal-only versions, and his vocals on "St. James Infirmary" and "Dinah" are pure fire before he contributes a pair of intense trumpet solos. On the horn, Louis paces himself, playing bursts of high notes and with gaps of silence to recalibrate the chops. He leaves enough in the tank to include his quotes of "Exactly Like You" and "The Hoochie Coochie Dance" on "Dinah" and builds up to a nice high note ending, too.
The backing band is rough going on these sides but they don't get in Louis's ways and soon when back to their Philadelphia gig, though young Louis Jordan was definitely impacted by his time with Armstrong. Armstrong went back to fronting Webb's Orchestra, blew out his chops in Baltimore and retreated back home to Chicago to take almost a month off. This allowed not only his chops to heal but it also led him to reach out to old friends Zilner Randolph and Mike McKendrick, alums of his 1931-1932 "happiest" band, and asked them to put together a new band him.
This all set the stage for a series of recordings in late January 1933 that are responsible for quite simply some of the greatest music in the entire discography. I'll begin mowing 'em down come Monday--have a great weekend and stay safe out there!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Charlie Gaines and unknown (tp), Unknown (tb), Louis Jordan, Arthur Davey (as), Ellsworth Blake (ts), Wesley Robinson (p), Unknown (bj, g), Ed Hayes (tu), Benny
Hill (d).
Victor recording session - Camden, NJ December 21, 1932
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Charlie Gaines and unknown (tp), Unknown (tb), Louis Jordan, Arthur Davey (as), Ellsworth Blake (ts), Wesley Robinson (p), Unknown (bj, g), Ed Hayes (tu), Benny
Hill (d).
Victor recording session - Camden, NJ December 21, 1932
YouTube links:
As discussed in my two previous entries, RCA Victor won the battle over OKeh to record Louis Armstrong and went to work cutting four sides with Chick Webb's Orchestra on December 8, 1932. Just 13 years later, Louis was back in RCA's Camden studio but this time with a Philadelphia-based theater bit band, led by trumpeter Charlie Gaines and featuring the recording debut of alto saxophonist Louis Jordan.
Because Armstrong had many legitimate hit records for OKeh, it made sense for his new label to capitalize on that by devoting the December 21 session to recording two "Medleys of Armstrong Hits" comprised of "You Rascal You," "When It's Sleepy Time Down South," "When You're Smiling," "St. James Infirmary," "Dinah"--and "Nobody's Sweetheart," a song never recorded by Armstrong before or after! How did it get into the medley? It's a mystery.
Also as previously mentioned, Louis was going through a period of sore chops, eventually hitting rock bottom just a few days later on a Christmas Eve gig with Webb's band in Baltimore, retold in excruciating detail by Mezz Mezzrow in Really the Blues. In 1996, RCA released an alternate of part 2 of the "Medley" and on the transition from "St. James Infirmary" to "Dinah," Louis hit an air note, more than hinting at what he was experiencing.
But on the master takes, he sounds quite wonderful, especially on a soaring version of "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" that is so perfect, RCA later chopped off "You Rascal You" and "Nobody's Sweetheart" and released it as a standalone side of a 78 single in the mid-1940s. "You Rascal You" and "When Your Smiling" are reduced to short vocal-only versions, and his vocals on "St. James Infirmary" and "Dinah" are pure fire before he contributes a pair of intense trumpet solos. On the horn, Louis paces himself, playing bursts of high notes and with gaps of silence to recalibrate the chops. He leaves enough in the tank to include his quotes of "Exactly Like You" and "The Hoochie Coochie Dance" on "Dinah" and builds up to a nice high note ending, too.
The backing band is rough going on these sides but they don't get in Louis's ways and soon when back to their Philadelphia gig, though young Louis Jordan was definitely impacted by his time with Armstrong. Armstrong went back to fronting Webb's Orchestra, blew out his chops in Baltimore and retreated back home to Chicago to take almost a month off. This allowed not only his chops to heal but it also led him to reach out to old friends Zilner Randolph and Mike McKendrick, alums of his 1931-1932 "happiest" band, and asked them to put together a new band him.
This all set the stage for a series of recordings in late January 1933 that are responsible for quite simply some of the greatest music in the entire discography. I'll begin mowing 'em down come Monday--have a great weekend and stay safe out there!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Charlie Gaines and unknown (tp), Unknown (tb), Louis Jordan, Arthur Davey (as), Ellsworth Blake (ts), Wesley Robinson (p), Unknown (bj, g), Ed Hayes (tu), Benny
Hill (d).
Victor recording session - Camden, NJ December 21, 1932
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Charlie Gaines and unknown (tp), Unknown (tb), Louis Jordan, Arthur Davey (as), Ellsworth Blake (ts), Wesley Robinson (p), Unknown (bj, g), Ed Hayes (tu), Benny
Hill (d).
Victor recording session - Camden, NJ December 21, 1932
YouTube links:
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