All Time Greatest Hits

I have been hooked on this since I was 14. It transends generations and gets my mojo going in the car!

Louis Armstrong's All Time Greatest Hits is yet another "greatest hits" album to celebrate the musical genius of Louis Armstrong. This album works well as a single CD; but in truth to be much more thorough you'd need two CDs to truly do the job of presenting Louis Armstrong's all time greatest hits. However, they gave it a whirl and it didn't come out too shabby for a single album!

Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" from his later years sounds just as fresh and touching as it always has; this number sounds even better in the CD's digital format. "Hello Dolly" features Louis with The All Stars and Louis never misses a beat! He sings this to perfection and the musical arrangement lacks nothing--it's THAT good. The musical interlude also impresses me. "Mack The Knife" is another great song Louis does with The All Stars; and Louis never sounded better. What an entertainer!

"A Kiss To Build A Dream On" is very romantic and Louis delivers this with panache, heart and soul. The piano arrangement is excellent; and listen for "It Takes Two To Tango." I really like "It Takes Two To Tango;" Louis sings this playful, loving tune very well and I always considered this to be one of my favorite Louis Armstrong tunes.

"Gone Fishin'" is a well done duet between Bing Crosby and Louis; they make this duet shine and I always enjoy hearing this timeless duet. Bing and Louis enjoy an excellent rapport and this bolsters their performance, too. Louis also delivers a particularly touching rendition of "La Vie En Rose;" I predict that you'll enjoy this very much.

"When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)" places Louis's vocals right in the spotlight and he is accompanied by an exquisite musical arrangement. Louis never misses a beat and his good old gravelly voice conveys every nuance of every word of the lyrics.

The album closes with "When It's Sleepy Time Down South." Louis really sings this very well.

The liner notes include an informative essay by Will Friedwald and the pictures of Louis are terrific! I like the artwork, too.

Louis Armstrong will never be forgotten. Long after most "celebrities" are gone and buried, Louis Armstrong will live on forever in his music. We are incredibly richer for the fine contributions Armstrong made to the arts; and this CD proves his terrific and exceptional skill. Yes, it should have been a two CD set; but as a single CD retrospective it still works rather well.

Four and one-half stars.

This is labeled Louis Armstrong's All-Time Greatest Hits." Most of these are from later in his career, so one might raise some issues with that title, given his earlier corpus of work. Nonetheless, the works here are terrific in their own right.

A sampling:

"What a Wonderful World": Armstrong well displays his "lived in" voice. Maybe not a large vocal range, but an interesting and compelling interpreter of this song. There is a good backing group (as throughout this CD). His inimitable voice adds a unique twist to this song. The end result is an evocative piece, capturing the song's soul nicely.

"Hello Dolly": Not exactly like Carol Channing's iconic version! However, he makes the song his own as he sings. . . .

"Mack the Knife": This Brecht-Weill-Blitzstein song is from their "Threepenny Opera." Armstrong does a creditable, estimable job with this wonderful tune.

"La Vie en Rose": Here, he takes on a song most associated with Edith Piaf. That "used up" voice of Louis Armstrong works well with this song. Again, Satchmo may not have much vocal range, but he uses what he has for a compelling rendition of this work.

"Blueberry Hill":

"I found my thrill
On Blueberry Hill. . .
When I found you
The moon stood still
On Blueberry Hill."

A very well done version!

This represents some of Louis Armstrong's later greatest vocal hits. A very nice collection.

The above caption comes from the seven pages of wonderful liner notes written by Will Friedwald, the author of Jazz Singing, and is attributed to the great Duke Ellington. Who, it is safe to say, knew what he was talking about when it came to Jazz.

Interspersed with the notes are a few more photographs of Louis and several LP/45/78 reproductions. A discography of the contents completes the package, although chart performances are not recorded.

Louis, of course, was selling thousands upon thousands of records long before there were charts, and after the advent of the Most-Played Juke Box Race Records charts [now R&B charts) in the mid-1940s, he had hits with I Wonder (#5 in 1945) and The Frim Fram Sauce (# 4 in 1946 in a duet with Ella Fitgerald). That same year he and Ella cracked the pop charts with You Won't Be Satisfied Until You Break My Heart (# 10) backed with Bob Haggart & His Orchestra. None of these, unfortunately, are included here.

In 1949 he made it to both charts simultaneously with That Lucky Old Sun [track 7] on which he began a lucrative association with Gordon Jenkins & His Orchestra [# 14 on what had become known by then as the Most-Played Juke Box Rhythm And Blues Records charts] and # 19 pop. That, incidentally, would be the last time he would chart on anything related to R&B.

From there until 1966 he would chalk up 18 more pop hits, mostly for Decca, but also for the Capitol, Columbia [Mack The Knife], Kapp, ABC, and Mercury labels. In this volume you get all but the # 30 1950 duet with Ella, Can Anyone Explain? (No, No, No), Now You Has Jazz, a 1956 # 88 duet with Bing on Capitol from the film High Society, So Long Dearie (# 56 in 1964 for Mercury), and Mame (# 81 in 1966 for Mercury).

What A Wonderful World first charted at # 12 on the Adult Contemporary Charts in 1966 for ABC, and in 1968 a re-release "bubbled under" on the Billboard pop charts at # 116. However, following the release of the film Good Morning Vietnam it reached # 32 pop in 1988 for A&M, and in 1999 the same recording, overdubbed by the sax of Kenny G, reached # 53 for the Arista label.

The sound quality on all tracks is superb and this is one of the best CDs on the market covering his hit singles.

Many greatest hits compilations by current bands are worthwhile because they owed their success to radio and their best work was released to radio. "Greatest hits" does not always equate with "best of" and this compilation is an excellent example of that. Many of these songs I truly enjoy. Do many songs better than "What A Wonderful World" exist? The man owns "Hello Dolly" and "Mack the Knife," and "La Vie en Rose" is a timeless, beautiful song. However, it is difficult to fathom songs such as "Skokiaan," "The Dummy Song" and "Chloe" were ever hits. They aren't especially good songs and I assume MCA included them because they lacked rights to better material. I agree with the reviewers, who have directed readers to other Satchmo releases. In addition to those recommendations, the one I would suggest is the "Jazz `Round Midnight" series release, simply titled "Louis Armstrong." "All-Time Greatest Hits" isn't a terrible CD, though it does not give a non-fan an idea of just how great some of Mr. Armstrong's music is.