A holiday gift, delivered 50 years after its creation

A couple of months before his death on July 6, 1971, beloved jazz trumpeter and popular entertainer Louis Armstrong made what turned out to be his final recording. It's never been heard by the public until now

Armstrong turned on the reel-to-reel tape recorded in his home in the Corona section of Queens NY recorded a nostalgic spoken-word version of the classic Samuel Clement Moore poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” Nobody is certain of his motivation. As a busy, traveling artist, he never had much time for Christmas merriment.

But this long-neglected recording is now the fitting finale on Armstrong's only Christmas album, which was released this week. Louis Wishes You A Cool Yule was released in digital formats via the Verve label. CD and red vinyl editions will follow on November 11.

The 11-track album includes the Armstrong recitation of Moore's poem, plus most of the holiday-related singles and duets that he recorded over the years into one cohesive holiday project.

They include six Decca singles from the ‘50s, including “Cool Yule,” “Christmas Night in Harlem,” and one of my longtime favorites, “‘Zat You Santa Claus?” The duets team Armstrong with two of his favorite vocal partners. Velma Middleton joins him on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and Ella Fitzgerald joins him on “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” Some of these tracks popped up on annual Christmas jazz compilations that many labels produced through the years featuring a variety of artists.

Other tracks include "Christmas in New Orleans," “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” "Moments to Remember” and Armstrong's signature hit, “What A Wonderful World,"
the orchestral gem arranged and conducted by pianist Tommy Goodman 65 years ago.

The album ends with “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Armstrong's poignant reading is underscored beautifully by New Orleans native Sullivan Fortner's sometimes-whimsical piano accompaniment.

If you're in the mood for some holiday spirit, you can check it out right here.

 

Exploring the creativity, passion and pain of two early jazz luminaries

Jo Morello's two-act play Lil & Louis offers its audience many insights into the star-crossed lives and music of trumpeter Louis Armstrong and his second wife, pianist and composer Lil Hardin Armstrong.

Marta McKinnon as Lil Hardin

Its central question - "If the world didn't have a Lil, would it have had a Louis?" - doesn't get a clear answer, but is something to ponder. The young Satchmo encountered Lil Harden after he moved to Chicago to join horn man Joe "King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. 

They soon shed their prior spouses and married. The classically trained and college-educated Lil played piano in some of the bands in which Louis worked, wrote songs for him, and for a time became his manager. And she eventually got him to break out of the bands of Oliver and Fletcher Henderson to carve his own path. In short, she convinced him he didn't need to play second fiddle - or, in this case, second cornet - to another bandleader. 

McKinnon, Kinsey

"Hot Miss Lil," as she was known at one point early in her career, may have been weaned on classical music but proclaimed, as artfully played by Marta McKinnon, "I was born to swing!"

This two-act play digs into the couple's creativity, passion and pain - as Louis embraces stardom. He loves Lil, the second of four wives, but also was an unrepentant womanizer. Michael Kinsey of Sarasota's Westcoast Black Theatre ensemble, revealed the many facets of Louis the man. He gets extra credit here - stepping into the role just five days before Lil & Louis opened on Tuesday, January 21.

What a wonderful change of pace

The jazz concert season is pretty much gone in Florida from May until the snowbirds start returning in the fall. While there are regular club and restaurant gigs to fill in the gap, it was a treat to have an actual concert to attend.

Najar, Lamb, Feinman, Suggs, Ellison

The Venice Art Center and the South County Jazz Club teamed up to present a Louis Armstrong tribute concert on Thursday, June 25, featuring a quintet led by fine young trumpeter James Suggs. He's an engaging player with family roots in Newport RI, but who grew up in Ohio. He moved to St. Petersburg area in 2014 after having spent the prior eight years living and working in Argentina.

Freshening classic jazz

Trombonist Bill Allred knows how to honor the earliest jazz and the finest in big band swing without sounding dated in any way. He did so with his eight-piece Classic Jazz Band Monday, March 9 in the Charlotte County Jazz Society's concert series in Port Charlotte FL.

Bill Allred

The Orlando-based octet is a high-energy outfit that knows how to make the music swing, and then some. "Let's get this party started," the leader said as the band launched into Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" before beginning a first-set examination of Louis Armstrong-associated New Orleans staples, then moving north to Memphis and Chicago, much as the music did in its formative decades.

Randy Morris

Allred described New Orleans' Storyville district, where jazz and ragtime were born, as "the first adult theme park" before pianist Randy Morris worked his way through a bit of Jelly Roll Morton ragtime. Trumpeter and singer Bobby Pickwood had very strong features on "West End Blues and "What a Wonderful World."

Bobby Pickwood

The second set focused on the big band era, coursing through material from Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Buddy Morrow, sneaking in a bit of the Ray Charles songbook with "Hard-Hearted Hannah" and Bob Crosby's Bobcats' "Big Noise from Winnetka" before winding down with a nod to Benny Goodman on "Sing, Sing, Sing."

This version of Allred's band also featured David MacKenzie on reeds, trumpeter Greg Little, trombonist Herb Bruce, bassist Jay Mueller and drummer Dick Maley. 

Allred's band, now in its 25th year, was last in Port Charlotte in December 2011. It was an ideal choice for the jazz society's 25th season, in a concert that drew 400+.

Morris, MacKenzie, Pickwood, Little, Mueller (partly hidden), Allred, Bruce, Maley.

A Wonderful irony - jazz-style

John Hampton Wagner with
Tommy Goodman and bassist Dominic Mancini

You can never be sure what to expect at a jam session, but it is always nice when previously unknown talent rolls into the venue. Tonight, it was John Hampton Wagner, a Ramada Inn Tuesday jam session first-timer, who drew rave audience response with his takes on "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "What a Wonderful World."

Wagner, who goes by the nickname Hamp, is a singer and trumpeter from Dayton, Ohio, where he emcees Sunday Night Jazz Central Jams. After visiting southwest Florida regularly for the past 10 to 12 years, Wagner said he and his wife bought a home in Venice FL and plan to split their year between Ohio and southwest Florida.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at new CDs from Kat Edmonson, Louis Armstrong, Shawnn Monteiro and Tony Monaco...