[Dixielandjazz] Armstrong at Town Hall The First All Stars?

[Steve barbone]

"Fred Spencer" <drjz at bealenet.com> wrote
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Source for picture of Louis Armstrong's
> Original All Stars
> 
> Dear Bill and Stan,
> Where it all started (well almost) is depicted on page 37 of William P.
> Gottlieb's "The Golden Age of Jazz" (Simon and Schuster, 1979) with this
> caption--"At this concert in New York's Town Hall, Louis' group consisted of
> Jack Teagarden, trombone; Bobby Hackett, trumpet; Peanuts Hucko, clarinet;
> Bob Haggart, Bass, Sid Catlett,drums; and Dick Cary, piano." Cheers.

That May 17, 1947 picture is also in "JAZZ, A History of America's Music by
Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns, Published by Alfred Knopf in 2000 as the
companion book to the TV Series. Picture on page 340 shows from left to
right:

Jack Teagarden, Dick Cary, Louis, Bobby Hackett, Peanuts Hucko, Bob Haggart
and Sid Catlett. 

There is also a bit of the story about why and how it happened plus the
following:

"The Town Hall concert sold out, critics loved it, and on the strength of
its success, Armstrong formed the first version of the All Stars. It
included Catlett, Barney Bigard, the pianist Dick Cary, bassist Arvell Shaw
and Teagarden. When Armstrong warned Teagarden that he might encounter
trouble on the road because he was white and traveling with black musicians,
his old friend is supposed to have reassured him: "You're a spade and I'm an
ofay. We got the same soul. Let's blow."

Plus more about the subsequent All Stars.

Those who don't have this book, are missing out on a lot of jazz history.
Plus some perspective about what made the all stars such a BIG hit. Like
"the good old good ones mixed with brand new hits". And "rhythm based upon
the kind 4/4 swing he had brought to Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra almost a
quarter century earlier." Plus "stage jokes . . . all part of a complete
entertainment package that had always been Louis Armstrong."

IMO, Eddie Condon, post 1947, approached his music the same way.

Now you know why Barbone Street is so successful in obtaining gigs. Besides
learning from his musical ideas with some updating, we patterned our updated
concepts of stage presence after THE MASTER, with a little help from
watching Eddie Condon succeed similarly in NYC during the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone