I got an automated call from the library about two months ago, telling me that my book was available.  I hadn’t ordered any books, so I texted my wife to see what she took out under my library card this time.  She said it was for me, and when I got there I picked up a brand new copy of Thomas Brothers’ book, “Master of Modernism,” Brothers’ third tome on Louis Armstrong.  I hadn’t expected it, and I also had no idea how profoundly it would rock my musical world.

The book explains Armstrong’s early output, comprised of nearly 500 pages mostly devoted to the recordings made between the years 1924 and 1932, the records credited to Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and later the Hot Seven.  It took me almost two months to read, which is an extremely long time for me-  I renewed it twice and even went two weeks overdue, definitely a first.  But now after listening to little else but Hot Fives and Sevens for two months, I understand why “Potato Head Blues” makes life worth living, according to Woody Allen, and why Billie Holiday was motivated to sing jazz after hearing “West End Blues.”

“Master of Modernism” combines the high and low much in the same way that Louis himself did.  He was able to transcend the ugly racism he was born into and become an architect of a world renowned style of music, while never leaving the vernacular style of New Orleans jazz.   Brothers explains the cultural background of the early Armstrong recordings throughout the book, as well as the music theory of pieces like “Cornet Chop Suey” and “West End Blues,” while at the same time giving his own personal opinion in short asides that make his scholarly book immensely readable.

I could list every Hot Fives and Sevens tune and why each is singularly important, but that would be a book in and of itself.  However, I do strongly urge you to listen to them all and see what happens.  You’d hear that “Muskrat Ramble” seems to be the basis of Country Joe’s “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” and that The Rooftop Singers’ version of “Walk Right In” has nearly the same progression as “That’s When I’ll Come Back to You.”  Louis recorded “St. James Infirmary”,” Ain’t Misbehavin’, “Just a Gigolo” and “Ain’t Got Nobody” long before anyone else did, and so these recordings contain roots of blues, jazz, rock and roll, folk and pop.  In other words, in terms of American music, most roads lead back to Pops.  This book explains this and much more.

The Hot Fives and Sevens recordings span from 1925 to 1929, and the earliest ones were recorded directly on to vinyl via a giant cone.  They were only able to capture very little bass response, even with tuba.  Towards 1929 microphones had been developed, and an upright bass is added to very modern effect.

One of the most important things to realize about this early jazz music is that it is mostly blues.  Louis is sculpting and choreographing blues in an intelligent way with interesting composition and melody, influenced by classical music by way of his second wife Lil, an accomplished pianist and part of the Fives and Sevens.  It is modern, in that it remains ahead of its time and perhaps unequaled.  The fact that ‘race records’ could become the Rosetta Stone of jazz, giving America one of its proudest cultural heritages, is a testament to the width and breadth of America and the nation’s ability to heal its own wounds, but mostly to the will and determination of one African-American man.

I feel that a selected group of tunes from the Hot Fives and Sevens is indispensable to anyone who is interested in the history of American music, and so I pulled out 26 tracks based on Brothers’ explanations and my own musical taste, just enough to fit tightly on an 80 minute cd. 

Here is a link to them on dropbox- and a short word or two about each will follow.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c809ema6xwj2dh9/AAD9FVraSqOGQGTcwWs2SJHga

1.  Cornet Chop Suey– This seems to be Louis’s first serious composition, influenced by his first wife Lillian Hardin and her interest in classical music, which pushed him along in his early career.  While most of the jazz of the time featured trombone, clarinet and cornet playing simultaneously, here Louis steps up as a composer and soloist.  Chop Suey was a delicacy, and Louis’s second favorite food.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five,Recorded  2-26-26.

2.   Muskrat Ramble– Country Joe was actually sued by Kid Ory’s estate for plagiarism for “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag,” which seems to follow Muskrat Ramble’s progression almost exactly.  Country Joe won the case, but only because it had been too long since the “Rag” was written.  Some say Louis allowed Kid Ory to claim the composition, and some say the tune is based on an older song anyway.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five,Recorded 2-26-26.

