Personnel includes: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet, cornet); Jack Teagarden (vocals, trombone); The Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald (vocals); Don Redman (spoken vocals, alto saxophone); Earl Hines (spoken vocals, piano); Sidney Bechet (soprano saxophone); Teddy Hill (tenor saxophone); Henry "Red" Allen, Shelton Hemphill, Clark Terry (trumpet); King Oliver (cornet); Kid Ory, J.C. Higginbotham, Wilbur De Paris, J.J. Johnson (trombone); Johnny Dodds (clarinet); Lil Hardin Armstrong, Clarence Williams, Oscar Peterson (piano); Herb Ellis (guitar); Eddie Condon (banjo); George "Pops" Foster, Red Callender (bass); Baby Dodds (drums, chimes); Zutty Singleton, Paul Barbarin, Sid Catlett, Louis Bellson (drums).
Compilation producers: Michael Brooks, Ken Burns.
Recorded between 1923 and 1967. Includes liner notes by Doug Ramsey.
Digitally remastered by Darcy M. Proper (Sony Studios, New York, New York).
This is part of the Columbia/Legacy Ken Burns JAZZ series.
Though documentarian Ken Burns's ten-part series JAZZ moves through several decades and several styles of jazz, the one figure who dominates the sonic/cultural landscape of the entire documentary is Louis Armstrong, the trumpeter/vocalist generally credited with inventing jazz as we know it and pioneering the art of improvisation. Covering Armstrong's career on a single disc is a tough job, but in conjunction with the series, we are able to see how these selections represent Armstrong's various periods of development. We get not only his pioneering early New Orleans cuts lie "Potato Head Blues" and "Chimes Blues," but his later pop crossover hits, such as "Hello Dolly" and "Mack the Knife." While the latter should be familiar to all, the former are probably known only to jazz fans, and will be a special treat for the neophyte listener.
