Louis
Armstrong: Pops Is Tops
(1957)/Ella Fitzgerald &
Louis Armstrong: Cheek To Cheek - The Complete Duet Sessions
(1946 - 1957/Universal/Verve CD Sets)/Icons
Among Us: Jazz In The Present Tense
(2009/IndiePix DVD)/Oscar
Peterson Plays (1952 -
1954/Universal/Verve CD Set)
DVD
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: B-/B-/B/C- Main Programs:
B/B+/B/B+
Now
for a much-needed dose of Jazz and vocals...
We
start with Louis
Armstrong: Pops Is Tops
(1957), featuring four albums he made for the great Verve Records
label... in one month! Yes, not just a single album, but four of
them. It goes without saying that Armstrong is one of the greatest
musicians and singers in music history and certainly in all music
ever produced in the United States. He was also way ahead of his
time in wanting the sonic quality of his work to be the best it could
possibly be at a time when many were happy they could get a recording
done just well enough to be complete. The contents of the albums are
as follows, including outtakes and a fourth album (one of the first
of its kind) that is made of outtakes and alternate cuts and is STILL
is a remarkable listen, as a master and genius in music who loves
music shows his grasp, understanding and command of the artform like
no one else of his time or generation, the greatness of the standards
and being as intimate as possible in delivering them...
CD1
- I've
Got The World On A String
When
Your Love Has Gone
You're
The Top
You
Turned The Tables On Me
Don't
Get Around Much Anymore
Little
Girl Blue
Nobody
Knows The Trouble I've Seen
We'll
Be Together Again
I've
Got The World On A String
Do
Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
I
Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
You
Turned The Tables On Me stereo master take
Little
Girl Blue stereo master take
You
Turned The Tables On Me alternate take (1) w/false start
You
Turned The Tables On Me partial alternate take (3)
You
Turned The Tables On Me inserts & rehearsal
I've
Got the World On A String false start/alternate take (2)
I
Gotta Rig
CD2
- Louis
Under the Stars
Top
Hat, White Tie and Tails
Have
You Met Miss Jones?
I
Only Have Eyes For You
Stormy
Weather
Home
(When Shadows Fall)
East
of the Sun (and West of the Moon)
You're
Blase
Body
And Soul
East
Of The Sun (and West of the Moon) stereo master take
Body
And Soul stereo master take
Stormy
Weather breakdown/alternate take (2)
Stormy
Weather alternate take (3)
Stormy
Weather breakdown (4)
Stormy
Weather breakdown, insert take (5)
CD3
- Louis
Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson
That
Old Feeling
Let's
Fall In Love
I'll
Never Be The Same
Blues
In The Night (My Momma Done Told Me)
How
Long Has This Been Going On?
I
Was Doing All Right
What's
New?
Moon
Song
Just
One Of Those Things
There's
No You
You
Go To My Head
Sweet
Lorraine
Blues
In The Night rehearsal (1)
Let's
Fall In Love alternate take (1)
Let's
Fall In Love alternate take (2)
CD4
- A
Day With Satchmo
Makin'
Whoopee breakdown
Makin'
Whoopee alternate take (1)
Makin'
Whoopee alternate take (2)
Makin'
Whoopee breakdown (3)
Makin'
Whoopee master take (4)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You
I
Get A Kick Out Of You breakdown and studio chatter
I
Get A Kick Out Of You alternate take (4)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You breakdown (5)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You false start (6)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You false start (7)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You master take (8)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You breakdowns and false starts (9-12)
I
Get A Kick Out Of You alternate take (13)
Let's
Do It (Let's Fall in Love) breakdowns (1 and 2)
Let's
Do It (Let's Fall In Love) alternate take
Let's
Do It (Let's Fall In Love) master take (4)
Willow
Weep For Me false start (1)
Willow
Weep For Me alternate take (2)
Willow
Weep For Me breakdown and false start (3)
Willow
Weep For Me alternate take (4)
Willow
Weep For Me false start (5)
Willow
Weep For Me breakdown (6)
Willow
Weep For Me master take (7)
Track
2 on CD
1, 4 on CD 2 (with alternates), and 4, 5 & 7 on CD 3 are
particularly striking as they are personal favorites I like by other
artists and classics, yet Armstrong finds a way to make them his own
in a way that is as about as definitive as they could be, though
being classics and standards, never always get to be the definitive
song of one (though Lena Horne and 'Stormy
Weather'
are permanently associated with each other and rightly so, Armstrong
is still aware of that doing such great work here.
