Louis Armstrong - The Complete Decca Studio Recordings [FLAC]

Louis Armstrong - The Complete Decca Studio Recordings [FLAC]

Genre: Jazz
Styles: Dixieland, Early Jazz, New Orleans Jazz, Trumpet Jazz
Source: 6CD Boxset
Codec: FLAC
Bitrate: ~ 1,000 kbps
Bit Depth: 16
Sampling Rate: 44,100 HZ

This attractive limited-edition six-CD set features all of the studio small-group sides done by Armstrong in the 1950s for Decca. The first disc in particular is quite rewarding for it contains a full program by his 1950 sextet with trombonist Jack Teagarden, clarinetist Barney Bigard, and pianist Earl Hines. While the second disc has a variety of odds and ends (including the first version of "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" and two vocal duets with Gary Crosby), most of the final four CDs are from an ambitious project (originally titled "A Musical Autobiography") in which the great trumpeter/vocalist revisited many of the songs that he had recorded in the 1920s and '30s; some of the newer versions are actually better than the earlier ones. The one fault is that Mosaic's decision to reissue the latter in strict chronological order mixes up the original program with some of the '30s selections preceding the ones from the decade before; also Armstrong's verbal introductions (which are often charming) have been deleted. But musically this excellent box set serves as proof that Louis Armstrong was still a very vital trumpeter in the 1950s.