Six Minutes With Satch: Walkin' My Baby Back Home / I Surrender Dear
We're back in Chicago and Louis Armstrong once again has a new band backing him for the sides that will take us through the next couple of weeks, which, I should mention, make up some of my very favorite Armstrong recordings of all time. Armstrong was in the middle of personal trauma with gangsters haunting him every night at his gig at the Showboat, but he sounded relaxed and in peak form on the series of recordings he made for OKeh in late April. The band was put together by pianist Charlie Alexander and featured Preston Jackson on trombone, three reeds (so Louis could get his "Guy Lombardo" effect) and a driving rhythm section. The bassist on these April sides is unknown and on a couple, a second trumpet is heard, also of mysterious identity (John Lindsay and Zilner Randolph did not join until May so it's most likely not them).
Tommy Rockwell was most definitely out of the picture at this point and it remains unknown as to who was Louis's session supervisor at OKeh in this period. What we do know is there wouldn't be any recordings of material written in the 1910s for a while. Instead, Louis was given the most popular songs of the day to put his unique stamp on and in just about every case, once he did so, the song was elevated to the category of a future standard.
That's certainly the case with the two sides here, opening with "Walkin' My Baby Back Home." If you don't mind, I'll punt on that one because in 2009 (has it really been 11 years??), I wrote a long blog about it, with links to numerous contemporary versions to illustrate how striking Armstrong's approach was (and to also demonstrate how the stock arrangement was doctored to produce the background on his recording).
But the other side, "I Surrender Dear," is worth discussing a bit because it was a huge hit at the time for Louis's friend Bing Crosby. Bing always gave Armstrong credit for showing him--and the world--how to really sing and connect with pop songs, but it was a two-way street and on "I Surrender Dear," Louis shows that he's picked up a trick or two from Bing, too.
Having said that, the vocal is still 100% Armstrong and much more passionate (and wilder) and than anyone else could deliver in that era (I think Will Friedwald once said that Louis Prima must have based his whole singing style on this one vocal). I know I always have to drop these little hints but my next book will include Rudy Vallee's reaction to it and it's very, very interesting.
Crosby and Vallee could sing this type of material, but neither of them could pick up a trumpet and do what Louis does before and after that vocal. (Prima could, but he'd come later.) Pure genius, to be able to sing AND play like that on recording after recording.
Louis really loved "I Surrender Dear" and in a funny way, it never entirely left his repertoire for long. Radio broadcasts survive of him doing it in the early 1940s, he sang it when Barney Bigard featured it in the early days of the All Stars, he remade it as part of the glorious Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography project in 1956, featured himself on it with the All Stars in the early 1960s and eventually sang it on a couple of television shows in 1970, dedicating it to his wife Lucille.
But as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. Just carve out six minutes and listen to the wondrous music today....and come back for more tomorrow!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Preston Jackson (tb), Lester Boone (as), George James (as, bars), Albert Washington (ts), Charlie Alexander (p), Mike McKendrick (g), Tubby Hall (d).
OKeh recording session - Chicago, IL April 20, 1931
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Preston Jackson (tb), Lester Boone (as), George James (as, bars), Albert Washington (ts), Charlie Alexander (p), Mike McKendrick (g), Tubby Hall (d).
OKeh recording session - Chicago, IL April 20, 1931
YouTube links:
Tommy Rockwell was most definitely out of the picture at this point and it remains unknown as to who was Louis's session supervisor at OKeh in this period. What we do know is there wouldn't be any recordings of material written in the 1910s for a while. Instead, Louis was given the most popular songs of the day to put his unique stamp on and in just about every case, once he did so, the song was elevated to the category of a future standard.
That's certainly the case with the two sides here, opening with "Walkin' My Baby Back Home." If you don't mind, I'll punt on that one because in 2009 (has it really been 11 years??), I wrote a long blog about it, with links to numerous contemporary versions to illustrate how striking Armstrong's approach was (and to also demonstrate how the stock arrangement was doctored to produce the background on his recording).
But the other side, "I Surrender Dear," is worth discussing a bit because it was a huge hit at the time for Louis's friend Bing Crosby. Bing always gave Armstrong credit for showing him--and the world--how to really sing and connect with pop songs, but it was a two-way street and on "I Surrender Dear," Louis shows that he's picked up a trick or two from Bing, too.
Having said that, the vocal is still 100% Armstrong and much more passionate (and wilder) and than anyone else could deliver in that era (I think Will Friedwald once said that Louis Prima must have based his whole singing style on this one vocal). I know I always have to drop these little hints but my next book will include Rudy Vallee's reaction to it and it's very, very interesting.
Crosby and Vallee could sing this type of material, but neither of them could pick up a trumpet and do what Louis does before and after that vocal. (Prima could, but he'd come later.) Pure genius, to be able to sing AND play like that on recording after recording.
Louis really loved "I Surrender Dear" and in a funny way, it never entirely left his repertoire for long. Radio broadcasts survive of him doing it in the early 1940s, he sang it when Barney Bigard featured it in the early days of the All Stars, he remade it as part of the glorious Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography project in 1956, featured himself on it with the All Stars in the early 1960s and eventually sang it on a couple of television shows in 1970, dedicating it to his wife Lucille.
But as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. Just carve out six minutes and listen to the wondrous music today....and come back for more tomorrow!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Preston Jackson (tb), Lester Boone (as), George James (as, bars), Albert Washington (ts), Charlie Alexander (p), Mike McKendrick (g), Tubby Hall (d).
OKeh recording session - Chicago, IL April 20, 1931
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Preston Jackson (tb), Lester Boone (as), George James (as, bars), Albert Washington (ts), Charlie Alexander (p), Mike McKendrick (g), Tubby Hall (d).
OKeh recording session - Chicago, IL April 20, 1931
YouTube links:
Comments