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Rating: Listen to the sad Korean pianists.
Listen to the pale white bassists.
Listen to them where jazz is music for the elite, in the dining rooms where the only sounds are the clinking of glasses and cutlery, where the music that was once the most popular – in the literal sense of the word – mixes with the clumsy arpeggios of Allegri.
Listen to it. Appreciate it, because it deserves to be.
However, once you have done that, take this collection.
Fourteen albums covering the most creative period for one who is the best artist of the Twentieth Century: Louis Armstrong. Fourteen albums spanning from 1925 to 1945, a colossal collection indispensable for those who love jazz, or music in general.
The jazz in this record is tavern jazz, fiery, black, crowded, that flows, like lava, almost impossible to contain, invades the room, occupies all available space and demands more. And you, stunned by such power, gladly give it to it. It accepts no compromises. Raw and tough like one of its many fathers, the blues.
This doesn't mean that there is any lack of skill, on the contrary: the musicians, without any exception – and many are rotated, considering twenty-one years of music are covered – are cohesive amongst themselves and give excellent performances. Sure, they might not be virtuosos, but who cares? After all, the crazy audience of 1920s New Orleans didn't pay much attention to this aspect. And I don't see why I should.
At first with shyness, later with power and determination, stands out above all the bright and thundering sound of the trumpet of Louis Armstrong, the boy born, according to legend, on July 4, 1900, who forever revolutionized jazz and music in general, driving the public's attention to the performer's solo. He, yes, a true virtuoso of the instrument, the trumpet, which Satchmo took to extreme limits that no one could ever surpass. Sure, others would reach them, but so far no one has exceeded them.
Armstrong understood that jazz had to be a combination of blood and mind, enthusiasm and skill, and refined this discovery throughout his career.
It's almost astonishing to be able to trace twenty years of this legend who reshuffled all the cards of music and did not care to put them back in place. Practically every serious artist who came after him has been influenced, one way or another, by his approach.
All his music was the ultimate anthem to life.
Tracklist and Lyrics
03 I Only Have Eyes for You (04:14)
My love must be a kind of blind love
I can't see anyone but you
And dear, I wonder if you find love
An optical illusion, too?
Are the stars out tonight?
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
'Cause I only have eyes for you, dear
The moon may be high
But I can't see a thing in the sky
'Cause I only have eyes for you.
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
08 Body and Soul (04:43)
My heart is sad and lonely
For you I sigh, for you, dear, only
Why haven't you seen it?
I'm all for you, body and soul
I spend my days in longin'
And wond'ring why it's me you're wrongin'
I tell you, I mean it
I'm all for you, body and soul
I can't believe it, it's hard to conceive it
That you'd turn away romance
Are you pretending? It looks like the ending
Unless I could have one more chance to prove, dear
My life a wreck you're making
You know I'm yours for just the taking
I'd gladly surrender myself to you, body and soul
My life a wreck you're making
You know I'm yours for just the taking
I would gladly surrender myself to you, body and soul
11 Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (04:54)
{verse 1)
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Nobody knows but Jesus
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Glory Hallelujah
-repeat verse-
Sometimes I'm up and sometimes I'm down
Yes lord, you know sometimes I'm almost to the ground
O yes, Lord, still
-verse 1-
You got here before I do
O yes Lord, don't forget to tell all my friends I'm coming too
O yes Lord, still
-verse 1-
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Other reviews
By ligdjs
Some are made of swing, like Duke, Jimmy Cobb, like Louis Armstrong. And this collection is full of swing.
If you resist the charges of 'Basin Street Blues' and 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,' you’re not worthy of being brought into this world.
