Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism

by Thomas Brothers

  56her husband listened to rail-and dockworkers: Oliver HJA 1959.

  56Armstrong said: Armstrong 1936, 26. Armstrong, Lillian WRC 1938; Jackson WRC 1938. There is room for suspicion about the consistent claims for an influence of Johnson on Armstrong in these 1938 interviews, which are summarized by Bill Russell on notes preserved at the Williams Research Center. It is likely that Russell, who had already spoken with Johnson, was asking leading questions, as he often does on the taped interviews from the 1950s. On Armstrong’s denial of influence from Johnson, see Armstrong 1999, 40–41 and 197–98. On the other hand, Ory also cited this kind of phrasing as Johnson’s specialty; Russell 1994, 178.

  56“the strongest notes you can play”: Foster 2005, 73.

  56Music can be heard … by ordinary people: Barbarin HJA 1957; Jackson 2005, 72–74.

  57Of these three terms … in 1955: Bechet 1960, 3; Brothers 2006, chap. 7; Armstrong 1955, 60.

  58Handy’s band “was called”: Foster 2005, 105.

  58“That was a rag”: Zutty Singleton WRC ca. 1938.

  58“The word has been used for so many different things”: Berrett 2004, 41.

  58“American dance music”: Kenney 1993, 61–62.

  58“We hadn’t heard groups in the East”: Smith 1964, 123 and 129.

  58“There wasn’t an eastern performer”: Bushell 1988, 22; Williams 1962, 77; Morand HJA 1950.

  58With blues in their pockets … network of musicians: Jackson HJA 1958; Goodard 1979, 292. Hunter IJS 1976; Mitchell HJA 1959; Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 77–79; McBride HJA 1959. Bushell 1988, 25. Ellington 1973, 47; Brown, Ralph COHP 1971. Kenney 1993, 102–16. Bushell 1988, 22. Hinton IJS n.d. Wettling 1945, 5; Compton HJA 1959; Freeman CJA 1980. Hinton IJS 1976; Washington COHP 1971; Smith HJA 1961.

  59“strictly” from New Orleans: Brown, Ralph COHP 1971; Russell 1999, 467.

  60Alberta Hunter suggested to Columbia Records: Taylor 1987, 56.

  60“When Joe Oliver went up”: Foster 2005, 95.

  60In the spring of 1923 … “so we move on”: Armstrong 1936, 79; Wright 1987, 16. Kennedy 1994, 36. Punch Miller HJA 1959. Bernhardt 1986, 54.

  60sign up bands on the spot: On these first sessions and the Gennett business, see Kennedy 1994, 28–30 and 114; Dodds 1992, 69; Russell 1999, 357; Davison IJS 1980; Dodds WRC n.d.; Moore HJA 1959. Wright (1987, 16) says that it is not clear whether the band made the recordings while on this tour or on a separate trip from Chicago, but Armstrong (1936, 16) plainly says that the recordings took place while on the tour. Kennedy (1994, 59) says without documentation that the band took a train from Chicago just to make the trip. Dodds (1992, 69) discusses making trips directly from Chicago, taking the train because there was no place for them to stay in Richmond.

  62Armstrong was overpowering Oliver’s lead: Lillian Hardin Armstrong in Jones and Chilton 1971, 71; Dodds 1992, 69; Armstrong 1966, 37. George Brunis (HJA 1958) described something similar in a recording session with Gennett: his cornet was too loud, so the engineer had him “turn around and play to the wall.”

  62Recordings were limited … with a bottle: Dance 1977, 26. Dodds 1992, 69.

  62In these brief, tinny recordings: Recordings of Oliver’s band during 1923 have been reissued many times, most recently—and with excellent results—as King Oliver Off the Record: The Complete 1923 Jazz Band Recordings (Thurmont, MD: Off the Record, 2006; distributed by Archeophone Records, Champaign, IL).

  63they turned to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band: Noone in Dodds, John WRC ca. 1938.