3.  Heebie Jeebies– An early vocal for Armstrong, this is the first recorded example of scat singing, which evidently occurred because the lyrics fell off his music stand!  This song was also a big hit, and many who bought the record in New Orleans were familiar with scatting, but didn’t expect to hear it on a 78 recorded way up north in Chicago.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five,Recorded 2-26-26.

4. The King of the Zulus– There are clear examples of blues, pop and even rock and roll in these songs, and in this song there is a link, however thin, to the music of Jamaica.  The title refers to a social club parade at Mardi Gras, and in 1949 Louis was officially named King of the Zulus.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 6-23-26.

5. Big Butter and Egg Man From Way Out West– This is an arcane reference to a man who now would be called a Sugar Daddy, a common situation between some of the white, affluent male audience members and black female performers in the Chicago clubs where Louis came to prominence.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 11-16-26.

6. Irish Black Bottom– Louis claimed to be a Baptist who always wore the Star of David and was good friends with the Pope.  He was acutely aware of race his whole life, and although he was accused of being an ‘Uncle Tom’ throughout the years, playing outrageously stereotyped characters in the early films he made, he was actually outspoken about civil rights.  This song finds him joking about being Irish.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 11-27-26.

7. Willie the Weeper– An instrumental version of a song about a drug addict, in the ‘vein’ of Minnie the Moocher.  Featuring Lonnie Johnson on guitar.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Seven,Recorded  5-7-27.

8. Chicago Breakdown– Written by pianist Jelly Roll Morton, another New Orleans native, who claimed to have ‘invented’ jazz.

Louis Armstrong And His Stompers, Recorded 5-9-27.

9. Potato Head Blues– This could be the all time happiest piece of music ever, especially the clarinet and cornet solos.  In the film “Manhattan,” Isaac Davis says this song is one of the things that makes life worth living.  Brothers explains that this was the first recorded example of a band doing stops every eight bars during a solo.  I hear shades of Hank Williams’ Lovesick Blues.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Seven, Recorded 5-10-27.

10. That’s When I’ll Come Back to You– A dead ringer for “Walk Right In” by the Rooftop Singers, or is it the other way around?  I get the feeling that Louis himself wouldn’t have minded all the ‘borrowing’ that has gone on with his recorded legacy- he often said that songs came along like street cars, and there was always another one.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Seven, Recorded  5-14-27.

11.  Struttin’ with Some Barbecue– The title refers to walking down the street with a fine looking female companion, and not some ribs.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 12-9-27.

12.  Hotter Than That– An excellent example of Louis’s exquisite scatting, and some amazing call and response with Lonnie Johnson on guitar.  Wait for it- it starts about halfway through, after some exuberant clarinet.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 12-13-27.

13.  A Monday Date–  Ten seconds into the track, Louis stops Earl Hines, who has started playing by himself, to ask if he and the rest of the boys can join the jam.  He mentions Mrs. Serchey’s gin, which kept them all happy, and demonstrates how he got his nickname, by calling drummer Zutty Singleton “Pops.”  Singing in a higher register than normal, this is Louis the entertainer.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 6-27-28.

14.  West End Blues– Jazz and blues are holding hands here, and if nobody looks they might just kiss. Delightful, effortless scatting from Louis, outdoing Johnny Dodd’s clarinet by a mile.

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five, Recorded 6-28-28.

15.  Basin Street Blues– Another fine example of the exact spot where jazz and blues meet.  Louis’ scatting, and Hines’ tasteful accompaniment make this a classic.

Louis Armstrong And His Orchestra, Recorded 6-28-28.

16.  Heah Me Talkin’ To Ya– Somehow this track reminds me of “Peaches En Regalia,” “We Are Not Alone” and other horn based Frank Zappa instrumentals.  I’ve never read any FZ quotes about Louis, and his name is conspicuously not mentioned in the Freak Out list, but I would think that Frank dug the Hot Fives and Sevens.   Lumpy Gravy side one features a short section which sounds as if one of Louis’s 78 rpm records is being played even faster (cd 5:19 to 5:46) and side two features an even shorter section with a voice vaguely similar to Armstrong’s saying “Oh yeah, that’s just fine, come on boys, just one more time.” (cd 5:28 to 5:35)

Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, arranged by Don Redman, Recorded  12-12-28.

