Celebrate Independence Day With Louis Armstrong…

24 hours of Louis Armstrong in celebration of Independence Day on WKCR radio, 89.9 FM in NYC or streaming here:

http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/louis-armstrong-birthday-broadcast-july-3rd-600-pm-july-5th-930-am

What’s more American than jazz?

Happy Birthday, Duke Ellington!

Duke Ellington – Piano / Louis Armstrong – Trumpet, Vocals / Trummy Young – Trombone / Barney Bigard – Clarinet / Mort Herbert – Bass / Danny Barcelona – Drums — Roulette Records, 1961.

WKCR is hosting their annual birthday broadcast, available on-line here:

http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/thursday-april-29-duke-ellington-birthday-broadcast

Don Byas, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong & The Esquire All-American 1946 Award Winners:

Recently, a wealth of obscure jazz material has appeared on YouTube, including several ultra-rare 78s featuring Esquire All-American 1946 Award Winners — an all-star gathering of some of jazz finest musicians. I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this:

Look at this line-up, it’s crazy:

Louis Armstrong – trumpet & vocal;  Charlie Shavers – trumpet; Jimmy Hamilton – clarinet; Johnny Hodges – alto sax; Don Byas – tenor sax
Remo Palmieri – guitar; Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn – pianos
Chubby Jackson – bass; Sonny Greer – drums

I’d heard Satch and Duke together many times and most of these other players were Ellington regulars but I had no idea that Don Byas had ever recorded with either gentleman, what a treat!

Here’s another track with a similar line-up (Duke bows out on piano; Neil Hefti sits in on trumpet):

Bop and Beyond’s 50 Personally Indispensable Jazz Albums:

Monty challenged me to come up with my own list of 50 personally indispensable jazz albums in response to the Amazon 100 list.

The criteria was simple, name the 50 jazz albums I personally could not live without. That’s it… a list of favorite albums (not necessarily the greatest albums either). Anyone who has followed this site knows my taste so most of these albums won’t come as much of a surprise anyway.

Monty’s list is posted here: http://rightheredude.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-top-50-jazz-albums-of-all-time.html

In the meantime, here’s mine…

01. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

02. Duke Ellington – Money Jungle

03. Clifford Brown & Max Roach – A Study In Brown

04. Thelonious Monk – Monk’s Dream

05. Billie Holiday – Lady Day: The Master Takes

06. Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington – The Great Summit

07. Coleman Hawkins – Body and Soul

08. Ornette Coleman – At The Golden Circle

09. Miles Davis – In A Silent Way

10. Peggy Lee – Black Coffee

11. John Coltrane – Coltrane’s Sound

12. Alice Coltrane – Ptah, the El Daoud

13. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Like Someone In Love

14. Ahmad Jamal – The Legendary Okeh and Epic Recordings

15. Curtis Amy – Katanga!

16. Von Freeman – The Great Divide

17. Mary Lou Williams – Black Christ of the Andes

18. Paul Chambers – Bass on Top

19. Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchidananda

20. Charlie Rouse – Bossa Nova Bacchanal

21. Thelonious Monk – Misterioso

22. Booker Ervin – The Freedom Book

23. Ike Quebec – Blue and Sentimental

24. Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus

25. John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

26. Miles Davis – Ascenseur Pour L’echafaud (Lift to the Scaffold)

27. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Au Club St. Germain

28. Duke Ellington – Fargo, 1940

29. Coleman Hawkins – Night Hawk

30. Mal Waldron – The Seagulls of Kristiansund

31. Herbie Nichols – Love, Gloom, Cash, Love

32. Jimmy Smith – Back at the Chicken Shack

33. Pharoah Sanders – Jewels of Thought

34. The Jazz Crusaders – Freedom Sound

35. Django Reinhardt – Paris and London

36. Dexter Gordon – Our Man In Paris

37. Andrew Hill – Smokestack

38. Stanley Turrentine – Jubilee Shout!!!

39. Don Byas – Laura

40. Clifford Brown – With Strings

41. Grachan Moncur III – Evolution

42. Earl Hines – Once Upon A Time

43. Horace Parlan – Speakin’ My Piece

44. Lou Blackburn – The Complete Imperial Sessions

45. Sonny Rollins – East Broadway Run Down

46. Carmell Jones – Jay Hawk Talk

47. The Curtis Counce Group – Carl’s Blues

48. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Free For All

49. Paul Gonsalves – Boom Jackie Boom Chick

50. Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue

Mosaic Records Documentary on Louis Armstrong

The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-46)

Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, discusses the significant historical impact of Louis Armstrong’s Decca Sessions.

Pre-order your copy here:

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=243-MD-CD