Adam and Eve Had the Blues
LP Parlophone/EMI PMC 7144
Side two of the LP has eight numbers where Louis Armstrong and Jimmie Noone played together in the accompanying group, with many glimpses of their virtuosity. I may come back to that, but today I focus on a tune on the first side.
“They committed sin, then trouble begin, they’re having some trouble yet.” Adam and Eve sure had some blues after taking a bite of that apple.
The song was written by and is sung by the young Hociel Thomas. She belonged to a big famous musical family from Texas that included her aunt Sippie Wallace (born Belulah Thomas) who was a more successful blues singer, and her uncle Hersal Thomas who is at the piano on this session. Unfortunately Hersal was accidentally poisoned and died the following year at only 19 years of age.(Hociel was in fact two years senior to her uncle!)
The other three in Louis Armstrong’s Hot Four are except Louis himself on cornet Johnny Dodds on clarinet and Johnny St. Cyr on banjo. They take a beautiful chorus.
The interesting thing is that this session for Okeh happened on November 11, 1925 and the next day they recorded again with Lil Hardin at the piano and Kid Ory on trombone added under the name Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five. That was the first recording under Louis’ name in a project that would forever change the direction of the jazz music. Did they have a premonition about that? Most probably not.