You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - The Ten Most Important Years In Jazz

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Take a trip with us to the most revolutionary decade in jazz (1923-1933), when a young Louis Armstrong was creating a new improvisational vocabulary in real-time. This isn’t the “Wonderful World” Satchmo most know, but the young gunner whose genius trumpet solos on “West End Blues” and “Tight Like This” were toppling trumpet kings. We break down Pops’ evolution from King Oliver’s second to pioneering frontman, explore his inventive scat singing (supposedly born when he dropped his lyric sheet), and trace how his massive popularity caught the attention of Chicago gangsters – careful now! From his recordings with Earl “Fatha” Hines to “Black and Blue” – the first jazz song addressing racism – hear exactly why we say there would be no jazz without Louis Armstrong.Link to Spotify PlaylistABOUT OPEN STUDIO------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As the premier online jazz education platform, with an ever-expanding course library and 20,000+ members, Open Studio (OS) has everything you need to excel and thrive on your jazz journey.Featuring everything from beginner to advanced lessons, engaging courses from A-list instructors, step-by-step curriculum, real-time classes and a thriving and incredibly supportive community, OS is the perfect platform to level up your jazz playing, whether you’re a total beginner, or an advanced pro-level improvisor.Try OS Membership today! → https://osjazz.link/about

Hey Peter. Hey, man. Can you play the oldest tune you know? Oh, the oldest tune you know. All right. I mean, just off the top of my head. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bach, great.

Not that old, not that old. Something a little newer than that. A little newer, okay. A tune, a tune. A tune, okay. Great, okay. You made it all the way to Beethoven. That's great, but I'm thinking more like 20th century,

the oldest jazz tune, you know. How about that? Oh, okay. I got you. Yeah. That doesn't seem that old. Oh, it is. You'll see.

All right. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear at podcast. Music, Explored. Brought to today by Open Studio. Go to Open StudioJadogadogadogh.com for, oh, your jazz lesson needs. What's up, Peter? How you doing it?

What's up? Man, I'm excited, a little bit nervous. Really? Because we are talking, first of all, give it up for Caleb Kirby, yourself, Adam Manus. Well, thank you. It's a very special guest. That's right. Artist, Jamal Nichols at the base, just came and laying it down for us.

Friend of the show, Jamal Nichols here. Friend of the show. St. Louis's finest. The world's finest. Filling in for Bob Dubu, Bob's on a little vacation. Yeah. So we had to get Jamal in.

And yeah, that was great, man. Great way to start the day. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm a little nervous because it's that nervous excitement. What do they say? Butterflies in the stomach? Yeah. Because we're talking about today who I think may be the greatest improviser ever.

Certainly, without doubt, is the most important jazz, you know, to the fundamentals of jazz, the most important artist ever. Yeah. One of my favorite musicians, probably my, I'm going to give it away a little bit here, probably my ultimate like Desert Island, if you could have one musicians improvised solo with you, just one. This would probably be this person.

And so we want to bring the fire and honor this, but I'm super excited. We're talking about Lewis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong, the foundation of the music, truly. Like, he is the language of the music. And what we'll hear today, we're going to explore some of those incredible moments that he was so prodigious at throughout his whole life, but especially early in his career, he had so much talent and was just so revolutionary. I think we take it for granted now. Of course we take it for granted. How could we not? It's 100 years later. There's no way that we can't take for granted what a huge, like a huge

sea change that he provided to improvisation to music. It also is just incredibly serendipitous. He comes along right as recording technology is picking up. So improvisation can be recorded for the first time, and you hear someone in real time create this new art form for us to explore even these, this century later, you know what I mean? And we have the full century of it since. And yeah, there's no jazz without Louis Armstrong. Absolutely. And also he came along kind of right at his prime in terms of musicality and his imprint on

the music right when radio was really taking off. Totally. So it's like technology. Yeah. And right during the jazz age, ever heard of it? You know, I realized from looking at this. So, okay, so let's just sort of set this up because Louis Armstrong had a very long career. He was born in 1901, of course, in New Orleans, famously in New Orleans.

That's debatable the year. Well, no, yeah, no, apparently it's definitely 1901. I remember there was some controversy. He said 1900. He really attached himself to the July 4th, 1900. And I think it's been, you know. I mean, he's a showman. Right.

Yeah, you got to tell your story. That's fun to be, yeah. He's like, I was born at exactly midnight on July 4th, 1900. Yeah. The greatest, the greatest dude, like Bob Dylan's backstory and all that stuff. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah.

But what I decided to do is I have chosen a decade. And I just realized due to jazz pianist math, I might have screwed this up a little bit because We're not known for being good at math is what you're saying? I find that insulting, sir. This is all recording, specifically solos, both vocal and trumpet from 1923 to 1933. Cool. So that's actually 11 years. Oh, look, you look stunned in your eyes.

That doesn't seem true that it's 11 years? We're going to call that the decade. We're going to call that the decade. 10 years-ish, 1923 to 1933. And this, so this would have been with Lewis Armstrong. Math, that's good. Right. This would have been like when Lewis Armstrong was about 21, 22 years old, up until 31, 32.

And, you know, a lot of times we look at artists. We're not saying, like, Lewis Armstrong, it's interesting because he was so much more, he became so much more famous after that point. Yeah. He was very famous during that period. But because of, like, television wasn't really a thing yet. Yeah. He was started to do a little, like towards the end, we're going to explore some of that.

He had an incredible third act. Incredible third act all the way up to like, you know, a billboard top chart with Wonderful World, which is not on our list, because that was like 40 years later, you know. But this is, I think, during the period where he really revolutionized not only jazz music and not even revolutionized, just sort of establish it, what it meant to be an improviser, coming out of New Orleans with collective improvisation and then becoming the frontline improviser, coming up under Joe Oliver, who we're going to listen to to start things out, who was really his mentor.

Yeah. And what I thought would be fun is if we just kind of looked at the different stages, you know, we're not like a history thing. We're going to screw up some of this stuff. No. We're going to screw up some of the math history. No, we're not.

You're talking about academic level historians or mathematicians? Come on. What we are is, don't tell yourself short. We're great at listening and finding the story, I think, in the music. And I've listened to Lewis Armstrong music all my life. My aunt and uncle who lived in New Orleans, I remember going as a kid. They were actually friends with a bunch of people that play with Lewis Armstrong.

Of course, I play the whole lineage of the music. But we're going to start with 1923. Okay. That's when our decade starts. You know, fun fact, the year I was born. Really? Yeah. Nice.

Yeah, it look amazing. You look great, man. The plastic surgery, man. Those trips to Brazil? Awesome, man. I've been going to Eastern Europe lately. Go ahead. Nice, nice.

So we're going to start with 1923. And this is really, like, kind of coming into this. I broke it down roughly. There's like, obviously the New Orleans years when he was coming up. And there's great stories, and that's all well documented. You can hear about that, how he ended up playing trumpet, a little brush with the law, and then he was put into a home for wayward youth that happened to have an incredible band director and great instruments. Yeah.

So that worked out well, you know. Turns out weirdo kids can play. That's right. But then when we get to like, you know, 18, 19, 19, 19, 19, when he was, you know, 18, 19, up until around this time, 1923, he was playing on the riverboats. That's when he first left New Orleans, first went to Chicago, first came through St. Louis. Just a couple miles from here right on the riverfront. His first interactions with ragtime.

I mean, he had definitely heard that in New Orleans because New Orleans was a real cultural hub for music in the, what do they call the 1910s? The early aughts? The teens? The teens? Yeah. But a different teens, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He would have heard, you know, French, you know, there was a huge French opera house in New Orleans just a couple blocks from where he grew up. Of course, the honky tonks on Rampart Street, which is where he, like, he grew up on Jane Alley, which is right off of Rampart Street. And the honky talks were primarily playing

when he was little ragtime music, which of course was a lot of the St. Louis musicians and that kind of sound. So he had a very rich kind of cultural and musical gumbo of things that he heard and then excellent training on the trumpet. Of course, always known for his incredible technique, his prodigious technique

and kind of work ethic with working out the cornet and then the trumpet, mainly because he mentored under Joe, also known as King Oliver, who was the greatest trumpet player in New Orleans, you know. So really interesting thing in how we mentioned under him. So this recording of Riverside Blues from 1923 with King Oliver, basically Louis Armstrong was playing second trumpet with him.

And we'll get into that kind of story afterwards. But you're going to hear the great King Oliver, but you're going to hear just the beginnings of a little bit of Lewis Armstrong's magnitude, maybe even leapfrogging above in terms of like improvisatory flavor and ingenuity and possibly even revolution and already starting it. That's why I chose night. I love it. Even in the beginning of the music, there's kids coming up, taking our spots. That's right. That's right. King Oliver's like, man.

Yeah. And so he'd already been playing on, like, the Riverboats. He'd like read music really well because he played with, was it Faith Marble's band. And like, there was a lot of like, kind of sets and reps he'd already had, even though he was only 21 years old. But check this out. King Oliver on top. It's collective improv. King Oliver's Creole jazz, man. I'm going to skip ahead just a little bit. Man, amazing. What amazing feel. Amazing. sound like polyphony happening. Yeah, now you can hear. That's Louis Armstrong right thing. Wow. So, like, I don't know if that was a good thing that King Oliver let him do that at the end there.

And sorry, I cut it off. There's some great little tag. It's a great thing, isn't it? It's a great thing. But this was the thing. This is Louis Armstrong years later talking about King Oliver, Joe Oliver. Joe Oliver, you know, how much I love Joe Oliver, but still now. He did make a statement. to live during a conversation.

That was his wife, his wife, he said, as long as little Lewis is with me, he can't hurt me. When she told me that, that did it. And to me, she said, it's all indications that King Oliver's trying to hold you back. I didn't say a mum in the wood. Even after she told me, I didn't see them. I just split. That's all.

Will spoke and that was it. I mean, that's what a young person should be doing. Right. You apprentice under someone, and when you are such a prodigious talent, like the syncopation that we just heard there is his gift to the world. Right. And something that every musician, I don't care what genre you're focused on, every musician who's learning how to improvise,

can learn from Louis Armstrong. Like listening to Louis Armstrong, he is a genius at that. Yes. I mean, at a lot of things, obviously sound and all kinds of phrasing things, but the syncopation of his language is so gorgeous. Right. It's really, really special. And the thing is, there was syncopation before this with ragtime,

with a lot of the New Orleans brass band stuff, but to bring it in, and there was people improvising before this. Oh, for sure. Jellero more, there's a lot of contours because Jellero was like, I was doing that stuff before. I was doing that. we're going to get into some of that. But the confidence he brings to it is what really sells it.

The flavor, the note choices, it's just like when someone truly gets it. And Joe Oliver, the whole band is killing on that. Like we heard, but there's something about the way Lewis Storm, like he's kind of coming in with a nuance. Yeah. You know, bing,

be, you know, and like he's just, it's a little bit different. It's a little bit of like looking around the corner. Oh my God, there's this incredible, beautiful garden over there that was going to really become the jazz age.

So Lewis Armstrong's John didn't create the jazz age, but I mean, There was no jazz age without him. Yeah, he's perhaps the most important artist of it. Yeah. And the person who propelled it to the next level. There is levels to this. Like, and you can hear that there's levels.

And we're going to hear about it. It's well before 1933. But, I mean, it's really just a massive trajectory that he goes. That was cool. I'd not heard that. That was very cool. Yeah. So that's kind of, I mean, there's some other things that people say are a little bit

earlier, but I think that's his first great, like, where you're like, what is that? Yeah. And his greatest Joe Oliver was. and all the musicians on there, it's like that separation you start. You know, they're all masked. I mean, like this was, and look, Joe Oliver,

it hadn't been for Joe Oliver, not only with his mentorship of Lewis Armstrong, is there no Louis Armstrong, but he also brought him to Chicago. So he was going on the riverboats. Joe Oliver was well-established. Chicago was sort of like the, you know, Chicago in New York

with the recording capitals of the world, but there was also, he had a legendary, you know, on the south side, they had the Lincoln Gardens. There was, there was, I don't think it was, like, totally integrated, but there was freedom for black music, and artists and audiences that did not exist in New Orleans outside of a few blocks.

So, like, he opened that up, you know, to Lewis Armstrong by bringing him, you know, having to play second trumpet with him. But pretty quickly, because of Lil Hardin, who was an incredible pianist that was playing with Joe Oliver as well, who was actually from Memphis, would later become Lewis's wife for many years, as we heard, you know, kind of pulled his coat. And so he ended up going to New York with Fletcher Henderson. But before that, and really, he had already been playing. Sydney Bichet was kind of the other big star besides Joe Oliver on clarinet. So this is from 1924 and this is from Clarence Williams, Blue 5. This is kind of where you start to see the trajectory. So just less than a year later, this is Texas,

Moner Blues. So he's already... Sidney Bichet. Now he's away from Joe Oliver. So a lot of this improv still collective, right? Yeah. Played at the same time. We're going to see them start to break away from that, which really opened things up for Lewis. Oh, Sidney Bichet. Yeah. Yeah, so there's already a lot of, you know, you started to hear a lot more, but it's still that collective improvisation, so it's not really standing out front and just taking a long.

Well, nothing could be that long because the three-minute limit on the 78s. That was great. Yeah. Yeah. So then 1924, you know, we have sort of the beginning of the next period, which was really the Fletcher-Henderson breakthrough. Fletcher-Henderson was huge with a bigger band, was a bigger band, was. in New York had the biggest gigs and was really like doing the whatever they call it,

the hot style and stuff like that. 1924, 1925, Lewis Armstrong played with him, played with a bunch of different people, but came to New York. And this is an example of kind of just a little snippet of what he did. There's some really interesting recordings, and they're super high level,

but they're really short solos. But you're starting to hear him getting away from the New Orleans collective improv when you have the big, you know, the big personalities of King Oliver, Sidney Bichet, John, you know, Dodds, and all of them. And this is with Fletcher Henderson. Maybe a little bit more of a New Yorkist

sophisticated kind of thing. But the solo, this is Copenhagen. It's the name of a song. Yeah. All of a sudden, we're pushed ahead a little bit, it feels like. Yeah, yeah. He's still got the...

Like the blues, but you're starting to hear the language that's going to come out a couple decades later, you know? Man. So also in New York, he recorded with Bessie Smith, who was like probably the biggest African-American star singer in the world, Her records had started to get around the world,

certainly the most famous blues singer. I don't think anyone was really talking about jazz singers at that time. It was like there was jazz, there was blues, there was these new sounds, and it hadn't really been codified yet. But she was really big. And so this is a little example of their thing. And this was the beginning, well, I think, I'm sure he did it before this,

but this was the earliest I could kind of find when Lewis Armstrong was doing the wah-wah with the plunger thing, which would become super influential. I had always been done with New Orleans trumpet players, Joe Oliver and stuff. but this is reckless blues from 1925. What is that? It's like a calliope or something like that?

Because Bessie has a lot of recordings that she was singing with something that sounds kind of like that. That was like a popular instrument. Like an air organ or something like that. But man, that's a haunting and really cool sound. Also, it just, you know, with Bessie Smith here, it really highlights...

She's here? No, with what we just heard of Bessie Smith. I got nervous. No, man, it's like you were saying, it just highlights like there was. wasn't this like, there wasn't as much of a distinction here. Like these all fit together. The blues is so important to what's happening that sound.

And it's not like it's just like, and this is the box of blues musicians and jazz. Like everybody's kind of drawing from the same source closer to the source of this point. So it just fits together like this beautiful, this beautiful tapestry right here. Yeah. And I think, you know, this is like, you know, was probably the first singer besides himself. And we're about to get into some Louis Armstrong vocals for the first time, 1926. Not the first time he sang, but the first time we're listening today, but where he had a vocal personality that could kind of match him,

that he could really, you know, not to say that, I mean, like Sidney Boucher for sure, we heard that like probably the two best jazz improvisers of the early 20. Bessie Smith, again, someone we probably take for granted as we listen to now because of the language that she helped develop vocally. Yeah. It's, but it's pretty special. Yeah, absolutely. And it's kind of a little bit of foreshadowing to like the later 50s and for,

Ferr with Ella Fitzgerald and Lewis Armstrong and their great collaboration on summertime and all those great records where he had this ability I mean like that wah-wow with Bessie Smith that back and forth is just stunning you know. Okay so I've got like Sidney Bichet homework to do

I've got some more Bessie Smith homework to do I went through a bit of a Bessie Smith phase to this to the to this bespoke playlist on Spotify and Apple music and because I think that this is like if you've been a little obviously this is not an album these were all like singles 78s or whatever they had cylinder things even at the beginning. Yeah, I don't know if an album was even a concept.

No, and in fact, like a long playing album. Yeah, and one of the things, I think we're going to have some, I think I pick out some not only great tracks, but good versions. So like if you want to get into, or if you've been intimidated by like Lewis Armstrong, well, what am I supposed to listen to? Maybe you know some of the famous ones, West End Blues, a little foreshadowing there, but you want to kind of know about this period. Check out our playlist, because I think this goes together to really feel like the

flavor that Lewis brought to that decade. So we're going to jump to 1926. How are you feeling about that? This was a big year for Louis Armstrong. I feel good. So he's 25. That was 1925, yeah. No, no, he's 25 years old.

25 years old, exactly, exactly. And so now he's, you know, okay, so this is the other thing that happened around 1925, 26, was he went back to Chicago. He was traveling a lot, actually. I mean, in fact, we think about how hard it is to travel now. They were like going to California right after this. Several days on very uncomfortable conditions. You go to Europe. You weren't getting on United, buddy.

You were getting on a ship, most likely. We're going to get to that. He hadn't gone to. Europe yet at this point. But he went back to Chicago, and this was very interesting. He didn't go back to play with Joe Oliver very much. This is when he started to put together for OK records, the hot fives and the hot sevens, which would become really the most legendary jazz band, probably of all time. You can talk about the Miles Davis Quintet, you can talk about the Duke Allen to an orchestra, but you got to talk about before any of that stuff, you know, you could talk about secrets,

headhunters. I know you like talking about that. But I mean, all these great things. I do like the hot fives and the hot seven. I really do enjoy secrets in the head on us, yes. So back in Chicago, recording there, OK Records. This is Big Butter and Eggman, an excerpt from it from 1926. Incredible title of a song, by the way. Yeah, maybe we'll play this on the way out. That might be fun.

Yeah, let's do it. This is his solo. Looking up the rhythms. Madicism. So I think the fact that, 1926, Big Butter and Eggman, the fact that, like, these are great musicians that are playing along with Lewis Arma,

everything sounds a little day. except for Lewis Armstrong. I don't know. To me, like, he sounds contemporary. It's so contemporary, you know. You know, the chromaticism, the trip. I mean, all these little things that musicians nerd out on. But it's like, it's beyond refreshing.

It's like separation from the pack, you know. I mean, he's one of those artists where even if you haven't learned directly from him, there's a good chance you've learned from someone who's learned from him or learned from someone who's learned from him. Like his language has translated through the decades. Yes, yes. Through now, like to where you've learned from him. you could play a Lewis Armstrong solo in a modern context

and wouldn't sound that out of context. Absolutely. It would sound like modern. Right, right. Still. Right. Yeah, he was really the bridge between like the jazz age, which was kind of a trendy thing that maybe,

you know, a lot of that sound could be considered dated in a lot of ways, but like he was already foreshadowing where the music could go. And then others picked up on that. And then where he was going to contribute to taking it as well, you talk about bebop, you talk about Duke Ellington, you talk about, I mean, Duke Ellen was already doing this stuff, but Lewis Armstrong was already starting to influence that through people

hearing his records, you know what I mean? You're starting to get to the late 20s, more records are being, I mean, they're starting to sell a lot of records. The recording technology was super interesting, too, because when they recorded these, there was a lot of pressure, it was so expensive to record, I guess, buying the wax cylinders or whatever it was.

Like, you had to nail the fur, you didn't have to, but it was strongly encouraged to nail it in one take. There was no overdubs. There was no pro tools, Adam. What's a big butter and egg? It sounds like a delicious sandwich. Big butter and egg man. Yeah, what is that? It's a big dude who likes butter and eggs, man.

I don't know. That's me. That's me. You're talking about me. All right. So later on 1926, now we're going to check out, okay, we're going to get into some vocals of Lewis Armstrong. He's a big butter and egg man. He's a big butter and egg man.

Not a vegan. It's the opposite of a vegan. He's not a vegan. He's a big butter and egg man. Okay. Hebe-jeebies. Check this out. There's a couple of great things about this track.

I love this track. This really, this is Hot Fives, Hot Fives, Hot S. stuff, Louis Armstrong, Chicago, 1926. But he's bringing, well, everybody, almost in the band, almost everybody was from New Orleans, but they're bringing the New Orleans flavor. Not as much collective improvisation, still some. But they've also got that Caribbean flavor, which has always been a part of the music. In New Orleans, very sophisticated kind of take.

You know, there was like the French stuff, the Caribbean, obviously the street beat New Orleans stuff, the brass band. And then we're even going to get some vocals and some scat. But check this out, the first excerpt, how they start this idea. I think you're going to hear the Caribbean vibe. So this is Hebe-Geebies, and this is Louis Armstrong talking about this, because this was sort of a legendary track that allegedly when the first Scat solo was ever recorded, it's a lot of controversy about that.

But it's a very early one, and one of the first, certainly for Lewis Armstrong, for sure. Check him out, talking about this with Dick Cavett. Ever heard of him? Invented Scat singing. Is that possibly, is that true? Well, they claimed when we was recording Hebe-Jeeves. And we get on to this part for the second chorus and I dropped the paper. And the president in the control boot, he says, keep on singing, see?

Well, I brought back memories when I was a kid. Members. Going around in the Quartet, you know, Rapportez Street in New Orleans, where we get to the part. We didn't know in the woods. We'd go to Scatton and blowing like a trumpet or something like that. And it came to me just like that. And we didn't spoil the master of nothing.

So when we finished Mr. Forin, he said, well, such a molder, this is where Scat was born. See, now, he said it, but I mean, they gave me that monocle, you know. But that's where Scat was supposed to start, you know. But Jeller O'Morton claimed that he and some comedian used to Scat way back there in the 80s or something. I wasn't born in. I wouldn't argue with it. Oh, the 1880s, got it.

Yeah, that great, the 80s. In the 80s? Yeah, you know, like when E.T. was out? No, oh, the 1880s. Oh, geez. Yeah, man, great to hear the New Orleans accent. Because, you know, accents, they change and they smooth out over time. So there's not too many folks in Orleans that I've talked to that sound exactly like that.

It's like someone born in 1901. It's like when he said memories. Memors. That's kind of how my grandmother would say it, even though she was from rural Missouri. Yeah. But she would, she like had this like thing that we would never say, even though I'm from rural Missouri too. I wouldn't talk like that because it's gotten smoothed out. It's interesting.

Yes, great. And he's like, you know, they give me, what do you say? They gave me that monocle. You know, like substituting words, there's actually like a whole linguist instead of moniker. Right, right, right, right. But it actually has another meaning to it too. Like, there's a whole linguistic thing of like analyzed, especially in New Orleans where you had a lot of like African descendantry like with more direct lineage where there was like different

cultural things. not only with food and language and stuff that were actually kept and preserved and passed along and part of the culture, you know. But I think, you know, the really cool thing you hear this is, I mean, this is him like 40 years later talking about this late 60s. Yeah. Very close. Actually, right before he passed when he was on Cavitchill, but he, like, you hear in how he talked,

how he played, like, how he infused into the culture, like his personality. Yeah. Like, you had this intersection of obviously, you know, which the whole world's, all years later, this huge personality, but you're hearing in the 20s, like it's really blooming on the trumpet in a way that was shocking to other musicians and had people like King Oliver,

the greatest trumpet player in the world saying keep him on second trumpet so that I can keep an eye on him so he didn't steal my thunder, you know? But to be able to like, you know, infuse all that and then inspire and then it comes along with the technology and it's getting spread around the world. I mean, this stuff got really, really big.

We're going to get to that a little bit. I mean, we talked about this. during our meters episode, but it's always amazing to me. I know you lived in New Orleans and like, whenever I'm there, you feel the music so heavy, but it's so incredible. It's not a big city, relatively, you know, and it's outsized influence on the culture that still resonates today.

Absolutely. And still has this huge part. And his, like we were just talking about his accent. Yeah. Like that has informed the music, which has traveled around the world. Exactly. You know what I mean?

This accent from this one neighborhood in New Orleans from the early part of the music. the 20th century. Yeah. Amazing. So this is the rest of Hebi-G-G-Bes later on that we're going to listen to what he was just talking about when he dropped the paper and started scatting. I've got the Hebe's, I mean, the Jibbis talking about it's.

Bander players cold, yeah. Woof. Oh, come on. Oh, come on. Oh, come on. They call the hebe-jibis that sweet. Dude. It was kind of starting, you know.

And I think he probably really did drop it because, like, probably the only thing you remember was that he, once he gets back. called he be jeet. Like he gets back into the lyric there. But I mean like the authority. The lower as he dropped the paper. Right. And I mean the and because like they're like, just keep it going, you know, because we

don't want to wait. Like you couldn't start to take again. You had to load up a whole thing. So that's another part of the technology that kind of intersected with an artist like Lewis Armstrong that really, you know, again, not the first improviser ever, but the first great improviser. I think that only encouraged it to be documented. Could you imagine if it was now it's like, wait, stop.

Let's do it again. Like there wasn't a. of that. So it's like who's going to rise to the top? Somebody that can come in and create something like that brings a smile to our face and like, you know, all these, you know, whatever, 100 years later now, just like that

in one take. Can we get some banjo up in here too? That's killing. Yeah, I'm sorry. I should have actually, you know who that is? Man, that is Johnny St. St. Cyr, I think. Johnny St. Cyr. Yeah. Thank you, Johnny St. Cyr. Yeah, I mean, just making me dance. And then hitting the four. Oh. Right. Yeah, no. The flavor.

Flavor. Flavor. Incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So now we're still Chicago. Might as well be Nile Rogers. Like it's the similar thing.

I know. Yeah. Okay. So now we're moving along. We're still, we're really getting into kind of the apex of the hot fives and hot seven, some of the tracks that are most known and most beloved. This is 1927, you know,

OK records, this way of recording that they would do things. They were really starting to like, with artists like Louis Armstrong get this dialed in. These records started getting really huge. Like this was such a new sound. Yeah, even in the four years we're listening to here, the technology you can hear it developing. Yeah. So it's like, you know, jazz is in its infancy.

But like recording technology is in its infancy and it's developing fast. It's developing fast. And it took people, it wasn't that they couldn't do it. But like I say, like the parts were expensive. And even like in the, you know, 23 and 22 and stuff when he's playing with Joe Oliver, supposedly, like Lewis Armstrong's sound was so big that he had to stand like 15 feet back. And Joe Oliver apparently didn't like that because he was kind of like, I got a big sound. but it was like screwing up.

It was costing the record company money because he'd screw up that it would be, it would overload it. Yeah. So they would just position them back further. That's what he was saying. Because there's one microphone for the whole band. Was that what you were saying?

Maybe when he was talking about spoiling the master, like he blew it out or something and they would have them. Yeah. Yeah. So there was like pressure in there. It's like you got to come and nail this. You got to be the mix was done physically. Physically.

Physically. You know. Wow. As if recording isn't hard enough. I mean like here we are with our fancy mics and our, you know, so comfy. Yeah. Our iPad where we could just.

What was interesting about that years later, maybe we could do so many episodes just on Lewis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was a huge technologist for recording throughout his career. I didn't know that. I think it's because he came up at the beginning of like radio and recording technology. It was kind of around the cutting edge of it because he's a huge records. And he got to live to see like multi-track recording and all that stuff. Once he ended up in New York lived in Queens, the same house.

I actually not, I want to say in the 30s, maybe it was, again, we're not a history show. We're not a math show. You don't say. But Lewis Armstrong, it's a museum now. Next time we're in New York, we're going. Me and you. We're going to go and hang out. We're going to hold hands and walk around the Lewis Armstrong house.

Well, we'll see. But the thing is, like, he had an office there, his fame. It was just a normal house in Queens in a neighborhood. He lived there, even as he became world, world famous and everything. But he had this, he was big into real to reel to reel. He was early on the real to real thing. He used to travel with it. And he would, like, talk to it like a journal every night.

And they have these, like, hundreds of hours. Oh, amazing. Talking about his life. growing up in New Orleans, all this stuff, the archives there at Queens College. Yeah. And he was always into having the best high-fi equipment. I mean, he died in 1971. So it was like the high-fi stuff was different back then.

Yeah. Okay, Wild Man Blues, 1927. Do we need to take a breath or are we good? No, we're good, man. Okay, good. Wildman Blues, 1927, still Chicago, OK Records, Hot Fives, Hot Sevens. We're getting to some, we're already had some stuff. We're really getting to some stuff.

There's nothing better than swing. There's nothing better than swing and syncopation. There's just no better human feeling in music than swing in secretation. It's so great. What a gift that the musicians who developed that gave us. I know. And it was definitely evolutionary, you know what I mean? Up to a point, like the groove that we call, like what you taught, that feeling of swing.

But like something about Lewis and the way he played it as a soloist, I think, made it into, like, revolution then. It was evolution and then it was like, bam. And then it all kind of jumped off after that. And if you're listening and wondering, like, oh, what do they mean by swing or syncopation? It's almost not worth breaking it down. Like, you know it when you hear it. If you can't feel it, forget about it.

No, it is a feeling. Like it is, you could of course break it down with music theory and rhythmic notation or whatever. But why would you ruin something so beautiful? Let's save that for the nerd. No, it's not even, but it is just a feeling. It is capturing a feeling that is indescribable, really, truly. And I think for, look, for listening,

for music appreciators, which is absolutely what I consider myself first and foremost, you know, it is a feeling, let it resonate with you, don't overcomplicate it. There's no secret scrolls to it. It's just, do-bip, scoop-bip, bo, bo. I mean, it's such a

beautiful thing that he established there. Freedom. Yeah. Okay, 1928, we're getting sort of towards the end of the Chicago Hot Fives, Hot Sevens, is recording period. But we're going to introduce the first, of a couple of tracks we have with Earl Hines on piano.

Earl Hines really considered, you know, the father of jazz piano. Ever heard of him? Ever heard of him? Ever heard of him? And they had some wonderful duets, some beautiful things. We're going to listen to Muggles 1928 with Earl Hines. Louis Armstrong. And I think here you get with Earl Hines, kind of like with Bessie Smith, with Sidney Mishay, you start to get the intersection with the biggest, you know, King Oliver,

of course, the biggest musical personalities that could kind of at least come into his arena. You know, a lot of the stuff that Earl Hyde's playing behind him, more starting getting accompanying, less kind of collective improvisation. Yeah. But I mean, Lewis Armstrong's like this, like peak of his powers here, which he, for sure. We're going to hear he maintained for a very long time. Again, swing and syncopation. One nerd nook thing that, I don't know if you have a nerd look plan for our open studio members. Yes. That's where we go on a little... Enter the nerd nook on the music. Enter. But, you know, every single song that we've listened to so far that's been a blues form, a 12-bar blues form is like, you know,

contemporary blues are all like dominant seventh chords, right? That blues sound from the start of the form, all of these are just a major chord. Yes, right. And then you throw in that dominant seventh, the bar before you go to the four. Right. It's part of the flavor.

Like a second, music theory-wise, like a secondary dominant is here. We're going somewhere new instead of it's all the secondary dominant or the tonic dominant now. But like, it's useful. Yeah. There's way more minor thirds that he's playing with that blue stone than dominant seven.

100%. A lot of major sixes, you know. Yeah. No, it's just, and his command of the instrument, you can, like, sometimes people's tech, we talk about technique on an instrument, and a lot of people be like, well, why was he, like, they'll think about Lewis and Armstrongs are a great trumpet player. Oh, they can play high, and it's in tune. They don't even know what in tune is, but you don't know what out of tune is, but you don't know what in tune is, you know, unless you're analyzing it. But I think, too, just his ability, like, you can almost feel him, like, thinking of these ideas and there's very little separation between the musical idea and what he can do with the instrument, like getting in the way of that. That's kind of, you know, technique. 1928, he's 27 years old. It feels like this is like he's got a full handle on everything. He's got a full command of his powers now.

Yeah. And then, so this is 1928 as well. This is probably the most famous, and this almost made my Apex Mountain, but it didn't. But it's really great. Weatherbird, it's probably the most famous duo with Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong.

It might be the most famous sort of jazz duo of all time and most beloved. Well, there was the last week's duo between me and you on the Michael Jackson episode. I'm just saying. Dual. Dual. That's true. We did start it with you slapping me in the face with other gloves and challenge me.

It was a sparkling glove because it was Michael Jackson. Tusha. Well, we're done. You know that for Peter Martin, everybody. He's here all week. Try the real. But this is great. Weatherbird 1928 duo.

And this, you really hear, the ragtime influence, certainly for Earl. Yeah. Heinz, but also for Lewis Armstrong. What counterpoint stuff he's playing? This is a rag. People say stride. This is more ragfield than stride, I would say. I mean, of course, it's stronger to the left here.

I wish I could play with that. It's amazing. For free. Weatherbird, well-beloved, well-loved, well-loved. 1928. We're going to skip over the next couple of ones because I think that they are... We'll save for our categories.

We've got some apex... Yeah, that's our desert islands. Some desert islands coming up for sure. still in 1928 was a big year i had i think i had more tracks on this maybe that's his apex moment it could be it could be i mean i could have picked other ones i don't know these were all kind of personal favors but i think that they this was a great year you're hearing the clarity and the recording you're hearing like there's so much nuance even here from like that 1923 that you couldn't quite hear um coming for i mean lewis arborst i like known for the high notes for the swing for the

incredible technique but also just like the way you would manipulate one note the the um i mean later on the 50s the verge stuff with summertime. It's like you hear the vibrato and going in. I mean, the nuanced stuff, but you're starting to be able to hear that better on this. Yeah, no, the trumpet shit is not to be ignored. Right. It's a real thing.

The trumpet is an insanely difficult instrument to get to the level that Lewis Armstrong is here. Not to mention the artistic stuff, but just we don't want to just gloss over that because I feel like trumpet nerds would come for us. Exactly. Okay, so 1928, a little bit later, we got tight like this.

This is a fun one. I'll just play a little bit of this stuff that he plays coming up here. I was always like, what? Very kind of like, get out of double time. Still weird then, though, because most people worked out their solo. It might spit a verse here.

This feels so good. This was just like, you know, I feel horrible. Dang. We got more stuff to get to. And tie it like this, that's a great show. I think that's one of his best solos, most inventive.

Like, it's super, like, it's got all these, like, weird, like, kind of classical. operatic trumpet fliers. Yeah, yeah, there's some language there, some operatic language he's taken. And then going in and out of like the double time, like that heart, the backbeat, man, it's...

Yeah, and the band sounds incredible. Yeah. The little trill thing that... Kind of like this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. We're going to jump one year to 1929 now. This track, Black and Blue, or what did I do to Be So Black and Blue? The Complete title, written by Fats Waller, from whatever that musical was, a movie, the same one with, I guess it was a misbehaving.

But this is an important, like this. Oh, there's that famous footage of Fats playing. Exactly, from the same movie or musical. I apologize for not knowing what that was. I wasn't born yet. Sue me. Sue me, I don't have the internet. I mean, it's disappointing because you are a historian

of film and television. I like to write, I'm kind of like a historical novelist, you know, where you weave things for real, but then they become like, I remember when I was hanging out Fats Waller. And Bats McGee. Oh,

Bats McGee. And then Ron came in and he specifically asked about you. Come on, and slapped you with a sparkly glove. Let's go. But this track, black and blue,

this was the first recorded song, the first song that directly addressed racism. And it was in 1929 by a jazz musician. So this was like a very important thing. And later on,

we're not going to get into the, we're not going to really go past. 1933. But there's a lot of interesting things for Lewis Armstrong as an African-American leader of culture, an international figure that became very relevant later on. But already in 1929, he was recording this. I mean, this was like Ralph Ellison in Invisible Man, which was probably his most famous novel from whatever that was, late 50s. He actually, the whole prologue is about this performance and it's weaved into the story. And it's really a brilliant thing. And Lewis's nuanced reading of this. Let's just check out a little bit of it, black and blue,

1929. And then he sings, the lyrics great. Like, it's really something. Check out the whole track. It'll be in the playlist. I think this was, that's an incredible solo that he plays anyway in a really important track.

1930. Oh, we're also getting, like, so now he's out of Chicago, like he's going to New York a lot, he's going to California. This is, he started to appear in movies. He started to appear on, there was no television,

but it was like, yeah, it was film, whatever. And, you know, he's really getting popular. And he's, like, he's beyond starting to break through. He's breaking through. But this next track, this has always been one of my favorite, and there's great footage of this, a live performance of this from like two years later

on his first tour in Europe. This is Dinah, which was like a really popular song and was a very square song. So like, this was really revolutionary, I think the way that he's saying this. And if you look at the video, too, it's super cool. It's some of the first footage of Lewis Armstrong.

Oh, sorry. I want to do that. I wanted to go to the solo. I'll jump to the solo here. There's your dominant seven. I should have pointed out some of these, but so far I've heard some things that I've heard later from Dizzy Gillespie.

I've heard bits of language that I've heard Dizzy Gillespie play. I've heard something from Glenn Miller from the Glenn Miller song. I've heard something from Duke Ellington that was part of one of Lewis's solo. So it's pretty incredible. Yeah.

Again, his contribution to the language. into the music. Yeah, and then, you know, Clark Terry, Roy Eldridge, Snooky Young. Like, you really hear that direct connection here that bridged it to the next, you know. Okay, here we go. 1931. This is Lazy River by Hockey Carmichael.

There's some great Hockey Carmichael songs and even collaborations, Lewis Armstrong did with the great songwriter, Hogi Carmichael. But check out the scat on this. This is, like, kind of bonkers. If I can find it. I'm going to jump up to the skit. Me too lazy river with

Check this out Yeah Yeah Check out the next one Uh huh Sure Way down, way down Oh,

Oh, Lazy River when old mill runs Oh Meadie Lazy River with the doonday sun Flangle in the shade Of a kind old tree Throw away your troubles

Dream a dream of me Dream a dream of me Of the lazy river Where the robin's on Wakes to bright new morning And we love along Blue skies up above Everyone in love

Of the lazy river How happy we will be Mama Of the leather river Of the river Of the river of the river There you go, come on. Take it out.

Take it out. See it out. Biddii di dii bidi-de-de-de-be-de-be-de-bedi-de-de-bed-a-de-de-da-in-da-n. Oh, you know what I mean? Oh, you know what I mean? Oh, come on the Lazy River. River. Oh, you river.

Oh, you river. Oh, you both. Oh, you with that, George Alexander. We're not there on a marriage, that boy. Oh, man. And there's so much, we haven't really talked about this a lot, but there's so much joy and playfulness in everything he's ever done as well. Yeah.

And it's a great reminder that this is supposed to be fun for people. Man, I'm having fun. I mean, yeah, the intersection of joy and artistry. Fun for us and the audience. I know, and improvisation. I mean, you could just feel like his whole, yeah. Like, everything that he did was, sure. Sure.

Like, it was just, like, confidence, but improvisation and, like, knowing right where you fit into the thing and when you lead it, like, it's exciting. Okay, so that's Hogi Carmichael. 1931, we're also getting into the period, I believe, already. Yes, so he, this is right about before, right before he went on his first European tour, which there's a whole other, like, side story to this that I don't want to get into because I'm a little scared, to be honest.

It involves the mafia, Al Capone, Joe Glazer, Mr. Glazer, Let me just say, Mr. Capone. I've never seen you. I mean, come on. Capitulate so much. We're only, we're 190 miles from Chicago. You know, Lewis Armstrong got so popular. Like, they were starting to really see the power of this music.

Yeah. You know, there was a lot of like... The gangsters, you mean, like, the mafia. Everybody. Yeah. The gangsters got interested, apparently, because there was money to be made because the people were interested in it, you know? So they were more... But, I mean, like, the U.S. government was starting to, like, really start to worry about

uprising of African Americans because of this music. They were like, they understood the power of the music, you know what I mean? Did they, I'm sure they didn't do anything. No, they were like, you know what? This is great for America. So, anyway, you know, Louis Arsman was moving around a bunch. He went to California. There was a lot of like, let me stay out of Chicago because certain people I don't want to run into.

More of these stories. But you needed, like, when you were as big as he was in terms of like not only popularity, but potential popularity, which you could see around the corner, you needed a dude on your side to like guide that part. It's like I got the music. Who's going to make sure I got it? It wasn't like now where it's like is your internet contracted? It was like, no. Can we get our Chicago jazz gangster movie please? Exactly. Scorsese, if you're watching, sir. Right, right. Okay, so still in 1931, talking about Hogie Carmichael. This may, this is not as my desert island or apex, but it really could have been and we're about to get to ours. But this is Stardust, probably one of the greatest

American songs, you know, certainly ever written. I think this might be the, greatest version of it? I'm not sure. I mean, Star Duss, you talk about lush life, embrace, I mean, there's a lot of great songs, but this is in that group for sure. And this is just a beautiful reading by Louis Armstrong, 1931. Incredible. Now he's going to play with it.

I wonder why I spend a lonely night. Baby, oh, I know, to begin with you. When a love was new always. It's an inspiration.

Oh, We're talking Hey Now my consolation It's in the start of a super song Beside a garden wall You walk in my own We talk a lot

At open studio about, you know Like learning the melody And being true to the melody And that's the only thing you shouldn't mess with But Oh my God, that's like the most beautiful That's like the most beautifully Inaccurate reading of that melody

And that's what he did with Dina too He like hangs on the one note. He finds the one note that's going to be the common tone through the changes, and he just makes these subtle little adjustments going through. And the second time through, he's like a couple of different things that happen. Incredible. Yeah, this wouldn't be who you want to listen to if you're like, I want to learn the melody exactly how it is. You're just going to learn Lewis's melody there. Right. But he really was sort of like the template, the precursor to the way that jazz, like, he created the template for the way jazz musicians take great

American songbooks compositions. And look, Stardis is probably one of those ones that it's like, well, You could just leave it just like it is. Play it mediocre, and it's such a great composition. But his harmonic, I think, like, his harmonic knowledge and intuition was so great that he could take all that and change it. And, like, his flavor with the lyrics that combined, that's how he's able to get away with changing and improvising the melody. Yeah.

Vocally, you know. Another thing I want to note here for any, like, if you're a musician in a rhythm section, like, it's really everything we've heard today, there's a lot of quarter note. And then towards the end of the 20s, you're hearing a lot of like the bands emphasize that one and three, like, um, um, letting the upbeat breathe a little bit,

but they're just like laying in there, right? Fore to floor. And it gives Lewis and the improvisers the chance to be free over something super solid, right? And that translates then later to things like Duke Ellington's orchestra, the bassy band with Freddie Green, even like to the Oscar Peterson,

Rio and like the most swinging bands you can imagine have that same relationship where there's something that's just like right in there. Like this big wide pocket, like I said, you could drive a truck through and then it gives the soloist this opportunity to actually syncopate over something steady. It leads all the way up to today just last weekend you and I 3am over on the east side hanging out in the club. Remember? You don't remember. Okay. I was on a lot of drugs. I know they were like E.

I was like, I don't know what that is. They gave me it anyway. But I digress. Okay, 1931, 32. That's not true, honey, by the way. It's not true. We're getting to the end, and Europe became a thing for Lus Arsson,

partly because he was running from certain Italian-American gentlemen who were part of... Careful. I'm just saying. Al-Cabal and Joe Glazer, maybe not Italian-American, another ethnicity. They were of the ethnicity of gangsters. That's what it was, from several different...

Ethnicity. Careful. I don't know. What am I said? Help me out. He loves it. I'm not helping anything. Yeah, this is great.

He was running for the mobster, so he went to Europe. Yeah. But like some stuff happened that was crazy because, turns out, Louis Armstrong at this time, 1932, had no iPhone. He was iPhone list. Did you know that? Yes, I assumed. So he didn't know.

I think he was kind of shocked by the reception that he got. He did a gig in Copenhagen, which is not a huge city. There was 10,000 people at the concert. They filmed it, which was a big deal to film something at that time. played in the UK. Everybody knew his music. Not everybody, but a lot of people knew his music because of the records were starting to go crazy

and radio. But this is Lewis talking a little bit about Europe during that time. Over there, jazz is strong in the masons. Start at the night clubs and honorary president of all of them. And wherever we play, they come in, it's like they're going to a football game.

And do you think that this enthusiasm for jazz in Europe is the reason for their great reception of you when you played over there in concert. I mean, they have those records. Every record I've made, and the minute I start blowing one, you know, hands and everything, you know.

And what about no problem as far as not speaking their language? No, we don't need to speak the language. When we finish the concerts, we go to the art clubs and the unions and sit in with the musicians there. We play a must-rad ramble the same, and we look at each other and just smile and blow. That's how it.

Imagine being a Dutch musician and Lewis Armstrong walks in and you're in a club, he must be like, oh, let's do it. Here we go. Of course, he's talking about tour and stuff later, but I just brought that up

because, you know, he toured a lot heavy all the way up to the end of his life. That's incredible. So that takes us to 1933, and actually, let's do a little bit of Desert Island tracks because that'll, let's jump back and do those. I think both of ours are from 1928.

Not that that matters. Yeah, yeah, let's do it. So what do you got for your desert islands? I got his mind, probably the most, famous, obvious one, but West Ham Blues. Ever heard of this? Yeah, I have.

We've got to get some woodbox. Back in the situation, too. Apexmo. I'm going to jump right to now. No, you can't skip this, man. I can't skip. I bet. The greatest. It is great.

Tagger. Oh, yeah. Piano. Substitution there. Yeah. So yeah, my apex moment is about to happen. So my apex moment, I think, for Louis Armstrong's, maybe entire career. Yeah, this has got to be Euro-Hines on here.

I'm thinking. Yeah. Two dominant, minor to turn. Ah. All I know what you did. Great 12 seconds in music history possibly. So great. So great.

That's a good, that's a fantastic apex. Yeah. Okay. So I've got St. James Infirmary from 19. 28 as my Desert Island track. That's my Desert Island track.

Yours is West Side. Oh, that's right. This is your song. Saw my baby there. sits down on a long white table. So sweet, so cold. She can look this white one over She'll never find a sweet man like me

When I die Yeah again 1928 He had something going on I mean not that he didn't later But it was there was a real He was a real artistic Blossoming point Let's get to some categories Peter

So what's your apex moment? We talked about mine Which is the trumpet solo in West End Blues I've got the solo on By the way Yeah Sorry if I can just I'm going to repackage that

Yes. I think my apex moment might be the clarinet solo with Lewis answering the call and response. Wow, wow, wow. Through the piano solo through the trumpet solo. It's not a moment. That's an apex half a damn track. It's only about 35 seconds, that whole thing. So I don't know.

It is good. It is good. Go ahead. You get a couple. Okay. What's your apex moment? Okay, so I got a right to sing a blues night. I got a right to sing.

Yeah. This is him singing the melody, but I want to jump to the solo because this is my. Great call. Apex mode. This solo, I think. Well, just check it out. It's the whole solo. This is later on the show.

The way he comes in. It's just, man, the freedom that he exhibits on that. It's just like he's floating there. He's not even in time for a lot of it, but when he is, and when he goes up and hits that high note, and it's bad. I love it. Sue me.

I got to write to sing the blues 1930. Let's get to some more categories here. So bespoke playlist title. What do you got? So I've got the real jazz age. The real jazz age. Yeah. That's part of my pattern of the real whatever.

I'm going to go with Foundations of Jazz. Could be a bespoke playlist title. There's nothing great here, actually. Could you be any more generic? I know, as I'm saying. It's like... Welcome to Adams Jazz class. Today we're studying the Foundations of Jet.

