Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 08/03/2004
Even at two discs and 37 tracks, it's difficult to say that this set contains everything that is truly essential from
Louis Armstrong's monumental five-decade career. It does, however, do a great job of touching down at key points, and nicely balances
Armstrong's various guises as a groundbreaking sideman, soloist, bandleader, singer, and ultimately, American legend, icon, and the very embodiment of the face of
jazz. Opening with
Armstrong blowing accomplished
blues choruses on 1925's
"Sugar Foot Stomp" while a member of
the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, moving through his revolutionary
Hot Five and
Seven sessions and his years fronting and leading
the Armstrong All-Stars, and concluding with 1968's poignant summation
"What a Wonderful World," this lovingly assembled overview sketches a broad outline of perhaps the most important American musician of the 20th century.
Armstrong's genius on the trumpet is aptly documented here, but so too is his equally innovative
vocal style, which raised scat singing to the level of art, and brought the fluid, bending flow of the horn line into
pop vocal phrasing, resulting in definitive versions of
"Ain't Misbehavin'," "Black and Blue" (one of the most subtly important
vocal performances in the history of Western
pop),
"Lazy River," "Georgia On My Mind," "Stardust," "Blueberry Hill" (before
Fats Domino),
"Mack the Knife" (before
Bobby Darin), and
"What a Wonderful World." Serious
Armstrong fans and collectors will already have everything here, but if you only have room in your collection for a single
Armstrong set, and you want something that touches on the full sweep of his
jazz and
pop contributions, then this is the one to get.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
;)
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