from my email
Satchmo.net - The Official Site of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives
I heard him play live from the boxing ring in a hall in Leicester in 1956
his first tour of England after the Musicians Union made a deal lifting a ban on US atrists
I went back stage and got his autograph on his autobiography.
Got a good look at Trummy Young's mouthpiece
Satchmo.net - The Official Site of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives
Louis Armstrong All–Stars
As I heard it - 10
By the ‘sixties. the new trend—‘beat’, as it was then called—was having an unfortunate affect upon the Anglo,/American exchanges in the sense that, although we were continuing to receive the best of American jazz musicians, we were sending fewer and fewer British players of the same calibre to the States.
In fact, a majority of the British participants were not jazz members, but the forerunners of our current merry band of electronic noisemakers
As I heard it - 8
The first two years of the Anglo/American exchanges (1956/7) had caused no loss of employment for British musicians due to the well–controlled and efficient manner in which they were organised. In most cases, in addition to the American engagements enjoyed (if I may use the expression) by our own musicians, other British musicians were also engaged to perform in the same concerts as the American visitors.
American bookers made no secret of the fact that they did not want to engage British bands for the States, and I can well remember an animated discussion I had with the late Joe Glaser. then Louis Armstrong’s booking manager, who made himself quite clear on the point. What was perhaps more unfortunate, for I was used to dealing with such vociferous folk, was that he made clear to our musicians, when they arrived in the States, that he did not really want them—which was hardly calculated to improve their morale.
Tommy Whittle, I know, was one of the first victims of this sort of thing but, of course, for those days the money was good! It so happens that Freddy Randall, during his US tour during the previous year, had fared much better, for his band had been the only jazz ingredient of what was really a rock and roll package headed by Bill Haley’s Comets. This meant that there was a large, ready–made audience at every performance, which responded warmly to the good healthy jazz and collective musicianship of Freddy, Betty Smith, Eddie Thompson, and the other British visitors.
As I heard it - 5 the Union official then responsible for the subject of reciprocal exchange of musicians with foreign countries
The second of the Anglo/American exchanges occurred barely a month after the first, and involved the bands of Louis Armstrong and Freddy Randall, but it was unfortunately by no means so well organised as had been the first. Arrangements for it had been planned during November 1955, when I received a visit from two Americans, Lee Gordon and Benn Reyes, who were proposing to present Armstrong each night, from May 4 to 13, 1956, at the long–since demolished Empress Hall, Earls Court, and to follow the London presentation with a series of one–night stands in seven major cities.
The Americans knew of the Anglo/American exchange requirements, but asked me which British band the MU would want to have sent to America in exchange for and of a similar size to Armstrong’s group. I hastened to assure them that the MU did not make such choices or recommendations. It was nevertheless obvious that they knew nothing of the best of Britain’s small jazz groups of the time; so I did agree to provide them with a list of all those then recognised as leaders in the field, from which they were free to make their selection. After a week or two they notified me that they had selected the Randall band.
Armstrong’s tour commenced about a week ahead of Randall’s; so the latter was able to attend, as I did, a reception for Louis at the Savoy Hotel on May 3, 1956, and it was there that Freddy received a cheque for a substantial part of his fees in advance. When the American lawyer who represented Big Show, UK Limited, the British company set up by Messrs. Reyes and Gordon, signed the cheque he could not restrain himself from saying: “Gee, man—you’ve never seen so much money before in your life!” Fearing that Freddy might agree with him, I chipped in with: “Well—he hasn’t been invited to work in the States before!“.
Needless to say, it gave me a kick to be meeting Louis again after some twenty–five years. He had, of course, aged considerably (hadn’t we all?), but was as exuberant as ever, making me feel quite old by addressing me all the time as “Pops”, although some years my senior. When I saw him again some days later at Empress Hall, he was playing great jazz and indulging in far less exhibitionism than when I had first seen him work at the Palladium in 1932.
When I visited him in his dressing room at Earls Court it was also my pleasure to meet Edmond Hall, who was to become one of my best friends during the all too limited remainder of his life, and Mezz Mezzrow, who, then living in France, had come over to meet Louis.
It also came as a relief to find that they, and everybody else, were also addressed as “Pops”! The London end of the tour did not prove to be a financial success, despite the thousands who attended the ten performances at Earls Court, and when Armstrong moved out of London, Big Show, UK Ltd. handed over the promotion to Harold Davison, who was to organise and manage most of Louis’ subsequent European tours.
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Google Search: "Louis Armstrong," 1956 Louis Armstrong All-Stars
I owned all his records on 78rpm
pre 1930 because there was a TUBA two beat bass
to copy - which was my own jazz instrument
The Great Chicago Concert (1956)
Trumpet/Vocals: Louis Armstrong
Trombone/Vocals: Trummy Young
Clarinet: Edmund Hall
Piano: Billy Kyle
Drums: Barrett Deems
Bass: Dale Jones
Vocals: Velma Middleton
looks right
The Louis Armstrong Odyssey -
his triumphant return from his East African tour
and a lot of lookalikes were in the villages - his roots