Even
of you like some songs more than others, this is all top rate and a
great collection for those who are huge fans or only know him from a
few songs. This all holds up remarkably well and some of it is just
timeless.
The
same can be said for our next CD set that also includes Armstrong and
revisits some of his work we covered before. Ella
Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Cheek To Cheek - The Complete Duet
Sessions
(1946 - 1957) also comes from the Verve catalog
and shows off on of the greatest series of music and vocal
collaborations in music history. This great set includes...
Disc
1
The
Decca Singles
1. You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My
Heart)
2. The Frim Fram Sauce
3. Dream A Little Dream Of Me
4.
Can Anyone Explain? (No, No, No!)
5. Necessary Evil
6. Oops!
7.
Who Walks In When I Walk Out
8. Would You Like To Take A Walk
(Sump'n Good'll Come From That)
Ella
and Louis
9.
Can't We Be Friends
10. Isn't This A Lovely Day
11. Moonlight
In Vermont
12. They Can't Take That Away From Me
13. Under A
Blanket Of Blue
14. Tenderly
15. A Foggy Day
16. Stars Fell
On Alabama
17. Cheek to Cheek
18. The Nearness of You
19.
April In Paris
Disc
2
Ella
and Louis Again
1.
Don't Be That Way
2. Makin' Whoopee
3. They All Laughed
4.
Comes Love
5. Autumn In New York
6. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In
Love)
7. Stompin' At The Savoy
8. I Won't Dance
9. Gee Baby,
Ain't I Good To You
10. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
11.
These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
12. I've Got My Love To
Keep Me Warm
13. Willow Weep For Me
14. I'm Putting All My Eggs
In One Basket
15. A Fine Romance
16. Ill Wind
17. Love Is
Here To Stay
Disc
3
Ella
and Louis Again
(continued)
1. I Get A Kick Out Of You
2. Learnin' The Blues
Porgy
And Bess
3.
Overture
4. Summertime
5. I Wants To Stay Here
6. My Man's
Gone Now
7. I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
8. The Buzzard Song
9.
Bess, You Is My Woman Now
10. It Ain't Necessarily So
11. What
You Want Wid Bess?
12. A Woman Is A Sometime Thing
13. Oh,
Doctor Jesus
14. Medley: Here Come Da Honey Man/Crab Man/Oh, Dey's
So Fresh And Fine
15. There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New
York
16. Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?
17. Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way
Disc
4: Bonus Tracks
Ella
and Louis Live
1. The Memphis Blues (Live from The Chesterfield
Show) with Bing Crosby *
2. You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You
Break My Heart) (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
3. Undecided (Live at
the Hollywood Bowl)
Decca
Extras
4. You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart) false
start and breakdown
5. The Frim Fram Sauce false starts/takes 1
and 2 *
6. The Frim Fram Sauce alternate take
Ella
and Louis Again
Extras
7. Makin' Whoopee take 1
8. Makin' Whoopee take 2
9.
I Get A Kick Out Of You take 2 (run-through) and take 3
(breakdown)
10. I Get A Kick Out Of You take 4
11. I Get A Kick
Out Of You take 13
12. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) take 3
13.
Willow Weep For Me take 4
Porgy
And Bess
Extras
14. I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (mono master)
15. A Woman Is
A Sometime Thing (mono master)
16. Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? takes
5 and 6
17. Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? take 7
18. Bess, Oh
Where's My Bess? take 8 *
19. Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? take 9
*
20. Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? insert for take 9 *
21. Bess,
Oh Where's My Bess? take 10 *
22. Red-Headed Woman instrumental
*
* Previously unreleased
For
your reference, we covered a later album that combined tracks from
the two studio duet albums here in the superior Super Audio CD format
with my thoughts at the time, which I still back 100%...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10100/Ella+Fitzgerald+&+Louis+Armstrong+%E2%80%93
Besides
more classics and standards to enjoy by two of the best in the
history of the business, the chemistry is just incredible on every
single track. The controversy here would now be how politically
incorrect or possible racist Porgy
and Bess
is now deemed to be (feature film included), but singers like Barbra
Streisand has more than once liberated the songs from that over her
career (not even trying to sound 'black' or the like, bringing out
how strong some of the songs are) and in particular, I
Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
and Summertime
more than stand out on their own as classics that exceed any issues
with the original work.
