Louis Armstrong - I can't give you anything but love

What do you think of Louis Armstrong singing "I can't give you anything but love"? Please comment.

Summertime: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

It's seems to become a bright warm summer day today, the kind that promises endless opportunities for having fun and begs for not wasting a single minute of it.

A song that fits today is Summertime sung by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. I like it because it's melancholic and has an epic feel to it. What do you feel when you hear this song? What kind of associations do you get as you listen?

Play it again: Summertime by Ray Brown Trio with Gene Harris on piano.

What do you think of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong singing Summertime? Please comment.

The St James Infirmary Blues - Animation

The song "The St James Infirmary Blues" sung and played by Louis Armstrong has been turned into an animation by Dhar Jabouri. Watch the video clip with "The St James Infirmary Blues".



The version of St James Infirmary Blues in this animation might be from Louis Armstrong's recording in 1928, but I'm not sure. If you know, please tell me.

One guy that should know is Rob Walker, who has collected a lot of material about the song. Take a look at Rob Walker's blog about St James Infirmary Blues.

What do you think of the video clip? Tell me.

A Song Is Born: How to use jazz to save a damsel in distress

A bunch of music professors somehow get taken hostage by mobsters and uses swing music to get free to save the damsel in distress from being forced to marry the mob leader. That is the setup for this video clip from the movie "A song is born" (1948).

The music professors are helped by no others than Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet and Danny Kaye.



The song is the clip is Flying Home that was written by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman. A Song Is Born" is a remake of the film "Ball Of Fire" (1941).

Have you seen "A Song Is Born"? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Good Evening Everybody: Photos

Last week I saw the show Good Evening Everybody at Parksnäckan. The show is about the music and life of Louis Armstrong.




Good Evening Everybody is an entertaining and educating show. Beside hearing a lot of good jazz music you'll also find out a lot about Louis Armstrong and also about jazz history in general.

The band members take turns telling stories and band leader Peter Lind provides explanations of why Armstrong was called "Satch"; where the song "Muskrat ramble" got its name and how you really pronounce his name: is it "Louie" or "Louis"?



They talked about Louis Armstrongs tours to Sweden and how his music not always was understood by the music critics.

Nowadays most Swedes understand English, but in those days they wrote new lyrics to the song so that the general public could understand, often the lyrics became much more trivial.



But songs didn't just travel from America to Europe, some songs travelled in the opposite direction. Peter Lind and the Cabaret band gave examples of songs like that: Just a Gigolo (orginally a song from Austria) and Mack The Knife (from Germany). Take a look at Louis Armstrong sing Mack The Knife.

Peter Lind commented on the fact that there are too few movies on tv with Louis Armstrong in them: "When was the last time you saw Cabin In the Sky?".

If you have the opportunity I recomend you to see the show.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Have you seen the show Good Evening Everybody? What do you think of it? Tell me.

"Good Evening Everybody" at Parksnäckan

Tonight there will be a performance in Parksnäckan in Uppsala called Good evening everybody by Peter Lind and the Cabaret Band.

Good evening everybody was the opening phrase that Louis Armstrong always used and the show is about Louis Armstrong, his music and his life. The band will tell anecdotes about Louis Armstrong but will also talk about the how he has influenced them. Peter Lind is an amazing storyteller and he is backed up some of Uppsala's (and Sweden's) best jazz musicians: John Högman, Björn Sjödin, Kjell Grundström, Mats Josephson and Claes-Göran Skoglund.

I think this will be a really awesome show, it starts at 19.30 and costs 90 kr (70 kr with UNT-card).

Uppsala Nya Tidning has an article about the show.

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license it.

Have you seen the show "Good evening everybody" before? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Louis Armstrong - Swingin' on Nothing

Swingin' on Nothing is one of my favorite swing songs. This video clip show Louis Armstrong and his orchestra playing Swingin' on Nothing together with singers George Washington and Velma Middleton.



In the clip George and Velma dances together and it looks like some kind of jig trot. Velma Middleton also dances by herself (in her own style).

What do you think of Louis Armstrong and his orchestra playing Swingin' on Nothing? Tell me.

Louis Armstrong - Paris Blues - Jam Session

Do you want high energy swing music? Well, here you go! Here is a great video clip from the movie Paris Blues with Louis Armstrong.

Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier plays musicians playing in a jazz club when Louis Armstrong and his band comes crashing in (that's how you make a entrance!) and challenge each of them in a jam session.



In beginning of this video clip there is some swing dancing. I just love the energy of the music and I love the joy they express. It truly shows what swing music is all about.

Paris Blues was released in 1961.

What do you think of this video clip from Paris Blues with Louis Armstrong. Tell me.

Louis Armstrong sings Mack the Knife (1962)

Louis Armstrong sings Mack the Knife at a concert in Stockholm in 1962.



The music is written by Kurt Weill and the lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and Berthold Brecht.

What do think of this video clip where Louis Armstrong sings Mack the Knife? Tell me.

Swing dj Jonas' favorite song right now

One of my swing dj colleagues in Uppsala is Jonas Pettersson. I couldn't hear him dj last Wednesday at Zackes Jazz Corner at the dance studio Chicago in Stockholm ( run by The Harlem Hot Shots), so I asked him:

What is your favourite swing song right now?

It's "Mahogany Hall Stomp" by Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, recorded in New York, March 5, 1929, Okeh #8680.

Can be found on "Armstrong, Louis – The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven
Recordings" [4CD] [Columbia #63527].

Why that particular song?

Because it shows an amazing and very early example of the transition from the two-beat hot jazz of the twenties to the oncoming four-to-the-bar swing of the thirties. Listen to "Potato Head Blues" with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven on mentioned compilation for an example of "two-beat", same tempo as "Mahogany Hall Stomp", but with tuba and banjo, which gives it a completely different feeling compared to the more fluid swing of the string bass and guitar of "Mahogany Hall Stomp".

What is your favorite swing song right now? Tell me.

Sweet (?) Georgia Brown - Cabin In The Sky

Yesterday I saw the film Cabin in the sky where Lena Horne plays the character Georgia Brown. Usually you hear about the Sweet Georgia Brown but here she was trying to steal away Joe from his wife. Lena Horne certainly was an 'it' girl.



One really great version of Sweet Georgia Brown is done by Ella Fitzgerald on the album A Perfect Match together with Count Basie and his band.



Ethel Waters who plays the wife in the movie also has recorded some versions of Sweet Georgia Brown.

Duke Ellington and his band is featured in this film in a scene where you also can see several types of dance: (original) jazz dance, some lindy hop and even some shag.

Louis Armstrong also has a very small role in the film.