Louis Armstrong Hot Seven - Wild Man Blues (1927) video free download

Wild Man Blues

(Armstrong - Morton)

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven

Recorded May 7, 1927 in Chicago

Parlophone R-2162

Louis Armstrong (cornet), John Thomas (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Armstrong (piano), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), Pete Briggs (tuba), "Baby" Dodds (drums). Originally recorded on Okeh 8474. This Parlophone reissue credits Louis Armstrong and his Original Washboard Beaters.

(Following notes from "Giants of Jazz: Louis Armstrong" by John S. Wilson)

An outstanding performance of 'Wild Man Blues' by Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers at the session preceding the formation of the Hot Seven apparently so impressed Louis that he cut the tune himself at the first Hot Seven session. With this recording, virtually all pretense of playing ensemble jazz in the New Orleans style is discarded. 'Wild Man' is almost completely a solo piece -- first, a magnificently structured solo by Louis, then a Dodds clarinet solo. Johnny had often seemed out of his depth with Louis on the Hot Five discs but here he rose brilliantly to the occasion. "I can think of nobody at that time who could have followed the trumpet solo on 'Wild Man Blues' without creating an effect of utter anti-climax." wrote critic Albert McCarthy. The tune is credited to Louis and Jelly Roll Morton, though Louis said he never could figure out how they could have written it together: "I never had a conversation with him until 1936; guess he was working for the publisher at the time."