We'll
cover the technical performance of these sets after we look at this
Jazz DVD and one more relevant CD set...
Perhaps
the ultimate Jazz documentary, or at least one of the better ones
that I've seen in recent years, is Icons
Among Us: Jazz In The Present Tense
(2009).
The documentary puts you into the minds of several very talented jazz
musicians, all of which have their own unique style and unbelievable
musical talent.
Featuring
interviews with 75 jazz musicians, artists, writers, and others,
archival footage, and live recordings culled from 25 hours of
concerts, Icons
Among Us
is a great watch for musicians AND music fans that will entertain and
likely enlighten you as these artists attempt to define what Jazz is.
The
film stars Brian Blade, Terence Blanchard, Ravi Coltrane, Paul De
Barros, Herbie Hancock (see the new River:
The Joni Letters
CD set elsewhere on this site), and many others.
Presented
in anamorphically
enhanced standard
definition with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo audio mix, the film looks and sounds fine for DVD
but could obviously be improved on Blu-ray. The film is
interestingly made and directed by Michael Rividira, Lars Larson, and
Peter J. Voigt.
Special
Features include...
Live
Performances
Icons'
First Frames: Living Daylights Mardi Gras Party February 9, 2002
Profiles
on JazzReach, Earshot Jazz, and Jazz Foundation of America
Production
Slideshow
So
last but absolutely not least is Oscar
Peterson Plays
(1952 - 1954)
that also comes form the Verve catalog and worthy of Armstrong's
output above (Peterson worked on one of those albums above), has the
all-time legendary pianist recording TEN albums in only THREE years!
Each are singularly focused on one composer and offers
track-by-track, Peterson's classy, beautiful, smooth, instrumental
interpretations of some of the most important music ever written.
The bonus is that some of the albums of of composers who need
rediscovery quickly. These amazing albums, which became staples of
Jazz and Adult Contemporary radio for decades, include...
Disc:
1
Oscar
Peterson Plays Cole Porter
1.
What Is This Thing Called Love?
2. Begin The Beguine
3. I've
Got You Under My Skin
4. Love For Sale
5. Let's Do It
6.
I Love You
7. So Near And Yet So Far
8. Just One Of Those
Things
9. In The Still Of The Night
10. Night And Day
11.
Every Time We Say Goodbye
12. Anything Goes
Oscar
Peterson Plays Irving Berlin
13.
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
14. Isn't This A Lovely Day
15.
Easter Parade
16. How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The
Sky)
17. Remember
18. The Song Is Ended
19. Blue
Skies
20. If I Had You
21. Cheek To Cheek
22. Alexander's
Ragtime Band
23. Say It Isn't So
24. Always
Disc:
2
Oscar
Peterson Plays George Gershwin
1.
The Man I Love
2. Fascinating Rhythm
3. It Ain't Necessarily
So
4. Somebody Loves Me
5. Strike Up The Band
6. I've Got
A Crush On You
7. I Was Doing All Right
8. 'S Wonderful - The
Oscar Peterson Trio
9. Oh Lady Be Good
10. I Got Rhythm
11.
A Foggy Day
12. Love Walked In
Oscar
Peterson Plays Duke Ellington
13.
John Hardy's Wife
14. Sophisticated Lady
15. Things Ain't
What They Used To Be
16. Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'
17. In
A Mellow Tone
18. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
19.
Prelude To A Kiss
20. Cotton Tail
21. Don't Get Around Much
Anymore
22. Take The "A" Train
23. Rockin' In
Rhythm
24. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
Disc:
3
Oscar
Peterson Plays Jerome Kern
1.
The Way You Look Tonight
2. Pick Yourself Up
3.
