(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . This day in history - 100 years since Louis Armstrong's first recorded solo [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-05 On April 5, 1923, Louis Armstrong recorded Chimes Blues with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, featuring a short solo by the trumpet prodigy (although he was still playing the cornet at this time). As a solo, it’s relatively unremarkable, especially compared to what Armstrong would produce later in the decade, but it was a first in a career that would revolutionize American music. A year after recording with King Oliver, Armstrong moved to New York to play with Fletcher Henderson before returning to Chicago in 1925 to form his own band. Over the next few years, Armstrong made a series of recordings with his Hot Fives and Sevens, which in many ways transformed jazz from an ensemble style of music focused on collective improvisation to an art form focused around soloing. In addition to changing the structure of jazz, his phrasing, rhythmic innovations and relaxed singing style had a profound influence on both jazz and popular musicians which continues to this day. Louis Armstrong’s earliest, most influential music no longer gets the attention it deserves. Most younger people (and older, for that matter) will recognize What a Wonderful World, or possibly Hello Dolly, but that’s usually the extent of their direct exposure to his music. Few know anything about early jazz before the big band era and his Chicago recordings are mostly recognized by his true fans, which is a shame since they are both historically important and feature some truly amazing musicianship. One of my favorites is his 1928 rendition of Basin Street Blues, which is a prime example of the rhythmic complexity and phrasing that made him so unique (the solo starts at 2:06, but you should really listen to the complete piece): On a first listen, it may not sound all that impressive compared to more modern music, but anyone who has tried to reproduce a solo like this will quickly realize how difficult it actually is. He seems to somehow fit notes in where they don’t belong and play triplets that aren’t exactly triplets. Even the quarter notes, as he played them, can be vexing to imitate. Yet, it all sounds effortless from him. Some other pieces demonstrate his incredible endurance and physicality. Tight Like This is a good example (yes, the innuendo is intentional). By the time this was recorded, Armstrong was collaborating with Earl Hines, who turned out to be one of the most influential jazz pianists. Listen carefully and you can hear the influence of Armstrong’s approach to phrasing on Hines’ playing. That influence was pervasive, extending to both instrumentalists and vocalists such as Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald. Just to give a sense of the endurance required to get through the solo, have a listen to Wynton Marsallis giving it a go. Despite being one of the most technically capable modern trumpeters, you can see that he’s struggling by the end. Later in the century, Armstrong fell out of favor with many other Black musicians who took offense to his entertaining style and clowning around on stage, with Dizzy Gillespie referring to him as a “plantation character.” Miles Davis complained that “his personality was developed by white people wanting black people to entertain by smiling and jumping around.” Despite his frustration at Armstrong’s on-stage persona (which was actually developed in front of Black audiences), he also recognized Armstrong’s immense talent and musical influence by remarking that “you know you can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played - I mean even modern.” Dizzy eventually moderated his view also, recognizing that Louis’ joy in playing was in defiance of the racism he experienced and not a capitulation to white audiences. He also had a number of loyal defenders during this time, including Tony Bennett who once opined that “The bottom line of any country is: what did we contribute to the world? We contributed Louis Armstrong.” As I mentioned in the beginning, Louis Armstrong’s music is no longer recognized by the young folk for the most part, but his widespread influence continues to be recognized by musicians, even outside of the jazz world. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and some of his hardcore fans may surprise you. Angus Young, of AC/DC, commented “I still think he was one of the greatest musicians of all time. When you listen to his old records and hear the musicianship and emotion on them, and you realise that the technology in those days was almost non-existent – they all had to be done in one take.” Flea, the bassist from Red Hot Chili Peppers, is another fan who recognizes Armstrong as being one of the best and has a history of tweets on the subject (quoting below because twitter links are not working for me at all). No matter what happens on this earth, Louis Armstrong played the Potato Head Blues. And If us dumbass humans make the world uninhabitable so we all die, and a new race of intelligent beings arise in our place, and there is only one thing left to show the best of what we were, I hope it’s this: Hopefully we won’t manage to kill ourselves off, but regardless of our future, I hope that Louis Armstrong can be remembered as the best humanity has to offer. 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