  63“I’d never heard any white band”: Mezzrow 1946, 51.

  63“I ain’t gonna give these white boys my best stuff”: Fess Williams in Wright 1987, 335; see also Brown, Ralph COHP 1971; also Buster Bailey in Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 96. I’m Not Rough, the piece that earned him the crown of King at Lincoln Gardens in 1919, was not recorded, either.

  63Alberta Hunter remembered … credit for Chimes Blues to Oliver: Balliet 1977, 110. Connections with Holy City noted by Lyttelton 1978, 149; see also Sager 2006, 16 and 17. Lillian Hardin Armstrong (CJA n.d.) said she “conceived the idea of playing piano chords in chimes style against any blues to give the piano a chorus to be heard. I didn’t know the tune had been published by Melrose.”

  63both brought up with church music: See Brothers 2005, chap. 2 and passim.

  64even Oliver’s wife Stella admitted: Oliver HJA 1959.

  64probably resembles the slap-pizzicato: Brooks 2002, 9.

  64the solo that quickly became identified with him: Wright (1987, 269) suggests that it is the most copied jazz solo ever.

  65“Once you got a certain solo”: Armstrong 1966, 43. For an extended analysis of this phenomenon, see Harker 1999.

  65freak wah-wah effects: On the likelihood of hand manipulation, see Lyttelton 1978, 42.

  65This is the kind of playing … as Armstrong put it: Bushell 1988, 26. Bernhardt 1986, 95. Armstrong LAHA 1951a; Brothers 2006, 290, and endnote p. 364; Russell 1994, 138; Pleasants 1974, 101. Armstrong 1999, 38.

  66Oliver had put his name on it: Armstrong, Lillian CJA n.d.

  66had to advance from his corner position: Armstrong 1966, 37.

  66“As a kid it just came natural”: Armstrong 1971, 214; Armstrong 1945, 13. Clarinetist Benny Waters (Waters 1985, 12 and 14) remembered his own sensitivity to chords developing as a child in precisely the same repertory of vocal quartets. Harker (2003, 143) analyzes Armstrong’s arpeggiations in Chimes Blues and elsewhere as indicating influence from clarinet playing, but I see it as more strictly an indicator of precise interest in chords.

  67with some of the musicians playing a major chord and others a minor chord: The issue was signaled by Gunther Schuller (1968, 83), but Schuller’s account is slightly misleading. It is not uncommon in pastiche pieces like this, with parts created by different people, for there to be slight changes in the chords, and I believe that this is precisely what has happened here. The choruses before Armstrong’s solo do not involve the diminished chord in m. 6, and m. 2 is different as well; it is sometimes hard to get a clear impression of what is being played, but that much is clear. So Schuller’s point that Armstrong is alone in getting the diminished chord correct is wrong—his is the only chorus that has a diminished chord prescribed for this measure. His point about conflict between F major and F minor in earlier choruses still stands, however.

  67When King Oliver … secondary concerns: Sudhalter 1999, 34. De Faut WRC 1970. Armstrong, Lillian WRC 1969.

  Chapter 3: Opposites Attract: Louis and Miss Lil

  70“But who was I to think”: Armstrong 1999, 16.

  70“Louis, do you want to go over and meet Lil?”: Armstrong 1936, 70.

  70They were not … she remembered: Dickerson 2002, 40. Hunter IJS 1976; Armstrong, Lillian 1963. Jones and Chilton 1971, 69.

  70“wasn’t very much to look at”: Armstrong IJS 1954, 36.

  71Once in New Orleans … in November 1922: Armstrong IJS 1954, 12. Armstrong, 1999, 87; Armstrong, Lillian CJA n.d. Armstrong 1936, 71.

  71Lillian’s point of entry … relationship with Fisk: Jones Music Store: Armstrong, Lillian WRC 1938. Bergreen 1997, 181–82. Armstrong (1999, 203) believed that she had been valedictorian at Fisk University, and this claim has been repeated often. In an interview with John Steiner (CJA n.d.), Hardin said that she attended Fisk for two years.

