Live In Europe Nice Jazz Festival 1948 Digipack

Hard to believe, but nearly 50 years after his death we re still hearing new recordings from Louis Armstrong. Live in Europe, the fourth release of the jazz pioneer s music from Dot Time Records Legacy Series, comprises sets from 1948 at the first Nice International Jazz Festival and a 1952 performance in Berlin. These recordings, never before released, were discovered in the archives of the Louis Armstrong House Museum. The audio quality is fine, the shows are fun, and the musicianship is stellar. Armstrong is, after all, the most crucial figure in the development of jazz, a legendary trumpeter, and a uniquely entertaining singer. And his sextets, particularly the 1948 lineup, are top-notch, led by the great pianist Earl Hines. These are jolly sessions, with a plenitude of marquee moments: The highly rhythmic pianism of Fatha Hines that anchors Panama. A superbly executed clarinet solo on Rose Room by Barney Bigard that ends with a crazy sustain. Grand group interplay on Them There Eyes that climaxes with Armstrong s signature scatting. A wonderful slow romp through Tin Roof Blues. Marvelous guest vocals by Velma Middleton on Can Anyone Explain. One of the greatest versions of A Kiss to Build a Dream On anyone s ever heard. And, throughout but especially on Royal Garden Blues, the piercing, precise solos we ve come to know from the trumpet master. There are a few warts Armstrong sounds like he s singing into a cardboard tube on On the Sunny Side of the Street, and he stumbles over the title of Lover Come Back to Me but nothing to dissuade anyone from acquiring this disc. With so many Louis Armstrong albums available, you might think anything new at this point would be for completists only. You d be wrong. --Jazz Times - Steve Greenlee Armstrong in Europe is a collection of never before commercially released live recorded tracks by the incomparable Louis Armstrong. Nine tracks on the LP are from a 1948 performance from Armstrong and His All Stars run at the Nice Opera House in Paris, France his first-ever performance at the Nice International Jazz Festival. The remaining seven were captured in 1952 at the Titania Palast, Berlin. The latter performance initially broadcast on RIAS (Radio In the American Sector) is also released on the same day as a vinyl package titled Armstrong in Germany. Amstrong in Europe is released via Dot Time Records as part of its Legacy Series. --Jazziz - Matt Micucci