17.  Weatherbird– A duet between Pops and Earl Hines, father of Gregory Hines, this shows the artistry and nearly equal talent the two man shared.  Earl split from Louis’ band shortly after these recordings were made, but eventually returned as part of Louis Armstrong’s All Stars in the 1940’s.  They were still musical equals, although eventually ego seemed to get between them, and the reunion didn’t last long.  Here they make a joyful noise that sounds like a precursor to bebop.

Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines, Recorded 12-5-28.

18.  Muggles– This exquisitely slow blues is a tribute to marijuana, or ‘Gage’, which Louis smoked almost daily from the mid 1920’s until just before his death in 1971. Trombone and clarinet set the tone, and then the drummer slips into double time for an economical and tasteful Louis solo that IS the blues.

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Recorded 12-7-28.

19.  St. James Infirmary–  Well known in rock music, with covers by The Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Animals and recently The White Stripes, this song has a history as a folk ballad.  Louis turned it into a minor blues with Latin overtones in this definitive version.

Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, Recorded 12-12-28.

20.  I Can’t Give You Anything But Love–  One of the first examples of the decision for Louis to record hits of the day,  which he did for the rest of his career, sometimes making sublime jazz versions of mundane compositions.

Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, Recorded 3-5-29.

21.  Mahogany Hall Stomp– With better microphones, Louis was able to add bass and drums to his recordings, and here we begin to notice a sound that, while still deeply rooted in New Orleans jazz, is very close to early rock n roll.  Upright bass by Pops Foster, an old musical acquaintance from Fate Marable’s steamship band, which played up and down the Mississippi.

Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, Recorded 3-5-29.

22.  Ain’t Misbehavin’– This is the beginning of American pop music, for me-  the idea of a black performer singing material that white audiences would appreciate- Louis was the original ‘crossover’ artist.  His solo here quotes Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”  Leon Redbone later performed a very faithful cover  version on Saturday Night Live.

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Recorded 7-22-29.

23.  When You’re Smiling– The instrumental version.  Many songs were done both as vocal and instrumental and were sold to ‘separate’ (white and black) audiences, a common policy of ‘race record’ companies.

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Recorded 7-22-29.

24.  Ain’t Got Nobody– Louis Prima originally paired this tune with another that Armstrong recorded (Just A Gigolo), which became so popular that many think the two songs were composed as one.  ‘Diamond Dave’ (David Lee Roth) also updated the medley in 1985 and had a huge hit, in which he pays tribute to Pops’ gravelly voice and scatting style.

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Recorded 12-10-29.

25.  St. Louis Blues– No one who has ever listened to Tom Waits can doubt the authenticity of this particular piece, which ends up sounding like Bill Haley and the Comets after a samba-like intro.

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Recorded 12-13-29.

26.  Rockin’ Chair– This version features Hoagy Carmichael singing his own composition as a duet for the first time, which Pops later performed regularly with Jack Teagarden for many years.  The duet features a dialog between a father and son, which Jack and Louis enjoyed thoroughly.

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Recorded 12-13-29.

My father’s record collection did not include any Louis Armstrong albums.  He liked Latin jazz, as played by Tito Puente and many other salsa and mambo artists, but aside from the odd Miles Davis or Stan Getz album he was never into ‘real’ jazz, or bebop either.  He was a huge Wes Montgomery and Errol Garner fan, and he told me years later that he liked ‘easy’ jazz.  (This was after I played drums with pianist Kent Glenn on a few dates that my dad attended- he was mystified that I had an interest in what he called ‘real’ jazz.)  So now looking back, it was interesting that my dad insisted we visit the Louis Armstrong House Museum when it opened in 2003 (he lived in Kew Gardens then.) Since that time I had it in the back of my mind that eventually I would investigate Louis’s music, and around 2006 I tentatively downloaded some of the Fives and Sevens after hearing about them in Ken Burns’ Jazz documentary. 

But thanks to Monika ordering “Master of Modernism” by Thomas Brothers I have now embarked on my latest musical obsession-Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, Seven, etc; represented by the 26 songs above, which I cannot recommend to everyone highly enough.