Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in jazz. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognizable gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also skilled at scat singing.
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.... (Read more at Wikipedia)
Links To Peel[]
Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" was played by Peel on his Night Ride show in 1969 and, as he explained in introducing it, was one of the DJ's favourite Armstrong compositions. In 1999, the song was selected by Peel for his Peelenium 1927. A track featuring vocals and a memorable trumpet solo from Armstrong, King Oliver & His Creole Jazz Band's 'Dipper Mouth Blues', had already been chosen by Peel for the Peelenium 1923. This was one of the classic 1923 recordings by King Oliver's band which established Armstrong's reputation.
Peel also mentioned in his introduction to "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" that one of the positive results of the British trad jazz boom had been the reissues of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings from the 1920s. Not only Peel, but many fans and critics viewed these as the trumpeter's greatest work. A review in International Times in 1970 of a set of LP reissues of the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens called them "the most avant-garde jazz of all time"[1], yet plays of Armstrong's classic recordings on Peel shows were infrequent. This was because Armstrong was a major influence on Humphrey Lyttelton and countless other jazz trumpeters and was therefore heavily featured on the BBC radio jazz record shows hosted by Lyttelton, Peter Clayton and others.
The Louis Armstrong tracks Peel featured all came from the trumpeter's early period, rather than from the later decades, when "Satchmo" became world-famous as an all-round entertainer and his records sometimes made the pop charts. Peel admitted on his 25 March 1994 show that Armstrong's UK number one hit from the late 1960s, 'What A Wonderful World'[2], was one of his least favourite records, along with Peter Sarstedt's ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’ from the same era. Despite this, Peel did play the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover of 'What A Wonderful World' on his 10 February 1995 show.
Peelenium[]
- Peelenium 1923: 'Dipper Mouth Blues'
- Peelenium 1927: 'Struttin' With Some Bar-B-Q'
Shows Played[]
Louis Armstrong --Struttin with some barbecue
- 1969
- 07 May 1969: Struttin' with Some Barbecue
- 1986
- 22 March 1986 (BFBS): Struttin' With Some Barbeque
- 1988
- 07 March 1988: King Oliver: Dipper Mouth Blues (JP: 'This is rather clever I think, I hope you'll be impressed by this because the next record is King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band recorded in 1923 with of course Louis Armstrong and it's gonna be Dipper Mouth Blues, which is famous because they stop in the middle and shout out Oh Play That Thing and Play That Thing was the title of the previous record, it's amazing how these things knit together isn't it')
- 1993
- 28 May 1993 (BFBS): I Want A Big Butter & Egg Man (Unknown) Unknown
- 1999
- 07 July 1999: 'Dipper Mouth Blues' Peelenium 1923
- 15 July 1999: 'Struttin' With Some Bar-B-Q' Peelenium 1927
- 2000
- 17 May 2000: Jazz Lips () CBS
- May 2000 (FSK): Jazz Lips