I own, as of course, all wise people who have or have had sufficient wealth, a complete Louis Armstrong discography.
There are some weak ones in there, some pro forma, some empty pandering, some clearly tired.
But my god.
When he was on his game.
Replies:
1
There is basically no 20th century American pop that doesn't run through the work of Louis Armstrong, usually with only one or two degrees of separation.
Some performers reached to the side of him, typically to Delta blues, but even those folks can't really escape his influence.
What an extraordinary figure.
When you talk to great players, they only rarely speak of him. You know why not? It's so universal and obvious to them, it doesn't bear mentioning.
