Search - Louis Armstrong :: Pocketful of Dreams 3

Between the devil and the deep blue sea...

jive rhapsodist | NYC, NY United States | 01/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"No, that track isn't on this disc. But what I mean is - this is neither the best nor the worst Armstrong CD. He's playing,the band is not as bad as people sometimes make it out to be. But this shouldn't even be one of your first TEN Armstrong's! However, I have to say that any CD with Steven Lasker's name on it is worth buying. He is the finest remastering engineer of older Jazz on a major label - by far.

Are there any real musical highpoints here? Can't think of any. Drummer Sid Catlett came into the band shortly thereafter, raising the level enormously. And I say this with no little pain, because the team on most of this CD - (drummer) Paul Barbarin and (bassist) Pops Foster were about the swingingest team of the late '20's. But not here; not in 1938."