Louis Armstrong - The Great Chicago Concert 1956 Mono

Michael Fremer Rated 9/10 Music, 7/10 Sonics in his September 2011 reviews on musicangle.com!

Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the September 2011 Issue of Stereophile!

Re-mastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London. Deluxe 3 180g Audiophile Mono LP Box Set!

There has never been (nor will there ever be again) a musician so beloved all over the world as Louis Armstrong. Artistically, he was not only the single most influential fount and inspiration for every pop-music instrumentalist and singer of his time and thereafter, but he was quite easily the greatest entertainer ever to step on the stage, musical or theatrical. And where Louis was concerned, there was no separation; he was as theatrical as he was musical.

This album documents just one of his countless concert appearances. It is unique and typical at the same time, for the evening began with a review of “50 years of Jazz” (which also paralleled Armstrong’s life, for he and jazz were both born at the turn of the century – Louis in 1901, as a baptismal certificate discovered after his death has established, not 1900, as he had always believed), followed by a standard-issue Armstrong All Stars program.

Although his choice of selections would change slightly from one night to another, and then more so from one year to the next, certain elements remained constant. No matter how often a composition was repeated (he opened every show “Sleepy time Down South”, almost invariably followed by “Indiana”), Louis Armstrong gave his all every performance – no matter how many or few in the audience, and no matter if the decades of nearly non-stop touring had left him exhausted on a particular night.

"The presentation is excellent, including a full sized booklet in a well constructed box and of course three well pressed at Pallas LPs. For Louis fans who wished they could have attended one of these legendary road shows, well now they can in AAA sound." - Michael Fremer, Music Angle, Music 9/10, Sound 7/10

Features:
• Limited Edition 180g Vinyl
• Audiophile Remastering
• Triple LP Box Set
• All Recordings are Mono
• 12-Page Booklet with Liner Notes by George Avakian and Dan Morgenstern
• Re-mastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Musicians:
Louis Armstrong, trumpet, vocal
Edmond Hall, clarinet, vocal on “Buckets Got A Hole In It”
Trummy Young, trombone, vocal on “Rockin’ Chair” & “Margie”
Billy Kyle, piano
Dale Jones, bass
Barrett Deems, drums
Velma Middleton, vocal on “Big Mama’s Back In Town, “That’s My Desire” & “Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)”

Selections:
LP1 - Side A:
1. Medley:
Flee As A Bird To The Mountain
Oh, Didn't He Ramble
2. Medley:
Memphis Blues
Frankie And Johnny
Tiger Rag
3. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
4. Basin Street Blues
LP1 - Side B:
1. Black And Blue
2. West End Blues
3. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
4. Struttin' With Some Barbecue
5. When It's Sleepy Time Down South

LP2 - Side C:
1. Medley:
Manhattan
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
2. Indiana
3. The Gypsy
4. The Faithful Hussar
LP2 - Side D:
1. Rockin' Chair
2. Bucket's Got A Hole In It
3. Perdido
4. Clarinet Marmalade

LP3 - Side E:
1. Mack The Knife
2. Medley:
Tenderly
You'll Never Walk Alone
3. Stompin' At The Savoy
4. Margie
LP3 - Side F:
1. Big Mama's Back In Town
2. That's My Desire
3. Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)
4. When The Saints Go Marching In
5. The Star Spangled Banner

Recorded live in Chicago at Medina Temple on June 1, 1956