Dan Morgenstern schreibt in seinen Liner Notes zu „The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars“ (Mosaic MR8/MD6-146, 1993) folgende luziden Sätze über Armstrong und seine Kritiker:
Some misconceptions are so deeply rooted in the minds of those responsible for the formulation of what is called jazz history that they have become almost impossible to clear up. Thus Louis Armstrong’s official, critically certified artistic fame still rests chiefly on his seminal 1920s recordings with the various small groups known as his Hot Five, Hot Seven and Savoy Ballroom Five. In quite recent times, both the usually perceptive Guntehr Schuller (in his THE SWING ERA) and the usually wrongheaded James L. Collier (in his Armstrong „biography“ in his entry on Louis in the NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF JAZZ) have upheld the view that this was Armstrong’s ideal musical setting, and that when he „abandoned“ it for fronting big bands in 1929, he made a musical turn for the worse, at least as an artist.
But the small-group recordings, made between 1925 and 1928, were strictly studio units (the Hot Five performed in person just once, at a Chicago benefit), and from the time he left King Oliver’s band in the fall of 1924 to join Fletcher Henderson until the formation of the All Stars in the fall of 1947 – for no less than 23 crucial career years – Louis Armstrong made his day-to-day living playing with big bands, including his own. The 1920s small-group records represent a total of 25 days work during a four-year period – not even full days, sicne he no doubt went to work on all those 25 nights. That he sould be taken to taskk for having abandoned something he never spent much time on, and that his post-1929 recorded work should be judged as a radical change in his approach to music is sheerest nonsense.
The fact is that Louis Armstrong did not head up any working small group until he took charge of the All Stars. By then, big bands had fallen on evil economic days. Even so, it took all of manager Joe Glaser’s persuasive powers to convince Armstrong to lay off his 16 musicians, girl singer and bandboy. He knew he was their mealticket, and he was always compassionate.
Billboard, August 30, 1947, p. 21
An den ersten Auftritten im Billy Berg’s sind gemäss Berichten von Time (dachte das gäb’s auch online, nicht? Wo ist Herr rote Bohnen, wenn man ihn braucht?) u.a. Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer und Woody Herman anwesend – alles grosse Fans von Armstrong. Die All Stars spielten ein paar Wochen später auch an einem von Gene Normans „Just Jazz“-Konzerter in Pasadena und gingen dann nach Chicago, um die erste Studio-Session aufzunehmen.
Billboard, September 6, 1947, p. 36
Im Februar reiste Armstrong zum ersten Mal seit 1934/35 wieder nach Europa – nach Nizza zu einem Festival, eigentlich dem ersten Jazzfestival überhaupt, das Hugues Panassié organisiert hatte. Inzwischen sass Earl Hines am Piano – auch er hatte seine Big Band endgültig aufgeben müssen.
1949 ersetzte Cozy Cole den ursprünglichen Drummer Sid Catlett, der aus gesundheitlichen Gründen aus der Band schied – die All Stars waren üblicherweise etwa 300 Tage pro Jahr auf Tour… Earl Hines verliess die Band Ende 1951, weil er nicht zum Sideman geboren war. Jack Teagarden seinerseits hatte mit den All Stars wieder einen so guten Ruf gewonnen, dass er beschloss, selber eine ähnliche Band zu gründen. Sein Ersatz war Trummy Young, der vom September 1952 bis Ende 1963 dabei war. Am Piano folgte Billy Kyle (Dezbember 1952 bis Anfang 1966), nachdem Joe Sullivan und Marty Napoleon für kurze Zeit dabei waren (Napoleon folgte im März 1966 wieder auf Kyle und blieb dann bis 1968, als die All Stars ihre Pflicht erfüllt hatten).
Eine komplette Auflistung der All Stars findet sich hier:
Die Decca-Sessions, die Mosaic gesammelt hat, setzen im April 1950 ein – weitere All Stars-Aufnahmen fanden zwischen jenen für RCA 1947 und diesen ersten für Decca nicht statt, ebenso wie Armstrong bis zum 1. September 1949 nicht mehr im Studio gestanden hatte. Allerdings gibt es neben vielen Bootlegs ein offizielles Live-Dokument aus der Bostoner Symphony Hall vom 30. November 1947 (ich kenne das Konzert noch nicht). 1948 fand der zweite recording ban statt.
Die Sessions vom September 1949 entstanden dann mit grösseren Formationen und wurden später auf den LPs „Satchmo in Style“ und „Satchmo Serenades“ veröffentlicht, es fand auch eine weitere Begegnung mit Billie Holiday statt, die mit Armstrong schon 1947 im Film New Orleans aufgetreten war.
Es folgten zehn Jahre, während derer Armstrong einigermassen regelmässig mit den All Stars für Decca aufnahm. Daneben enstanden Aufnahmen für Columbia (darunter das grossartige W.C. Handy Album und ein Album mit Fats Wallers Musik) und Verve. Für Decca entstanden auch Live-Aufnahmen (Pasadena, Crescendo – kenne ich beide auch noch nicht) und diverse Projekte mit anderen Stars wie Ella Fitzgerald (auch für Verve), Louis Jordan, Bing Crosby etc.
Noch einmal Morgenstern:
In retrospect, and in the light of the post-Marsalis era in jazz, when Armstrong has once again become a sacred name, the slings thrown at the All Stars seem absurd. The repertory was too reptitious. (What organized, working jazz group – or player, or singer – doesn’t have his or her set pieces; in fact, the All Stars had a repertory that was both larger and more subject to additions and subtractions than most.) Nothing „new“ was being said. (Thirst for novelty should be expected in the marketplace, but does it belong in the arts? How many innovations could still be demanded from the man who’d invented the vocabulary of jazz? And who still discovered new nuances to convey emotion as his chops and mind reacted to age and change?) The band was an „act“ and Louis‘ jokes were tasteless, his mugging embarassing. (Sure it was an act, and so is anyone and anything that must go on stage and perform, even if far less often than the All Stars, who worked beyond the 300-days-a-year mark; sometimes they were barely off for Christmas. If you haven’t got your act together when you go from airport to hotel, change, do a soundcheck, and hit the boards in some strange town, your audiences will soon be booing, but the All Stars‘ audiences always cheered. The point is whether the act is good. With Louis, there was never any question about that. As for his jokes, their intent was to make people laugh, which they did because he enjoyed himself so much in telling them. Anf if you want to see some mugging, go to Africa, baby, where Louis was received like a king. Which he was.)
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #158 – Piano Jazz 2024 (Teil 1) - 19.12.2024 – 20:00; #159: Martial Solal (1927–2024) – 21.1., 22:00; #160: 11.2., 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba