It’s late in the day for any discussion of Armstrong’s cultural impact but the publicity for this album reminds us of his importance in describing this previously unreleased music as “the last great performance by the most influential American musician of all time”.
In 1968 Armstrong was enjoying a level of success so unlikely that few could equal it. What A Wonderful World, reprised here in a version minus the strings and choir heard on the his single and accordingly rendered more poignant, was keeping the likes of Otis Redding and the Beatles off the top of what could then be called the UK hit parade. His band’s summer appearance at the Batley Variety Club in Yorkshire ensured a payment of £10,000. For that money they were getting an “entertainer” who by that point had long since stepped beyond that and into the realm of art with his instrumental fire.
He still has that on this set, as exemplified by his rendering of the melody of A Kiss To Build A Dream On. This is so majestic that there’s no point in trying to describe it otherwise – the cliché actually applies.
Apparently Armstrong once claimed that he was here “in the cause of happiness”. This set confirms that he served the cause well, and in a world now arguably as torn apart as it was in the late 1960s his message seems as important as ever.
Discography
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South; Indiana; A Kiss To Build A Dream On; Hello Dolly!; Mame; You’ll Never Walk Alone; Ole Miss; Blueberry Hill; Mack The Knife; Rockin’ Chair; The Bare Necessities; What A Wonderful World; When The Saints Go Marching In (46.56)
Armstrong (t, v); Tyree Glenn (tb, v); Joe Muranyi (cl); Marty Napoleon (p); Buddy Catlett (b); Danny Barcelona (d). London, England, 2 July 1968. Recorded for, and first broadcast on BBC TV, 22 September 1968.
Verve 00602465686128
