Louis Armstrong - Happy 100th Birthday!: Top 50 Songs

Louis Armstrong Top 50 Songs

Jazz great Louis Armstrong is easily one of the most important American musical figures of all time. He ranks in the top ten of the DMDB’s Top 100 Music Makers of the Pre-Rock Era list. The renouned singer and trumpet player was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901 and died of heart failure on July 6, 1971. By 1918 he was protégé of King Oliver and when Armstrong went to Chicago to join Olivier’s band, it was at the dawn of a new jazz age. By 1926, “Satchmo” formed his own band and recorded songs which helped create a new international audience for jazz. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. 1. St. Louis Blues (with Bessie Smith, 1925) 2. What a Wonderful World (1967) 3. Hello, Dolly! (1964) 4. Stardust (1931) * 5. West End Blues (1928) 6. St. Louis Blues (1930) * 7. All of Me (1932) 8. When the Saints Go Marching In (1939) 9. Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1937) * 10. Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1929) * 11. I Got Rhythm (1932) * 12. I’m in the Mood for Love (1935) * 13. Summertime (with Ella Fitzgerald, 1960) * 14. Body and Soul (1932) * 15. Cabaret (1968) 16. After You’ve Gone (1932) * 17. Mack the Knife (1956) * 18. Memories of You (1930) 19. I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues (1933) 20. Potato Head Blues (1927) 21. Heebie Jeebies (1926) 22. St. James Infirmary (1929) 23. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1932) 24. Struttin’ with Some Barbeque (1928) 25. When You’re Smiling (1929) * 26. Red Sails in the Sunset (1936) * 27. The Peanut Vendor (El Manciero) (1931) * 28. La Vie En Rose (1950) * 29. Chinatown, My Chinatown (1932) * 30. Basin Street Blues (with Earl Hines and Mancy Cara, 1938) * 31. A Kiss to Build a Dream On (1951) 32. Jeepers Creepers (1939) * 33. Love Walked In (1938) 34. Muskrat Ramble (1926) 35. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (1929) * 36. What a Wonderful World (with Kenny G, 1999) * 37. Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now (1932) 38. Rockin’ Chair (with Hoagy Carmichael, 1932) 39. Weather Bird (with Earl Hines, 1928) 40. Hotter Than That (1928) 41. Blueberry Hill (1956) * 42. That Lucky Old Sun (1949) * 43. If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight (1930) * 44. You Can Depend on Me (1932) 45. Love You Funny Thing (1932) 46. Lazy River (1931) 47. You Are My Lucky Star (1935) * 48. Once in a While (1938) * 49. Shine (1932) 50. Darling Nellie Gray (with the Mills Brothers, 1937) * In the event of multiple versions of a song, the DMDB typically recognizes only the highest ranked version. These songs, while all recorded by Armstrong, were recorded by other artists who had higher ranked versions. Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Louis Armstrong Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 8/4/2012; last updated 6/5/2022.

Louis Armstrong's The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings box set released

The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings Louis Armstrong

Recorded: 1926 to 1928 Released: August 22, 2000 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: jazz

Tracks, Disc 1: 1. Gut Bucket Blues 2. My Heart 3. Yes! I’m in the Barrel 4. Come Back Sweet Papa 5. Georgia Grind 6. Heebie Jeebies 7. Cornet Chop Suey 8. Oriental Strut 9. You’re Next 10. Muskrat Ramble 11. Don’t Forget to Mess Around 12. I’m Gonna Gitcha 13. Droppin’ Shucks 14. Who’s It 15. King of the Zulus 16. Big Fat Ma and Skinny Pa 17. Lonesome Blues 18. Sweet Little Papa 19. Jazz Lips 20. Skid-Dat-De-Dat 21. Big Butter and Egg Man 22. Sunset Café Stomp 23. You Made Me Love You 24. Irish Black Bottom 25. [Pause Track] Tracks, Disc 2: 1. Put ‘Em Down Blues 2. Ory’s Creole Trombone 3. Last Time 4. Struttin’ with Some Barbeque 5. Got No Blues 6. Once in a While 7. I’m Not Rough 8. Hotter Than That 9. Savoy Blues 10. He Likes It Slow 11. Gambler’s Dream 12. Sunshine Baby 13. Adam and Eve Had the Blues 14. Put It Where I Can Get It 15. Washwoman Blues 16. I’ve Stopped My Man 17. Georgia Bo Bo 18. Drop That Sack [Common Take] 19. Drop That Sake [Rare Take] 20. Cornet Chop Suey 21. [Pause Track] Tracks, Disc 3: 1. Willie the Weeper 2. Wild Man Blues 3. Alligator Crawl 4. Potato Head Blues 5. Melancholy 6. Weary Blues 7. Twelfth Street Rag 8. Keyhole Blues 9. S.O.L. Blues 10. Gully Low Blues 11. That’s When I’ll Come Back to You 12. Chicago Breakdown 13. Weary Blues 14. New Orleans Stomp 15. Wild Man Blues 16. Wild Man Blues 17. Melancholy 18. Melancholy 19. You’re a Real Sweetheart 20. Too Busy! 21. Was It a Dream? 22. Last Night I Dreamed You Kissed Me 23. [Pause Track] Tracks, Disc 4: 1. Fireworks 2. Skip the Gutter 3. Monday Date 4. Don’t Jive Me 5. West End Blues 6. Sugar Foot Strut 7. Two Deuces 8. Squeeze Me 9. Knee Drops 10. No, Papa, No 11. Basin Street Blues 12. No One Else But You 13. Beau Koo Jack 14. Save It, Pretty Mama 15. Muggles 16. Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya? 17. St. James Infirmary 18. Tight Like This 19. Weather Bird 20. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love [Common Take] 21. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love [Rare Take] 22. Mahogany Hall Stomp 23. Knockin’ a Jug 24. [Pause Track] The following songs from the box set charted. (Click for codes to singles charts.) Muskrat Ramble (7/17/26, 8 US) Big Butter and Egg Man (4/9/27, 13 US) Keyhole Blues (10/29/27, 16 US) Potato Head Blues (12/10/27, 12 US) Hotter Than That (5/12/28, 10 US) Struttin’ with Some Barbeque (7/14/28, 14 US) West End Blues (9/15/28, 8 US) A Monday Date (12/1/28, 19 US) St. James Infirmary (5/4/29, 15 US) Once in a While (1/8/38, 15 US) Basin Street Blues (10/29/38, 20 US)