You know what I'm not going to say my other ones? Because that was my best one. Fundamentals of Jazz, perhaps. Up next, what do you got? If this was on a streaming service, what would they play up next after this? What would be a great choice? Yeah, what I would think would be a great choice?

choice is a Nicholas Payton record from the mid-90s called Dear Lewis. Great call. Where he does like reimagined versions of this with a mini big band. Great take. Yeah. And also back of town by Trombone Shorty. You didn't have Trombone Shorty stuff, but I like that record from 2010. I don't know that one. Trombone Shorty, fantastic trumpet player, of course known for his trombone player. But like both those artists and a number of others that I could think of from New Orleans. But Nicholas Payton and Tramon Shorty to me exude that direct connection, musical lineage with the New Orleans flavor to Lewis Armstrong in a really interesting way. I'm going to go any of the early Art Tatum.

Oh, nice call. Singles. And then I might even go Lester Young Trio, which is the baseless trio with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich. Coming out of this to me is like only because it's like you would get to hear Lewis and then you would kind of get to hear where his thing is being taken a little bit later, even before Charlie Parker. Yeah.

I don't know. That choice is totally baseless, I would say. Great. Great. He is, in fact, here all week. Any quibble bits? No. Well, just racism in the United States during that time here.

That's a big one. Yeah, that's a huge quibble bit. But that's not Louis Arsard's fault. I mean, no, I mean, the recording quality. I can't say, oh, you got any quibble bits with the Chicago gangsters? I mean, not really. I mean, everything worked out where these records came out. So shout out.

Shout out. Shout out Al-Cabombo. All right. Stomobometer. Snobometer. I mean, this is either a one or a 10. I think it's a nubber. eight. It's not an eight. I think it's an eight. If it's an eight, it's nothing. That's what you always say. It's

either an eight or a nine. Tell me why it's an eight. I feel like it's a pretty snobby experience. Well, this playlist might be, but it's got West, I mean, it's got some obvious start. I mean, it's got some obvious stuff. I just think if you're not a fan, like, if you don't know. Nobody's not a fan. I know, but if you don't know anything about the music, right? Yeah. This is a steep climb, because there's no, there's almost no reference point. Some of the early recordings are hard on the ears. You know what I mean? It sounds so long ago. Yeah. I think it's a steep climb. I think the music itself is not that snobby. I would say... But it's so disconnected to things that are happening now, whereas, like, when you listen to even kind of blue,

you're like, oh, yeah, that stuff is in a lot of, like, movies and commercials, right? Yeah. But this stuff isn't as much, I mean, in, like, movies and commercials where you hear the sound of this music. But I would say, if somebody listens to this playlist and doesn't find something out of Lewis Armstrong's playing that they love... Oh, yeah. I would like...

We have a friend, Sean Weil, who could drive that person up to Chicago. We have some people we'd like to introduce them to spend a weekend with. in Chicago. Okay? Thank you. You just have, I love on your stomobiter here,

you just have question this. You have no idea. I have no idea. It's a tough call. It's a tough call for the snowmometer. No, because that's what I'm saying. It's both,

I mean, I consider this playlist very snobby. Here's another reason why I think it's incredibly snobby. Because the people that are super into Lewis Armstrong are,

not all of them, but there are a lot of purists. Yeah. And there are a lot of snobby. Well, I don't listen to anything after 1933. You know,

like kind of people. Actually, That's what I'm saying. That would make it a 10 on the snubbometer. That's what I'm saying, yeah. The fact that this is a Lewis Armstrong playlist with nothing after 1933, whereas somebody, if it was a one, if it was only, well, what a wonderful life. Ella and Lewis is like a four.

Yeah, exactly. What a wonderful life is a one. What a wonderful world. What a wonderful world. That's a one. Unlinda loves that. Exactly. Everybody loves it.

Is it better than KOB, sir? I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no for me. Personally, my own personal listening preferences, I'm going to say no. I think it's amazing, obviously. Is it better? It's not for your listening. Do you think it's better?

I don't think it's better. Or worse. I think Lewis Armstrong would be the best musician on Kind of Blue, for sure, if he was on it. But I think as a whole... Shout out Miles Davis. I think as a whole conceptually and all of the playing and the form of Kind of Blue, I prefer to... To everything that's going on around. Again, it's so disconnected for me.

And this is truly Apples and Orange. It really is. I'm not saying like I don't, of course, like, but I would love, you know, anyway. I would say because this is such a curated list for what I love, but I think what a lot of people would love at this period that I would say actually is better,

but it's like cherry picking in a way, kind of blues an entire album. This is, you know, whatever, 16 fantastic souls. I would say, if you're just going to compare him, I would say this is better than K&A. Again, I disagree only because all the stuff going on around Lewis when he's not playing

is not as good as the stuff on K&B. the gangster stories? What do you mean? That's even better, man. That's pretty good. Great. Like I said, where's our film? Well, that leads us to accoutermalts.

Maybe that. I said N.A. on this, because there is no... This is really nothing. But if the accoutrements involves the Chicago mob... Well, all the stories and the lore. The great accoutrements, seriously. For real. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Cool, man. You know what? Yeah. We've been having some reviews. Oh, yeah. So leave us a rating in review.

We have some good reviews that we've been getting recently. We want to read maybe one or two of those for the folks and shout out some folks. Wouldn't that be cool? If we find it. Give me a VAMP. Give me an F7 VAMP so I can find it. I don't have.

See, now we're going to get a bunch of... This is our quibble bit. This is... Oh, can we have nice things, Adam, please, can we? Seriously. Where'd you save this? All right, Adam, we're getting back on our rating review train.

I love a rating review. Now, don't tune out, okay, because this is going to be really quick and then we're going to play... Oh, we're going to play your song, your theme song. My theme song. Big butter.

Red Eggman. No, this is going to be fun. Can I get an open studio name tag that says Adam, Big Butter and Eggman? But you're not. Not anymore. Dang. Okay, so the idea with this,

if you want to leave us a review, you've got to go to app, got it. You have the pleasure of going to Apple Music, Apple Podcast, whatever. You can leave some rating on Spotify. But go to Apple and we'll read it if you leave one. Yeah, we'll read your review live on air like we're about to do.

This is from Zach Wolf Law. Friend of the show. Friend of the show. Hang with Peter and Adam. Not the best. Jazz podcast, the best music podcast, period. And then he's got a period after spelling out period. It's like hanging out with two old friends who just happened to have immense knowledge about piano, jazz, harmony, and jazz in general.

Did he just call it old? Yeah, he did. These guys really have their, you'll hear it stuff together. That's an inside reference sack. That's old school right there. That's old school, yeah. So anyway, please leave us rating review, help spread the love of the podcast. What else we got?

Oh, join us at the Nerd Nook, where we're going to talk about something specific. We do this every week, and it's a lot of fun. To something that we played, if you want to hear some kind of behind the scenes analysis of what we do, become a member of Open Studio. Follow the link below. You can start a free trial. You can actually just start a free trial and check out the hair. No big deal.

That's really not a big deal if I want to start. That's really not a big butter egg man. That's right. That's it, man. Until next time. You'll hear it.