General Motors Learns a Lesson in Jazz Song: Lyrics Matter
Jazz has been no stranger to controversy, and apparently no less so today, in Adam Pasick’s story of international affront. It might be convenient to cast blame on Lil Hardin Armstrong for the language in the 1938 song that inflamed Canadian airwaves in 2013 and caught the notice of media in China. As I see it, though, Armstrong’s song is yet another reminder of what jazz musicians had to do to earn a buck in those days \u2014 not to mention a reminder of how times have changed in China, Japan and the Arab world. Evidently, some folks at one major American corporation might just be coming up that learning curve.
-Nick Moy
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Louis Armstrong Unissued Recording to be Unveiled
JazzTimes announces a gathering on April 30 (International Jazz Day) at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, heralding the discovery of a previously unknown performance of Louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues.” Unfortunately, it’s not an alternate take of the June 28, 1928 masterpiece recorded for OKeh, considered one of the most significant jazz performances ever put to wax, but fortunately, it’s still Armstrong, it’s still the “West End Blues” and it’s the last surviving presentation of this piece by Louis, recorded while he was in concert at Feedomland (a defunct park in the Bronx) back in 1961. Dan Morgenstern, who was there on that day, will be a guest speaker reminiscing about the event.
-Scott Wenzel
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Louis Armstrong on the Beats
This is a funny little piece on the typical ‘50s disconnect. The video features Louis Armstrong’s title tune form “The Beat Generation”, a typical superficial Hollywood treatment of a sub culture. Beyond good reefer, I don’t think Satchmo had anything at all in common with the beats. Wonder what today’s commercials with hip-hop selling phone service will look like in 20 years.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreBing Crosby & Louis Armstrong
Although one might be familiar with “Now You Has Jazz” from the movie “High Society”, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong (along with the All-Stars) contributed a couple of recreations on television. One of the best is from “The Edsel Show”, a 1957 CBS television broadcast. Here are two true giants of music displaying a genuine mutual appreciation society.
- Scott Wenzel
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Anat Cohen: Clarinet for the Global Village
In this edition of Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Anat Cohen vividly recounts her journey to unlock the expressive potential of the jazz clarinet, in the worlds of Louis Armstrong, Abdullah Ibrahim, Ellington, music of Latin America and yes, even her native Israel.
-Nick Moy
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Louis Armstrong 101
This page “Louis’s Music Class” on Smithsonian Jazz is a good starter to explore the music of Louis Armstrong, although it starts rightly with the Hot Five & Hot Seven and jumps to “What A Wonderful World.”
-Michael Cuscuna
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Biography Of The Great Louis Armstrong
Author and music critic Terry Teachout traces the origin and inspiration for his Louis Armstrong biography in the 2005 interview with Jerry Jazz Musician.
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