[Dixielandjazz] Louis and Lombardo

[Stephen G Barbone]

In 1949, Louis Armstrong was given a blindfold test by Leonard Feather  
where he was asked to identify and comment on six unnamed recordings.  
"Metronome" Sept 1949 reported on the test. The recordings were:

1) "Fiesta in Brass" (Roy Eldridge, Emmett Berry, Joe Thomas,  
trumpets, Guarnieri Piano)

2) "Franklin Street Blues" (Bunk Johnson and George Lewis)

3) "Keeper of the Flame" (Woody Herman)

4) "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (Art Hodes, Wild Bill Davison,  
Sidney Bechet)

5) ""Sometime I'm Happy" (Benny Goodman w/ Bunny Berigan)

6) "Always" (Guy Lombardo)


He gave #1, 3 stars;  #2, 4 stars: #3, 2 stars; #4, 3 stars; #5. 4  
stars; Then he heard Lombardo's, "Always" and said:

"Give this son of a gun eight (8) stars!  Lombardo! These people are  
keeping music alive-helping to fight them damn beboppers. You know,  
you go to have somebody to keep the music sounding good. You know,  
this is the band that inspired me to make "Among My Souvenirs". They  
inspired me to make "Sweethearts on Parade." They're my inspirators!"

A year earlier he said in a Downbeat interview:

"It's always the same thing in all languages. You make a pretty tune  
and you play it well and you don't have to worry about nothing. If you  
swing it, that's fine, and if you don't, well look at Lombardo and  
Sinatra and they're still not going hungry. We'll still be around when  
the others will be forgotten."

SOURCE: "Louis Armstrong In His Own Words - Selected writings" -  
Oxford University Press.

James Lincoln Collier said in his book that Louis' admiration for  
Lombardo was shared by some other black jazz musicians as well during  
the 1920s. And Lombardo reciprocated, inviting Louis and Zutty  
Singleton to perform with him in 1928.

Note also the following abstract from an article in the Jazz Research  
Journal by Elijah Ward:

"Though Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians were always considered  
the sweetest of American dance bands and the antithesis of what is  
usually called jazz, Louis Armstrong regularly named them as his  
favorite orchestra. This judgment is usually dismissed as an odd  
quirk, but by exploring it we can learn something about what made  
Armstrong unique. Likewise, it is worth examining Armstrong’s  
admiration for classical virtuosos like Herbert Clarke of the Sousa  
band. In broader terms, we cannot understand the evolution of jazz if  
we do not explore the deep African-American classical tradition and  
the extent to which artists like Armstrong and Lombardo shared a  
single world, and appealed to a broadly overlapping audience. Sweet  
orchestras and classical concert music, rather than being the opposite  
of jazz, were among the many inspirations for Armstrong and his peers,  
and our understanding and appreciation of these musicians is increased  
when we realize the breadth of their interests."

Perhaps to fully understand Louis Armstrong's jazz, we should listen  
to those musicians to whom he listened?

If you are interested in more of the "sentimental side" of Louis, go to:

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2008/09/tenderlyyoull-never-walk-alone-updated.html

Read the blog scrolling down to the first mp3 and hear the All Stars  
play a medley of "Tenderly" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Grab your  
main squeeze, turn the lights down, and slow dance to them. Is it jazz  
as Bill Haesler might ask? Who cares?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband