LOUIS ARMSTRONG
West End Blues (Music Club)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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Collecting the cream of the Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions, West End Blues is a reminder of the early pioneering legacy of Louis Armstrong, as well as a damn hot anthology. Putting the roar in the twenties, these scorching combos redefined listening pleasures, bringing them onto the dance floor where all swinging music rightly belongs. As historic tall tales go, the birth of scat is a good one, and appears on track four. Apparently during the recording of "Heebie Jeebies," Armstrong dropped the lyric sheet and improvised the gibberish that make up the second half of the tune. The session players claim there was no lyric sheet, and that Armstrong knew exactly what he was doing. Apparently fifty more cornet sides recorded on Edison cylinders were lost during this span. We may not have heard the last of Satchmo.

© 2000 - John Sekerka