Yesterdays
4. I Won't Dance
5. Long Ago And Far Away
6.
Lovely To Look At
7. A Fine Romance
8. Smoke Gets In Your
Eyes
9. Ol Man River
10. Bill
11. The Song Is You
12.
Can't Help Loving That Man
Oscar
Peterson Plays Richard Rodgers
13.
This Can't Be Love
14. It Might As Well Be Spring
15.
Bewitched
16. Johnny One Note
17. Surrey With The Fringe On
Top
18. The Lady Is A Tramp
19. Blue Moon
20. Thou
Swell
21. Isn't It Romantic
22. Manhattan
23. Lover
Disc:
4
Oscar
Peterson Plays Vincent Youmans
1.
Tea For Two
2. Time On My Hands
3. I Know That You Know
4.
Sometimes I'm Happy
5. Great Day
6. More Than You Know
7.
Hallelujah!
8. Carioca
9. Without A Song
10.
I Want To Be Happy
Oscar
Peterson Plays Harry Warren
11.
Nagasaki
12. Serenade In Blue
13. Lullaby Of Broadway
14.
I Found A Million Dollar Baby In A Five And Ten Cent Store
15.
Would You Like To Take A Walk
16. I'll String Along With You
17.
I Only Have Eyes For You
18. You Must Have Been A Beautiful
Baby
19. You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me
20. Chattanooga
Choo Choo
21. You're My Everything
Disc:
5
Oscar
Peterson Plays Harold Arlen
1.
As Long As I Live
2. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
3. Come
Rain Or Come Shine
4. Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive
5.
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
6. I've Got The World On
A String
7. It's Only A Paper Moon
8. That Old Black
Magic
9. Let's Fall In Love
10. Stormy Weather
11. Blues
In The Night
12. Over the Rainbow
Oscar
Peterson Plays Jimmy McHugh
When
My Sugar Walks Down The Street
I
Can't Believe You're In Love With Me
On
The Sunny Side Of The Street
Don't
Blame Me
I'm
In The Mood For Love
I
Can't Give You Anything But Love
I
Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night
Digga
Digga Do
You're
A Sweetheart
All
amazing and not even his entire output, but then Jazz was always seen
as American music, the next great music after Classical (world music
notwithstanding) and with complexity and nuance Pop, Rock and Soul
supposedly did not have. That's part of another series of debates
that will not fit in any review, but that was the way it was first
seen and felt.
I
am thrilled all three of these sets arrived in print, are must-hear
releases for all serious music fans and everyone should hear all of
this material at least once because it really is that important.
As
for playback quality, all three CDs are, of course, PCM 16/44.1 2.0
releases usually with monophonic tracks, but the stereophonic tracks
are noted on each list above. In a move that will make purists
happy, background tape hiss has not been removed, but in all three
cases, it makes the recordings sound older than they need to. I can
understand the monophonic tracks only sounding so good due to age,
but the previous SA-CD of Fitzgerald/Armstrong duets (despite minor
compression issues) sounded much better as the remaster gets rid of
the hiss and brings their vocals forward. Many of the mono tracks
are harsh at the upper edge of the sound range (not an issue on the
SA-CD we covered) and even some outtakes can have that issue. On the
other hand, the stereophonic tracks and outtakes (possibly because
they are newer transfers than the original album tracks?) can sound
amazing, incredible, fresh and deliver surprising fidelity that will
impress even audiophiles.
Vinyl
fans notwithstanding, as the harsher tracks might sound better on
those platters to some extent, Universal Music actually issued three
audiophile-grade discs of the Fitzgerald/Armstrong duets we would
still like to hear at some point. Ella
and Louis
was issued in the SA-CD format in both the U.S. and Japan, while both
that album and Ella
and Louis Again
were issued on a single all-audio Blu-ray that Universal inexplicably
discontinued a little while ago and that is a big mistake, unless
they intend a new remaster of both albums or the latter.
We
look forward to catching up to those and other titles from both
singers down the line, but these CD sets are fine and all three have
their extra
tracks as noted above, plus nicely illustrated booklets with
original liner notes for each.
That
will give fans and music lovers plenty to cover.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James
Lockhart (Icons)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/