“An entertaining show” by The Syncopated Times

“By the time that the concert on Live In Paris (from Apr. 24, 1962) was performed, Louis Armstrong had been a world traveler for quite a few years. With the constant traveling, his live performances had a fairly predictable repertoire. Knowledgeable Armstrong fans can sing along with many of his solos on this CD even while hearing them for the first time. And yet whenever he performed, there was always some musical magic.

The 1962 version of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars consisted of the leader, trombonist Trummy Young, clarinetist Joe Darensbourg, pianist Billy Kyle, bassist Bill Cronk, and drummer Danny Barcelona. The musicians were all familiar with Armstrong’s routines and the frameworks for the tunes but managed to sound enthusiastic and even fresh when playing most of the songs.

After his theme “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” Armstrong plays his set but always-exciting solo on “Indiana” and joyfully sings “A Kiss To Build A Dream On” and “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It.” “Tiger Rag” is taken much too fast (as it usually was) while “Now You Has Jazz” is too slow to be effective with Trummy Young’s talking sounding over rehearsed. Better are “High Society,” “Ole Miss Rag,” Kyle’s feature on “When I Grow Too Old To Dream” and “Tin Roof Blues.” Darensbourg displays his slap-tongue technique on “Yellow Dog Blues,” the band jams “When The Saints Go Marching In” and “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” and Armstrong sings a touching version of “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen.” He performs his hit “Blueberry Hill,” sounds excellent on “The Faithful Hussar,” features Jewel Brown on “St. Louis Blues” (one wonders what happened to her other numbers from the concert), plays an uptempo version of “After You’ve Gone” (the only surprise in the repertoire) and, as an encore, closes the night with “Mack The Knife.”

It all adds up to an entertaining show that certainly thrilled the audience in Paris.”

By Scott YANOW – THE SYNCOPATED TIMES