[Dixielandjazz] Louis Armstrong reviewed -- New York Times, November 28, 2014

[Robert Ringwald]

The Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars
(Mosaic Records, nine CDs, $149)
by Ben Ratliff
New York Times, November 28, 2014
This was the period of Louis Armstrong’s career -- 1947 to 1958 -- when his fame
grew as big as it would ever get, and yet his road wasn’t clear. He had to compete
against a new jazz audience that saw him as a relic when he made albums of commercial
pop standards; he also had to compete against his brilliant past, reintroduced to
the market on 78s and LPs. (The story of jazz as a reissued music, defined and sometimes
haunted by its own back story, really begins with Armstrong.) His new strategy was
to go on the road playing hot and casual jazz, a version of the sound that made him
a hero in the first place, in theaters from New York to Amsterdam to Ghana, among
musicians of his generation including Sid Catlett, Jack Teagarden and Barney Bigard.
A hardened entertainer, Armstrong repeated some of his solos note-for-note across
these performances -- a suspect practice in jazz. But they were generally worth repeating.
Here are 11 years’ worth of these concerts, previously released (on records like
“Satchmo the Great”) and not, rendered in the best audio possible.
-30

-Bob Ringwald
Bob Ringwald Solo Piano, duo, Trio, Quartet
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/ 806-9551
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