Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 1518 Location: Vancouver, BC
Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:27 pm Post subject:
Another thing about Mr. Armstrong is that he is famous for two very different things. One is his ambassadorial singing and showmanship: Hello Dolly, What a Wonderful World, etc. The general public who still know of him know him for those things. Then there is his trumpet playing. The general public don't give much of a hoot about that, but trumpet players and other students of music marvel at his composition, phrasing, execution, nuance, etc. The closest I can think of for being famous for two different arts might be Frank Sinatra as a singer and actor. He had some notable roles such as From Here to Eternity, The Manchurian Candidate, High Society, The Man with the Golden Arm, Suddenly. _________________ 1938 Martin Handcraft Imperial #2 bore, 38 bell
Bach 7C mouthpiece
The clip points to something that gets less attention when his name comes up : a GREAT core sound which wasn't part of any write up or public appreciation of him. In general, it tends to get overlooked in terms of how well he ranks with modern players. Kids starting out may not be thrilled with what they interpret as a nasal sound, but is actually like a Mack truck.
The clip points to something that gets less attention when his name comes up : a GREAT core sound which wasn't part of any write up or public appreciation of him. In general, it tends to get overlooked in terms of how well he ranks with modern players. Kids starting out may not be thrilled with what they interpret as a nasal sound, but is actually like a Mack truck.
+1
His sound is one of the reasons I get up in the morning.
He may not have been the best technician on the trumpet of all time, but IMO he's definitely one of the greatest trumpeters of all time. That huge sound is instantly recognizable no matter how lousy the recording quality, how scratched the record, or how distant and tinny the speaker is in the supermarket - you hear it and you know it's him. Some might argue that he could've been a more nimble player - more flexibility, quicker tonguing, etc. - and that in his later years (the All-Stars era, which is how I know and love him best), some of the dexterity of his youth had worn off. While some of that may have been his aging process, I feel like (and I'm not the first with this opinion) that was in a large part a compromise (maybe even subconsciously so) for how much MORE alive, shinier, and BIGGER his sound became. Think about how full his sound is - particularly on the climactic high notes - in his solo on "Potato Head Blues"
Some other things to think about in regard to his playing: his sense of swing, groove, style, whatever you want to call it, is absolutely infectious, which is why Fletcher Henderson hired him in the 20's:
Gunther Schuller transcribed his solos in his jazz history books and notated the rhythms with as much grid-like, metric precision as possible leading to this solo being filled with cross-rhythms and quintuplets, but that's how flexible the beat was to Armstrong:
He certainly raised the bar of what is possible and expected for trumpeters and cornetists in the jazz world, and while he may not have actually set any records in the classical world, he certainly presented quite a challenge to the classical players of his day - there are stories from the 20s and 30s of them coming to hear him live and examining his equipment after the show to see if he had some sort of trick mouthpiece or horn. This makes sense when you remember that part of his shows in those days involved routines in which he'd hit a 100 high Cs in a row, and top it off with a high F. While the virtuoso cornetists from the previous generation had already started doing things like that, it's an incredible feat that requires a tremendous amount of skill and precision on the horn no matter when in history you try it. Even in his later years, he still had incredible stamina and endurance. Try playing through the first set of this concert and see how tired you get (for those you who dislike his showmanship, just get through it and focus on that horn):
So, with all of this in mind, one could argue that other players had/have more technical facility on the instrument than Armstrong - both Maurice Andre and Dizzy Gillespie could play higher and faster than him - but I believe that the mark Armstrong left on the trumpet world certainly qualifies him to be near the top of the list of the greatest trumpeters of all time. Let's not forget - every note he ever played was so GOSH DARN MUSICAL no matter the musical or emotional context:
_________________ 1919 King Liberty
1923 Conn 22B
1955 Selmer 24A (Balanced Action)
1981 LA Benge ML #3 bell
1938 Couesnon Flugel
1907 HN White Co. "King" Cornet
1977 Selmer Picc
I've been curious about what Louis sounded like in person. Although many of the older recordings have been remastered, etc,, there is still a range of different trumpet sounds that can be heard on his records. Sometimes, he sounds as though he's playing a straight mute and other times you can tell he IS playing a straight mute. I've tried to ask older players if they ever heard him live and what they thought about his sound.
Connie Jones in NOLA said he heard him once, at the end of Armstrong's career in Chicago. (Pops was sitting for the concert.) Jones was standing in the wings of the stage so he was close by. Jones told me, "If you go open that window over there, you can probably still hear that horn. His sound was huge and beautiful."
When Louis hit the scene--after many many years of practice and playing second to the great Joe Oliver--he just lit up the skies of the music world. Here was trumpet player with remarkable, admirable facility. With a surprisingly high range and the endurance to play up in the stratosphere. With a charming and unique approach to singing. A man who create a number of tunes that are now jazz standards. With the compositional mind to create classic solos that trumpet players still copy today. Add in his charisma and ability to entertain on stage and you've got a performer who was so different, so surprising, so unusual that other trumpet players had their minds blown. Rex Stewart said once he heard Pops--he wanted to be Pops. He started to dress like him, Copy his solos. Go hear him. For a more current comparison, think about a rock guitarist hearing Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton in the '60s. People's jaws dropped. There were many wonderful cornet soloists but only one Pops. It's a silly comparison to make.
Pops has much to still teach us. Go get a book of his solos and play through them every day. Dang hard stuff that will challenge you. Watch videos of him performing. Notice how he's not only a jazz virtuoso, he's also a master entertainer (something we rarely see on bandstands now days). Every time I hear him play or see him play, I can't help smiling out of sheer joy. Pops is the sun and we are but pale shadows. _________________ Getzen 800DLX cornet
Selmer Sigma trumpet
Joined: 16 Nov 2002 Posts: 2893 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:38 am Post subject:
If you want to hear the hot five and seven recordings at their best you need to listen to the John RT Davies remasters. This is what the box set looks like. It is also available on spotify but will take some hunting down as the individual discs are all listed seperately:
Thank you Mike. Impugning the greatest player on the face of the earth, on ANY instrument, is an exercise is ridiculousness. Louis is beyond criticism. He invented modern playing, modern music and influenced everyone from Maynard Ferguson to Eddie Van Halen.
ed
Amen.Louis did not play music, it seeped and gushed out of him. Anybody that does not respect him is clueless...... _________________ "There is no necessity for deadly strife" A. Lincoln 1860
☛ "No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to keep up" Lily Tomlin☚
I remember that, he also said Louis played in such a way you heard notes he suggested but never actually played. I get that when I listen to him. _________________ "There is no necessity for deadly strife" A. Lincoln 1860
☛ "No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to keep up" Lily Tomlin☚
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