Vol. V: Louis In New York

While Louis Armstrong made his most influential records of the 1920s with his small groups the Hot Five and Hot Seven, he actually spent his evenings working regularly as a featured soloist with larger orchestras, first with Fletcher Henderson and then with Carroll Dickerson and Luis Russell. These 1928- 29 recordings find Armstrong in the studio with many of those bands' members, showing his preference for larger and sweeter ensembles and placing as much emphasis on his vocals as on his trumpet work. The vocal version of "Some of These Days" has Armstrong's alternately puckish and bravura trumpet exchanging choruses with a tightly arranged reed section, while his vocal has the same creative phrasing as his more dazzling trumpet work. There are also superb renditions of several Fats Waller songs--"Ain't Misbehavin'," "Black and Blue," and "Sweet Savannah Sue." These are key recordings in Armstrong's evolution into a major figure in American popular music. --Stuart Broomer