Night at the Turntable September 2018

LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND GENE KRUPA The Dot Time label recently came out with a disc apiece of previously unreleased material by Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa from the mid-1960s. While it is always great to hear some “new” Satch, Sparks, Nevada 1964 (the third of four Armstrong sets scheduled for this series) fails to reach the level of the previously released The Standard School Broadcasts and The Nightclubs. The CD contains a typical and brief (45-minute) set by the Louis Armstrong All-Stars which at the time included trombonist Big Chief Russell Moore, clarinetist Joe Darensbourg, pianist Billy Kyle, bassist Arvell Shaw, drummer Danny Barcelona, and singer Jewel Brown. After the theme (“When It’s Sleepy Time Down South”), Louis Armstrong does a good job playing his set solo on “Indiana.” “A Lot Of Living To Do,” and “Blueberry Hill” are pleasing if uneventful. A brief “Tiger Rag” is taken so fast as to be incoherent while “Hello Dolly” is given a standard treatment followed by several repetitious encore versions that get increasingly difficult to sit through. Kyle is in excellent form on his feature “When I Grow Too Old To Dream,” Shaw’s bass is spotlighted throughout a lengthy “How High The Moon,” and Brown sings “Lover Come Back To Me” and “Have You Heard About Jerry?” The performance ends with “The Saints.” Overall, nothing o