  72In Memphis … she remembered: Armstrong, Lillian, 1963. Armstrong, Lillian WRC 1969; Armstrong, Lillian 2005, 140.

  72Through practicing … the improvising New Orleanians began: Armstrong, Lillian 1963. Armstrong, Lillian CJA 1960; Ed Garland WRC 1958.

  72She had memorized … extended considerably: Armstrong, Lillian WRC 1969. Smith: Smith 1964, 126.

  73Hardin managed to hide the situation: Armstrong, Lillian CJA 1960.

  73When Oliver took over … sheet music: Lil’s enthusiasm for California may have had something to do with a bad marriage to singer Jimmy Johnson; see Hunter IJS 1976. Armstrong, Lillian 1963; Anderson 199
4, 293–95. Bertha: aka Bertha Gonzales. Wright 1987, 14. Jones and Chilton 1971, 66. Preston Jackson (2005, 27) said that after Gonsoulin left Oliver’s band, he replaced her first with Lottie Taylor, then with someone named Frances, and finally with Lil Hardin.

  73“From a musical standpoint”: Armstrong, Lillian 1963.

  74Lil began to notice the pudgy second cornetist: Armstrong, Lillian 1963; Jones and Chilton 1971, 70; Armstrong 1936, 79.

  74“that ended the smelling session”: Armstrong 1999, 54.

  74nighttime wanderings on the “stroll”: For descriptions of night life in South Side Chicago around this time, see Smith 1964, 127; Samuels COHP 1970; Kenney 1993, esp. chap. 1; Sengstock 2000.

  74“You could stand on 35th and State”: Howard CJA n.d.

  75“I made it my business”: Kenney 1993, 13.

  75concentration of black-owned businesses: Travis 1981, 37; Smith 1964, 123. Drake and Cayton 1970, 82. Spivey 1984, 38–39; Samuels COHP 1971.

  75The stroll was “Wall Street and Broadway”: Travis 1981 37; Kenney 1993, 15; Grossman 1989, 117.

  75Black musicians never … “knew Chicago like a book”: Earl Hines: Hines COHP 1971. Smith 1964, 127. Knew Chicago: Armstrong 1946, 40.

  75At first, Armstrong … better tone: Keppard: Armstrong 1999, 66. Cheatham: Cheatham IJS 1976; Armstrong, Lillian 1963; Armstrong 1999, 25.

  76Keppard liked to create an air of intrigue: Cheatham IJS 1976, 114.

  76Louis and Lil … “singing like a choir”: White musicians: Armstrong 1999, 66; Armstrong 1946, 42. Smith 1964, 126.

  76A little further down … “liquor music”: Defender: Anderson 1994, 292. “much to the amazement”: Waller 1965, 74; Hodes 1977, 177; Hunter IJS 1976; Oliver HJA 1959. “At one o’clock”: Vincent 1995, 73.

  76One day in late 1922: Armstrong 1999, 183, 27.

  77The musical couple’s favorite place: Armstrong 1999, 87. Anderson (1994, 292–93) reports that Bottoms was also part owner of the Chicago Whip, which explains the lavish coverage of the Dreamland there. On the Dreamland, see also Kenney 1993, 18; Hunter IJS 1976; Vincent 1995, 77; Garland HJA 1957.

  78Each solo entertainer … lack of sophistication: “up”: Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 88. Aletha Hill: Garland WRC 1969. Hunter IJS 1976. “rocking the whole house”: Armstrong 1946, 40. Also on Powers, Armstrong 1999, 54–55; Smith 1964, 129; Jackson 2005, 25.

  78“We did not really get together”: This account of Armstrong’s mother’s visit is derived from Armstrong 1999, 87 and 57. On p. 57 Armstrong writes that May Ann’s visit took place three months after his arrival in Chicago. But the chronology of his relationship with Lillian argues for a date in summer or early fall 1923.

