Louis Armstrong All Stars

The A-list ensemble The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars will release their tribute album to the great musician, A Gift To Pops, on October 15 via Verve Records.

Louis Daniel Armstrong was an American trumpeter, composer, vocalist, and actor who was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in the history of jazz.

Here are Louis Armstrong and his All Stars at two different locations in San Francisco 1954, doing what they loved and did best: playing Jazz of a quality defying description, and, as Louis would have said “pleasing the people”. These recordings happily capture Louis and his cohorts at the glorious height of their powers during two engagements (broadcast from the Downbeat and Hangover clubs) of the kind that often formed the All-Stars’ nightly round. Seldom, if ever, have Armstrong and his All-Stars been captured in more exultant form. Such performances as this are seminal to Jazz. Like Louis Armstrong, music like this will never come again.

In 1955, Louis Armstrong, along with vocalist Velma Middleton, got into the studio to pay tribute to the late Fats Waller. All the standards are here: "Honeysuckle Rose," "Squeeze Me," "Ain't Misbehavin," rendered in fine and mellow but gently, genially swinging fashion. Armstrong's trumpet is superb and his voice carries the good-time spirit of Waller's music.

Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy is a 1954 studio release by Louis Armstrong and His All Stars, described by Allmusic as "Louis Armstrong's finest record of the 1950s" and "essential music for all serious jazz collections".

"Satchmo Plays King Oliver" is one of those titles that audiophiles have known about for years and a favorite at Hi-Fi shows for demonstration. The first cut, "St. James Infimary" is out of this world like many of the other tunes including a great version of "Frankie and Johnny". This record is Louis' tribute to the man who helped shape his trumpet style back in New Orleans and whose invitation to join his band in Chicago put him in the spotlight which has shone on him ever since.

The album, highlighted with his expressive and emotive vocal styling, includes arguably one of the greatest songs ever written, “What A Wonderful World”, a recording that would be inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and continues to transcend countless generations of music lovers.

Whether they called him "Satchmo" or simply the "man with the silver trumpet", millions of people, from Mongolia to Munich, Milano and Mozambique, recognized the cherubic countenance, gravel voice, and high, rhythmic notes that bought thousands to greet him and hear him wherever he went - the magnetism was, at times, as awesome as his music could be. Louis Armstrong was one of the greatest musicians jazz ever produced, perhaps - and few, if any, will argue against this - the greatest.

In 1955, Louis Armstrong, along with vocalist Velma Middleton, got into the studio to pay tribute to the late Fats Waller. All the standards are here: "Honeysuckle Rose," "Squeeze Me," "Ain't Misbehavin," rendered in fine and mellow but gently, genially swinging fashion. Armstrong's trumpet is superb and his voice carries the good-time spirit of Waller's music.

Whatever the coincidence or lack thereof, jazz listeners were fortunate when Armstrong's and Ellington's paths crossed in an RCA Victor recording studio in 1961, thanks to producer Bob Thiele's influence. And jazz listeners are doubly fortunate that devoted jazz re-issue producer Michael Cuscuna found the out-takes from those sessions. The result is that listeners can be a fly on the wall during the creative process as the two kind-of centeniarians develop the final recorded tracks that the public heard on the original Roulette recordings.