Louis Armstrong at Berlin 1965 Shteinberg Andrei MUS A124 12/03/2015

Louis Armstrong at Berlin 1965
Shteinberg Andrei
MUS A124
12/03/2015
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Louis Armstrong's legendary concert in Berlin. Armstrong's career was in full bloom
and from 1955 on, Armstrong traveled the world, performing with his All Stars in support of
U.S. interests abroad. He did not comment on the political situation, saying that he is
interested in his audience and not in the Wall. Armstrong and his All Stars began their first
tours to Eastern Europe behind the ''Iron Curtain,'' where he became known as
“Ambassador Satch.” This concert took place in East Berlin in March of 1965 at the
Friedrichstadtpalast and it was a part of historical Europian tour and of course all tickets
were sold out very fast. This performance was recorded by Eastern Germany television -
Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF) on March 22, among the members of “Ambassador Satch”
on this concert were: Clarinet - Eddie Shu, Bass - Arvell Shaw, Drums - Danny Barcelona,
Piano - Billy Kyle, Trombone - Tyree Glenn, Trumpet and Vocals - Louis Armstrong, Vocals
- Jewel Brown. Armstrong and his All Stars played six concerts in Berlin, four in Leipzig
and five more in Magdeburg, Erfurt and Schwerin. Also, during that tour Louis Armstrong
visited CSSR, Hungaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The first song made a tempo of the whole concert. Louis Armstrong began the
performance with «When It Is Sleepy Time Down South», this swing song with slow tempo
and Armstrong's wonderful solo part is now considered as a jazz standard, followed by
«Indiana» with piano solo by Billy Kyle, bass solo by Arvell Shaw, clarinet solo by Eddie
Shu, trombone solo by Tyree Glenn and outstanding instrumental session in general. Louis
Armstrong was the best trumpet player of this era and his trumpet solo sounded wonderful
in this song «Black and Blue». Song has a very slow tempo with instrumental beginning
and the Armstrong's trumpet part, after that Armstrong took his vocal part and in
combination with a slow tempo his vocal part with bluesy feeling sounds more beautiful.
Armstrong continued with «Hello Dolly», Louis Armstrong performed his, in my opinion, the
most popular song in that time which brought him popularity and fame. During the concert
Armstrong performed this swing song twice and got heavy prolonged applause. It goes
without saying that I cannot but note Armstrong's excellent trumpet part and vocal part with
scat singing. After that, we heard «Lover Come Back to Me» with a very fast tempo and
high energy. Then was «Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man» song with sensual vocal part, which
were performed by female vocalist Jewel Brown, it was particular performance and it
brought her storm of applause. During Brown's performance, Armstrong had a rest and
after that he continued with «When the Saints Go Marchin' In», with Armstrong's trumpet
and vocal parts in combination with back vocal of All Stars and solo parts of Eddie Shu and
Teree Glenn. Furthermore, we heard «Struttin' With Some Barbecue», song with a pretty
fast tempo and Billy Kyle solo part by piano and Arwell Shaw's solo. It was wonderful
instrumental performance. After that was «The Faithful Hussar» song, it was song with
slow tempo, Armstrong's solo and instrumental solo parts of All Stars. Being in Germany, it
was a good idea for Louis to call this song his favorite German folk song and it was a fun
performance with a bright vocal part. Armstrong continued with «Royal Garden Blues», it
was song with particular instrumental combination and solo parts, but without vocal, then
was «Blueberry Hill» song. It is indescribable performance. This song with a very slow
tempo makes people to relax and I enjoy that. It is still popular and a couple of years ago,
the president of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin played the piano and sang "Blueberry
Hill" at a charity fundraiser in Saint-Petersburg. It was really funny performance. Then we
heard «Mack the Knife», it was a swinging performance with Louis Armstrong's
astonishing improvisation. His vocal was wonderful in combination with swing rhythm
section. Then he continued on with «Mop Mop», this song had a fast start. We heard
instrumental session and drams solo improvisation by Danny Barcelona. The last song
was «When It's Sleepy Time Down South», it was logical to finish the concert with the
same song as it was started with. After performance Armstrong thanked All Stars, each of
whom got a storm of applause. Armstrong and his All Stars received flowers and when it
was over, the curtain came down, but the ovation only got louder. Audience stood up and