  79“Now was my turn”: Armstrong 1999, 59.

  79“that’s what Louis wanted to be”: Dodds, Warren WRC n.d.; Russell 1994, 20.

  80“It was real kicks”: Armstrong 1999, 66.

  80“stay under” the lead: Armstrong 1966, 29: “I never blew my horn over Joe Oliver at no time unless he said, ‘Take it!’”

  81“I felt that any glory”: Armstrong 1999, 50.

  81“When a person’s in the spotlight”: Dance 1977, 54.

  81“I was so wrapped up in him”: Armstrong 1999, 50.

  82“Only that ending was called ‘jazz’”: Jones WRC ca. 1938. On breaks in New Orleans, see Brothers 2006, 105, 148, 209, and 230.

  82“Without breaks”: Morton 2005, disc 2, track 13.

  82“Joe broke them that night”: Russell 1994, 37; Wright 1987, 335; see also Mitchell HJA 1959.

  82“The crowd would go mad over it!”: Sager 2006, 14; Armstrong 1999, 50; Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 102–03; Gleason 1974; Armstrong 1946, 40.

  83Barney Bigard said: Bigard IJS 1976.

  83It may not be mere coincidence: It is difficult to pin down release times of phonograph records, but the Blue Five recording of Wildcat Blues was advertised in the national edition of the Chicago Defender on Jan. 26, 1924, p. 6. For comparison of Tears with Wildcat Blues, see Brooks 2002, 60, citing Lyttelton.

  84felt well qualified to fill the rupture of the break: Armstrong 1966, 28.

  84His will to adorn: Hurston 1995, 224–27.

  84comes through again in his prose writings: Edwards 2002; Brothers 1999.

  84musical texture of early jazz: Brothers 2006, chap. 2.

  84The distinctive texture … no drop in intensity: “every tub”: Armstrong IJS 1965. Less often New Orleans musicians refer to “tailgate” style (Armstrong WRC 1954), a nod to the position of the trombone at the back of an advertising wagon. The connection: Armstrong 1999, 170.

  85Collective improvisation … textural effect: “At all times”: Dodds WRC n.d. Russell 1994, 72; Brothers 2006, 45; Brothers 2008. 1950s: See, for example, the performance of Maple Leaf Rag on The Music of New Orleans, vol. 4: The Birth of Jazz (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007).

  86Out of standard practices … than Oliver did: Ramsey 1946, 28. Dodds 1992, 34. Gleason 1974. Barnes WRC 1968.

  86“Joe was always making suggestions”: Dodds 1992, 38; Armstrong, Lillian HJA 1959; Wright 1987, 261; Russell 1994, 39.

  87“wanted everyone to blend together”: Dodds 1992, 38–41; Nicholas HJA 1972; Dodds 1992, 36.

  87The rhythm section … was valued: “She would”: Armstrong 1999, 65. Armstrong 1994, 72; Garland IJS n.d.

  88When Armstrong wrote … two-beat feeling: Armstrong 1999, 65. Garland WRC 1958; Garland HJA 1958; St. Cyr HJA 1958.

  88A drummer could … keep things interesting: Williams 1979, 84. Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 98. Wright 1987, 15.

  89do not give sufficient prominence to the cornets: Morgenstern 2006, 4. The problem is standard throughout the 1923 recordings, but for a particularly glaring example, listen to High Society. See Brothers 2006, 45, for further discussion of the central role of stating the lead melody prominently.

  89“few notes and with good rhythm”: Spanier HJA 1961.

  89Lead melodies … noted Armstrong: Palmer HJA 1955. Armstrong 1971, 220.

  89Trombone, clarinet, and cornet … “in the windows”: Condon in Peretti 1992, 113. Roy Palmer discusses options for the trombone in Russell 1994, 188. Mezzrow 1946, 114.

  89Armstrong claimed to admire: Armstrong 1999, 51.

