Now You Has Jazz

Louis Armstrong didn't invent jazz, but he is the acknowledged father. From humble beginnings in the notorious Storyville district of New Orleans he rose from singing on street corners to playing with the top hot jazz musicians of the time. It is impossible to overstate Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong's importance in jazz: he invented scat singing, he was the first black jazz-man to be welcomed in the upper-echelons of white society and his solos are still dissected and analyzed over 75 years after they were recorded.

Louis Armstrong was the first important soloist to emerge in jazz, and he became the most influential musician in the music's history. As a trumpet virtuoso, his playing, beginning with the 1920s studio recordings made with his Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles, charted a future for jazz in highly imaginative, emotionally charged improvisation. For this, he is revered by jazz fans. But Armstrong also became an enduring figure in popular music, due to his distinctively phrased bass singing and engaging personality, which were on display in a series of vocal recordings and film roles.

One of the few complete concert performances of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, this live recording features the legendary jazz trumpeter and singer on an Australian tour in 1964, when he had already become an international superstar and a living symbol of 20th-century American culture. As a founding father of jazz he revolutionized the world of music and became one of the most influential artists and entertainers ever.