applauded. Louis Armstrong came out with his jacket off and tie undone, got ovation and
went off, but ovation got louder again. He came out one more time already in bathrobe, it
was a really funny moment, got the final ovation and went off. As for concert in general,
music was live, pleasant and not so fast that is why these songs made me relax. It was
really pleasant to see a friendly atmosphere on the concert, general excitement of public,
storms of applause and Louis Armstrong's bright smile. All songs were combined and
looked like a whole concert but each piece had own unique sound. Every song had a solo
parts and it is particular property of Armstrong's style. In my opinion Armstrong had the
best voice of jazz and he was the greatest trumpet player, I am sure that Germans got a lot
of positive emotions and kept in mind this concert for a long time.
A lot of people are fond of jazz music and now this music became more interesting
for me, but I have never seen a jazz concert, it was my first one. I can say that Louis
Armstrong's music reflects moods, emotions and spirit of the time and I enjoy that. It is a
classic of jazz. I think that this concert was very important for Germany, because it was a
fourth year after the construction of the Berlin Wall and that time was a very difficult for
Germans. The ''Iron Curtain'' made Germans' life very difficult. Germany was divided into
West Germany and East Germany and this concert brought spirit of freedom for Eastern
Germans. It’s difficult for me to point out the brightest moment of the show, because
everything, that was happening on the stage was just beyond description, but I would like
to say that Armstrong's trumpet parts were adorable, he was not only perfect singer, but he
was a good trumpeter too, but sometimes people forget about it. Of course I would like to
visit his concert, because Louis Armstrong and his songs became a classic example and
symbol of jazz and concerts like this have historical value. I’d like to say, that with every
song I got more and more fond of this kind of music. Also as Armstrong was African-
American, he symbolized the civil rights struggle in USA. It was a very difficult time for
African-Americans and I think Armstrong was like a symbol of freedom and equal rights.
When African-American looked at Armstrong, they understood that everyone can be
successful in USA.
As for musical style, of course it is swing and blues. Armstrong's jazz is unique, it is
a New Orlean style. His trumpet work, improvisations, vocal parts, scat singing and solo
orientation made him Jazz icon. He was a good actor, he performed his songs in a very
interesting way, he always smiled and his charisma, flamboyance and virtuosity charmed
the audience. He was innovator and set new trends in jazz music. Armstrong made jazz
more rhythmic and melodic, solos became more important. Of course, his the most
valuable innovation is scat singing - the ability to sing melodies and rhythms using the
voice as an musical instrument. He became one of our century’s most recognized and best
loved entertainers.
I like listening to jazz. Improvisation is an important part of this style, that's why a
jazz song may sound a little different each time it is played. Armstrong was a professional
in improvisation, he showed us that jazz is a mixture of many different kinds of music and
styles, and has a lot of features. In my opinion, Louis Armstrong was the first important
soloist to emerge in jazz. Armstrong developed a way of playing jazz, as an instrumentalist
and a vocalist. This way of playing had a strong impact on all jazz musicians of this era.
He became the most influential musician in the jazz music's history and profoundly
changed the music and jazz culture. Jazz originated in the United States, that is why it
brings freedom for people. Nowadays jazz is popular over the entire world and we should
bless Louis Armstrong for that because it is his merit too. He showed people that jazz is a
unique kind of music. Jazz can be defined as poetry that demonstrates jazz like rhythm
and the feeling of improvisation. Armstrong died more than forty years ago, but he's never
gone away, his songs are still popular with people of all ages.
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Louis Armstrong at Berlin 1965

visited CSSR, Hungaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Hill" at a charity fundraiser in Saint-Petersburg. It was really funny performance. Then we

When African-American looked at Armstrong, they understood that everyone can be

soloist to emerge in jazz. Armstrong developed a way of playing jazz, as an instrumentalist

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