  90even more exposed in the second strain: The Eurocentric musical tradition of band and dance music that the New Orleanians were familiar with has its own concept of an obbligato line, which is certainly where the term comes from. The practice comes out of traditional counterpoint. In counterpoint, too, there is delight in the coordination of independent melodies, which are held together not by the model of fixed and variable but by rules of simultaneously sounding consonances and dissonances.

  90Oliver provided one back in the early 1910s: Brothers 2009.

  91“I can’t be a boss on that”: Phillips WRC n.d.

  91A few comments here and there: Miles Davis’s style of communicating with his band many years later was once described by a musician: “There were grunts, glances, smiles and no smiles. Miles communicated but not on a logical or analytical level.” Lyons 1983, 261.

  91standard practice in New Orleans: Baby Dodds (1992, 36): “Somebody would suggest a number and we would play it and experiment with different keys to see which would sound the best.”

  92“The only good thing about it”: Armstrong 1999, 54.

  92“Once you got a certain solo”: Armstrong 1966, 43. For an extended analysis of this phenomenon, see Harker 1999.

  93easy for the ear to pick out the layers: Brothers 1994.

  93Music of the African diaspora: Brothers 2006, 145–48; Wilson 1978.

  94“rhythm section provides transportation”: Peretti 1992, 113.

  95“Notes I had never heard were peeling off the edges”: Kenney 1993, 105.

  95Uptown African Americans … took it from there: New York Clipper, “Reviews of Disc Records,” Abel, Sept. 14, 1923, p. 31; Wright 1987, 28. Kubik 1999, 43.

  95“One couldn’t help
but dance to that band”: Dodds 1992, 36.

  97louder than his mentor’s lead: Transcribed and analyzed in Schuller 1968, 80–84.

  97Condon succinctly described … African diaspora: Condon: Kenney 1993, 105. Chernoff 1979, 154.

  97Garvin Bushell remembered: Bushell 1988, 25.

  98The summer of 1923 … said Smith: Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 98. Smith 1964, 123–25.

  98Lil bought a used car … left the scene: Armstrong, Lillian 1963. Armstrong 1999, 57.

  98The couple attended … left New Orleans: Defender, July 15 and 29, Oct. 21, 1922. Armstrong 1999, 55–56. Armstrong 1999, 87; Hunter IJS 1976.

  99In early June … seen the writing on the wall: Meyer, Sig CJA 1975. Talking Machine World: Wright 1987, 337.

  99“she was really up on things”: Armstrong 1999, 61.

  99bafflement and even hostility: Armstrong 1999, 87ff and 64. The main competition may have been from Oliver. Oliver took romantic interest in Bertha Gonsoulin during their trip to California, according to Baby Dodds (WRC n.d.), and there appears to have been a New Orleans tradition of bandleaders regarding female pianists in this way. Pops Foster told a story about Oliver in the mid-1910s: Oliver set up Foster with a girl for pimping, but then became so jealous that he threatened to fire Foster; see Brothers 2005, 257.

  99On the June sessions … night after night: Wright 1987, 23. Facsimile of the lead sheet for When You Leave Me Alone to Pine in Chevan 1999, 488. Defender: Wright 1987, 27 and 28.

  100she would be looking out for him: Armstrong, Lillian 1963.

  100When he showed up … more than clothing: Budd Red: Armstrong, Lillian 1963. “He liked the way”: Armstrong, Lillian 1963. First solo break comes in Tears: Brooks 2002, 61.

  101Lil said that the two of them … a name for himself?: Armstrong, Lillian WRC 1938; Armstrong, Lillian 1950. Oliver, Stella HJA 1959. Hodes 1977, 80.

  101“nice looking, stout, brown skin man”: Armstrong 1999, 75.

  102he mailed a manuscript copy of Cornet Chop Suey: Carmichael 1999, 53. This book was apparently written by Carmichael in the early 1930s; the story is told slightly differently in the later autobiography cowritten by Carmichael and Longstreet (1999, 101). On the dates and authority of the two autobiographies, see Hasse 1999.