Search - Louis Armstrong :: Live at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival

Plenty o' fire from ole Satchelmouth

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 09/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After a short but enthusiastic introduction by none other than Dizzy Gillespie, Armstrong's All-Stars kick off another (allegedly previously not released) concert performance. Naturally, new live recording by a jazz giant is always something to look forward to and Satchmo really delivers;

he was still near his prime in the 50's and this opening for the glorious Monterey jazz festival will give pleasure to his wider audience and to his jazz fans.



However, this concert was sort of a compromise, apparently quite typical for many Satchmo's All-Stars performances; although they manage to uplift "Blueberry Hill", primarily through Armstrong's creative phrasing, it is still not a song worthy of the artist gathered on the stage. "Tiger Rag", another crowd-pleaser (a rare example of a jazz instrumental widely recognisible beyond jazz audiences), is played with only half of the imagination young Armstrong would put in, while there are two quite unnecessary hits from Satchmo's role in the musical "High Society" (otherwise starring Sinatra, Crosby and Grace Kelly) - "Now You Has Jazz" and "High Society Calypso")...



However, there is plenty of fire here; even the abovementioned songs the band still plays good and fierce jazz.

BTW, Trummy Young is a good stand in for Bing Crosby in vocal duet with Armstrong in "Now You Has Jazz"; Satchmo calls him "Bing Crosby in technicolor".



Trummy Young (tb), Peanuts Hucko (cl) and Billy Kyle (p) sound rich and powerful on their instruments, with Danny Barcelona throwing in some very effective bombs all around the concert. Jazz standards (some would say warhorses) such as "Bucket's got a whole in it", "Perdido", "Stompin' at the savoy", "St Louis Blues", "These Foolish Things" and even "Autumn Leaves" are explored with fire, with Armstrong allowing his fellow musicians to shine alongside him (Billy Kyle, for instance, is very effective on Tizol's "Perdido").



In the end there's even When the saints go marchin' in; not a jazz song per se, but such an uplifting song, quite suitable for Satcmo's energy and ideal closing of the concert.

Naturally, for the really top-notch Louis Armstrong All-Stars check out

Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy"

Louis and his All-Stars in their prime in stereo in 1958

J. T. Stasiak | San Diego, CA | 11/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a fun concert to listen to: this 1958 recording has outstanding audio quality and the performers are in top form and obviously enjoying themselves. It is interesting to compare this recording with the Louis Armstrong Jazz Icons DvD (a different concert performed in Belgium that same year): The musicians are the same and many of the numbers are the same. In fact, this was a musical stage show that was fairly consistent from concert to concert. Eight of the songs are the same on both; nine are different on the CD; and 5 are different on the DvD. All of the songs are available on other Armstrong recordings. Nevertheless, like great actors who perform the same play repeatedly, the musicians all performed with great enthusiasm and virtuosity and clearly gave their top efforts. The audio quality on the CD (true stereo) is superior to that on the DVD (monaural). However the DVD conveys the theatrical quality of the concert (the dancing, the musicians clowning, Armstrong's facial expressions, etc.) which does not come across nearly as well on the CD. There are more individual solos by the all-star musicians on the CD. However the DVD and the CD have a way of complementing each other for the reasons given above. You can't go wrong with either or both of them."