[Dixielandjazz] Satchmo at the National Press Club

[Stephen G Barbone]

Later this month, an album  of a Louis Armstrong' performance at the  
National Press Club will be released by Foulkways Records. It was one  
of his last performances before his death in 1971 and while recorded,  
was not previously released. See below NY Times article:

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

March 29, 2012,  NY TIMES - By James C. McKinley Jr.
A 1971 Armstrong Performance to Be Released as Album


Just five months before he died, Louis Armstrong gave a performance at  
the National Press Club in Washington, singing and playing the trumpet  
for nearly a half-hour at a party for the club’s newly elected  
president. That concert was recorded by CBS newsmen who attended the  
event, and the press club later pressed about 300 vinyl copies and  
distributed them to journalists who had attended. It was never  
released as a commercial album, even though it was one of the last  
times the jazz trumpeter performed before his death in July 1971.

Now Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has gotten permission from the  
Armstrong estate to release the recordings on a new album, “Satchmo at  
the National Press Club: Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours,” which will come  
out April 24 as part of the Smithsonian’s annual Jazz Appreciation  
Month, the label and the press club announced on Thursday.

The album will have five tracks from Mr. Armstrong’s performance at  
the press club, among them “Hello Dolly,” “Rockin’ Chair” and “Mack  
the Knife.” He was backed up by Tyree Glenn and his band, and  
Armstrong played trumpet on some of the songs, even though he was  
frail and rarely put the instrument to his lips in public during that  
period. The remaining six tracks on the album came from a tribute  
concert Mr. Glenn’s combo did at the press club shortly after  
Armstrong’s death, including many of his hits, like “Royal Garden  
Blues” and “Crazy Rhythm.”

William McCarren, the executive director of the press club, said the  
organization had been trying for years to find a way to get the  
recording to a wider audience. Most of the copies had been lost, but  
the press club’s archivist had saved one and another had been sent to  
the Library of Congress. “We didn’t feel like we had the rights,” Mr.  
McCarren said. “It wasn’t really clear who should say go.”

The press club sought a ruling from the Library of Congress on the  
copyright question, but was told it only had a right to the materials  
that went with the album, not the recordings themselves. Those written  
materials included liner notes and a booklet of recipes for  
Armstrong’s favorite Louisiana dishes.

In the end, Mr. McCarren said, the club turned the record and the  
liner notes over to the Smithsonian and its nonprofit Folkways label.  
The label contacted the Armstrong estate and received approval for the  
release, a spokesman, Chris Taillie, said.