The Ultimate Collection

Additional The Ultimate Collection Information

The 1920s are represented by his stellar performances as a "sideman" to regular associates, like his wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, and clarinetist Johnny Dodds. The 1930s find him leading his own bands, big and small, and recording with Jimmy Dorsey and Bing Crosby ("Pennies from Heaven"), and the Mills Brothers. The '40s and '50s are the years of the All-Stars, with Armstrong's trumpet joyously exploding in the company of such fellow giants as trombonist Jack Teagarden and pianist Earl Hines.

He was also creating richly nostalgic recordings like "Blueberry Hill," and singing duets with the finest jazz singers of the period, women whose own art had been shaped in different ways by Armstrong's--Billie Holiday on "You Can't Lose a Broken Heart" and Ella Fitzgerald on "Stompin' at the Savoy." Armstrong's humor shows up on a mock recreation of a New Orleans jazz funeral and a version of "You Rascal, You" with Louis Jordan, and his brilliant trumpet is everywhere in evidence. Just as important as what's here is what's left out. Many of Armstrong's greatest recordings---those with King Oliver, all the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens of the late 1920s, the 1947 Town Hall concert, the '50s tributes to W.C. Handy and Fats Waller, and the late encounter with Duke Ellington--aren't touched. What's left is a fascinating and satisfying portrait of Armstrong that doesn't necessarily lead to a great deal of duplication in an expanding collection of his work. --Stuart Broomer

What Customers Say About The Ultimate Collection:

This is a gift for my sister. The "When the Saints go Marching In" was used at Dad's memorial service at his request.

I recommend it to all of his fans. I bought this box collection for a gift and it is one of the best collections of Louis Armstrongs music that has ever been put together.

I don't normally find myself buying compilations, and especially with artists I'm already familiar with, but this is one I will continue listening to until I can get all the performances on other CDs. Oh, how he sings, ".I'm so happy / when it's rainin' I don't miss the sun.". In particular, I was ignorant of his work in the late thirties and early forties, and what they have here has converted me. Bought this compilation here in Spain, as a sort of temporary fix while I'm away from the States. If you buy this, may you enjoy it much. Strings or no, his version of "It's All in the Game" is beautifully sung. This CD includes virtually nothing from my favorite works, but it's turned out to be a good thing. And, proving once again that nobody sang it like Louis, the version here of "Sweet Lorraine" made me appreciate a standard that I had always ignored.

To say this is absolute essential listening is like saying the New York Yankees are a pretty good ball club. Both jazz aficionado and novice will delight at the marvelous selection of Satchmo classics such as Jeepers Creepers, Ain't Misbehavin', When the Saints Go Marchin' In, Basin Street Blues, When It's Sleepy Time Down South, What a Wonderful World, Cararet and so many many more. to July, 1968 performing in Las Vegas with the Allstars, no other Louis Armstrong compilation provides the listner with a more in depth and satisfying collection of Satchmo's colossal talent. These 59 selections, performing with jazz illuminaries such as Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Dorsey, the Mills Brothers, Gordon Jenkins, Sy Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, not to mention his own Louis Armstrong Orchestra and Allstars have been painstakenly restored and presented in chronologial sequence.