Search - Louis Armstrong :: Louis Armstrong Volume 7 - You're Drivin' Me Crazy

Some of jazz's finest recordings

Dmitry Farber | San Diego, CA | 04/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These cuts from 1930-31 capture Louis Armstrong at his most brilliant, ranking alongside his performance 30 years later on The Great Summit with Duke Ellington. He is intensely powerful in many roles, from the impassioned romantic of "I Surrender Dear" and "Memories of You" (which features Lionel Hampton's first recorded notes on the vibes--you can hear the tail end of his intro at the beginning of the above sample) to the beautiful lunatic of "The Peanut Vendor" and "Chinatown, My Chinatown." And then there's "Shine," a silly, racist nothing of a song which Pops manages to turn into something awe-inspiring, mainly through his majestic trumpet solo. In the film clip made for this song (which you can see in the great documentary Satchmo), he and his band are all dressed up like African "savages," yet when Pops puts the trumpet to his lips, he somehow manages to look dignified in spite of it all. That's Louis Armstrong for you."

Early Armstrong - what more do you need?

Scott Ross | Raleigh, NC United States | 05/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like all 1980s Jazz Masterworks Armstrong discs, technically so-so. But with these great recordings, one masterpiece of American jazz follows another."