Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy
Louis Armstrong and the All Stars recorded “Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy” in 1954, in honour of Handy’s 80th birthday. Handy is the best known blues composer, (to me anyway 
), the father of the blues. He is one of the pivotal figures of modern popular music.
Many people think that this is the best album that Armstrong ever recorded. I haven’t listened to them all yet, but I would have to agree that it is one of the best. The version of St. Louis Blues is, itself, worth the price of this CD. Armstong is in fine form and Trummy Young adds some spirited solos on the Trombone.
The story of how the album came about, and particularly the description of how the 1996 remastered version was produced, is as hair raising as anything one might see in a horror movie. Suffice to say that the “A” masters for the recording session were destroyed by a misguided technical process and the “B” masters were lost outright. The music had to be restored from several sources, including some of the original record pressings and the masters for the 45 rpm versions of some of the tracks. Its difficult to believe that record companies take such little care to preserve what are the great art works of the 20th century. Imagine if previous generations had not cared for the works of DaVinci or Mozart, how much poorer we would be!
The result, despite the fiasco, is excellent, although nobody knows how good the sound quality could have been if they had been able to locate the master tapes. Be warned, there is a previous CD release from the 80’s which is supposed to be inferior, make sure you get the 1996 “remastered” version.
This version of the All-Stars has the following lineup: Velma Middleton (vocals), Trummy Young (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Billy Kyle (piano), Arvell Shaw (bass), and Barrett Deems (drums).
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