From the Record Shelves #278

After You’ve Gone

LP Odeon XOC 174

For a period when I was about fifteen, I listened to this every day. Same program every morning. My mother woke me up, and after I had been to the toilet and got dressed, she had the porridge ready. Most of the time, I had about five to ten minutes before I had to throw myself on the bike and speed to the school in another part of town. And I spent those minutes in company with Mr. Louis Armstrong and his fabulous version of this tune. It gave me strength and a good start to my day!

The tune that could be considered an “all-time favorite” can be played slow or fast with the bars doubled, and on several recordings from the time they change tempo in the middle. But here we have an all-together-fast version.

Louis Armstrong follows the same procedure in this 1929 version as in most of his recordings during the following decade. He starts by exposing the melody in a personal manner with a straight mute, sings in his inimitable voice with great swing and energy, and then finishes the record by playing the last chorus or part of it in the high register with an impressing cadenza to sign it off. In between, some other instrumentalists could get their chance, in this case clarinet player Jimmy Strong.

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