1954 - Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy

WHAT NYMITH SAYS

Let's start with the most obvious fact: Louis Armstrong was the greatest trumpeter of all time. Reason enough to hear this album. I am highly ambivalent toward horns - they have a far more limited emotional range than piano, guitar or violin and are all too often used in excess (Stan Kenton, for example, would assemble a wall of them to scream bloody murder throughout an otherwise excellent album like Cuban Fire!). Louis Armstrong set out to make his trumpet SING. No bopping, noodling or squawking while other instruments hold down the melody - Armstrong is the glue holding every song together.

W.C. Handy (1873-1958) himself is every bit as important as Armstrong to what makes this record so phenomenal. He was the man who popularized the blues, adapting a purely regional tradition of music at the turn of the 20th Century and earning it a healthy dose of outside attention and respect. Handy's blues are considerably more polished and elaborate than the classic delta style and they have awesome lyrics, which counts for a lot with me (in the lyrics department more than any other, this tour of '50s music has been a bit of a drag). "If Beale Street could talk/married men would have to take their beds and walk/except one or two who never drink booze/and the man on the corner who sings the Beale Street Blues." The song 'Beale Street Blues' is a fifty-fifty split between the Tin Pan Alley style and, in the second half, the three-line verses of classic blues - a division which sums up this record. The fact that by 1954 W.C. Handy was blind and only had four years left makes this particular tribute especially touching.

Armstrong sings every song with total conviction and good humour. He's accompanied on several tracks by Velma Middleton, whose bland tone and limited range would at first appear to be a mistake but she more than made up for it with great comedic timing and, more importantly, fantastic chemistry with Armstrong. They cut up and carry on, having a party without compromising the professional result. You can't fault this record for anything.

So, for individual highlights: 'St. Louis Blues' is considered the Hamlet of the blues, for obvious reasons. It's eight minutes long, and from its arresting, moody start it completely hooks your attention. None of the verses seem to be connected to each other and the instrumental fills between them are every bit as riveting as the give and take between Velma and Louis. This full sound carries on for the length of the record but the singers and the band go hand in hand - 'Ole Miss Blues' is a bit out of place as the sole instrumental, just because it's got less character to latch on to.

'Loveless Love' is a great song, jauntily complaining that synthetic foods and clothing are making us grow used to "soulless soul" (or am I reading way too much into that?). 'Chantez Les Bas' and 'The Memphis Blues' are warm tributes to the music scenes of their respective cities, while 'Aunt Hagar's Blues' defends the blues from church attacks (go Aunt Hagar!). 'Beale Street' and 'Yellow Dog Blues' go for a darker, slower tone while 'Long Gone (from the Bowling Green)' tips straight over into joke terrain, and that with the simple verse-chorus structure makes it probably the weakest track.

Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy is a tremendous record that hits every base - it's got a ton of personality, is well-played, well-recorded, carries a great historical value into turn-of-the-century blues, contains many catchy tunes and of course features Louis Armstrong's trumpet. A fabulous, faultless gem.

WHAT TICHARU SAYS

A very impressive record. Superbly recorded, plenty of verve in the performances and the atmosphere is transportive. It sounds like a party record but if you played this record at a party you'd miss all the best bits. Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy is a party best observed like a fly on the wall. Let the sound of this record fill the room and just soak it in, enjoying your great good fortune at finding such a wonderful recording.