Rating: 4.800 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings) Quotable: “Jazz starts here.” – Blender Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Jazz starts here.” BL “This 4-CD set represents the ‘Rosetta Stone of Jazz,’ the ultimate Louis Armstrong collection.” JM “Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings are jazz’s Holy Grail, a venerable guide for anyone with the desire to explore the roots of this now century old art.” MC Armstrong “was not the first great player in jazz, but he was the first to elevate the soloist’s art to a position of primacy.” KM “A typical band embellished a song, but Armstrong took long solos, causing near riots of excitement.” MC “Between 1925 and 1929, Armstrong invented scat singing, defined swing and introduced the jazz solo. He laid the foundations for America’s first indigenous art form – and had a ball doing it. No wonder he was our first global pop star.” BL “Music could never be the same again.” KM “He did so through the medium of the 78 rpm sides he cut for Okeh with his Hot Five and Hot Seven units. This was a genuine case of records creating history.” KM These recordings “ushered out the era of acoustic recording where the soloist played into a huge cone and ushered in the electric method utilizing microphones.” MC “This four-CD set brings together all the recordings made during the period of the Hot Five and Hot Sevens along with all the attendant recordings that Armstrong was involved in during this breakthrough period.” CK “Armstrong continually cuts through with a crystalline brilliance he was never to recapture.” KM “When he opens West End Blues with a trumpet solo followed by the klop-klop of cymbals and his ‘waa-waa-waa’ scat in response to Johnny Dodds’ clarinet one can imagine listeners falling-out with excitement.” MC “If the tragic grandeur of his playing on ‘West End Blues’ is the pinnacle, it is all but matched on a dozen others.” KM “There are plenty trumpet licks rendered to keep scholars and students busy for years.” MC “Although this material has been around the block several times before – and continues to be available in packages greatly varying in transfer quality – this is truly the way to go, and certainly the most deluxe packaging this material has ever received with the greatest sound retrieval yet employed.” CK “Sonically, graphically, and in terms of comprehensiveness, this is truly the definitive study of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings.” JM “Armstrong collectors will find everything from Armstrong’s Okeh record dates here, re-mastered, finally correctly according to many Armstrong scholars. Digitally re-mastered and pitch altered to the sound of Armstrong’s day. The music sound has significantly improved over previous Columbia/Legacy reissues.” MC “In addition to sounding better than the competition, it also sensibly lays out all the recordings Satchmo made during this period, grouping all the original Hot Five recordings from 1925 to 1927 (and all attendant material) together on the first two discs, all of the Hot Sevens on disc three, with the final disc devoted to the second coming of the Hot Five in 1928 along with the attendant material from the following year.” CK “Armstrong’s Hot Fives band comprised of his wife Lil’ Hardin Armstrong (piano/vocals), Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), and Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), were supplemented by tuba and drums to make the Hot Sevens. The last disc of the set features Armstrong and pianist Earl Hines, plus several big band recordings marketed under the popular Fives name.” MC “There are also several categories of ‘bonus tracks’ aboard this deluxe set, including the ‘Lil’s Hot Shots’ 1926 Hot Five Vocalion recordings, a 1927 Johnny Dodds session that became the prototype for the Hot Seven recordings that soon followed, and the only known alternate take of I Can’t Give You Anything but Love. You can’t have a Louis Armstrong collection without this historic set. Come to think of it, you can’t have any kind of respectable jazz collection without it, either.” CK Notes: Comes with an “extensive book with critical essays, photo galleries, full discographical info, includes Johnny Dodds’ & Lil Hardin’s rare sessions for the Vocalion and Brunswick labels, …main essay by grammy-nominated scholar Robert G. O'Meally, a personal reflection by producer George Avakian, and a collection of unrivaled historical value.” JM

Resources and Related Links: BL Blender Magazine’s 100 Greatest American Albums (10/08) MC Mark Corrota, AllAboutJazz.com (9/1/00) JM JazzByMail.com CK Cub Koda, All Music Guide KM Kenny Mathieson, The Wire. The Most Important Records Ever Made. (June 1992, issue 100). Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 8/4/2011; last updated 1/29/2022.

50 years ago: Louis Armstrong released “West End Blues”

West End Blues Louis Armstrong

Writer(s): Clarence Williams, Joe “King” Oliver Released: August 15, 1928 First Charted: September 15, 1928 Peak: 8 US (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.82 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Dan Morgenstern called “West End Blues” “one of the handful of unsurpassed artistic achievements of the 20th century.” SS Music historian Steve Sullivan said it was “the most important jazz recording ever made” SS by the musician who “casts a shadow upon every other jazz musician…in the same way that Babe Ruth looms over baseball history.” SS On the Don’t Stay Up Too Late website, Jonathan Bogart goes a step farther, calling Armstrong “the most important figure in twentieth-century music.” DS Joseph “King” Oliver, Armstrong’s mentor, composed “West End Blues” and recorded it on June 11, 1928, for Vocalion SS with his Dixie Syncopaters. TC The song has typically been performed as an instrumental, but did have lyrics added by Clarence Williams. WK The song was named for the West End of New Orleans’ Lake Pontchartrain, where people went to relax TC and where many jazz musicians were employed in the summer months. DS On June 28, 1928, TC Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (which included pianist Earl Hines) did their take, slowing down the tempo of the original. DS Armstrong plays trumpet – including a multi-layered, complex solo which set the standard for jazz musicians AMG – and scats. It was this version which became a New Orleans jazz favorite JA and “helped define what jazz could be.” AMG “West End Blues” was one of the eight original songs selected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in its beginning year of 1974. The song is one of only two jazz recordings selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. SS Resources: AMG All Music Guide TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 688-9. DS Don’t Stay Up Too Late (blog) JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 208. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 28-31. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 8/15/2014; last updated 8/16/2022.