Did I say it’s all about the movies? Otherwise, where would I have learned about Louis Armstrong?
Armstrong and the All Stars provide the fabulous jazz background for High Society, with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Grace Kelly. Again, it would be many years later before I began collecting my own jazz albums, but a few honorable mentions have to come out of any introduction to the great Louis Armstrong. First, if I had to pick one albums that defines his artistry for me it would be Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson. This is where the trumpet and the piano meet in jazz heaven. In the hands of these two geniuses, the Great American Songbook numbers come alive, one after another, a simply perfect interpretation.
Second, Louis introduced me to Ella Fitzgerald. Ah, that voice. I could write volumes. Suffice it to say, one of the best wedding presents I got was not a piece of china or flatware but Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song, an absolutely amazing three-CD set released on Verve in the early 1990s.
Finally, the calypso sounds of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars on High Society gave me my first taste of the music of the Caribbean. When my second child was born, the best gift I got was Buena Vista Social Club, an album that brought together the stunning musicians of pre-revolutionary Cuba. The sounds on this CD simply stopped me.
I love the fact that these gifts spoke to the fact that as a wife and mother I would still listen to music, in all its glory.