Railroad Blues
CD Masters of Jazz MJCD 55
When Louis Armstrong got the job as a soloist in New York with Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra, he took a leap on his way to stardom. He may not have felt at home like he did in New Orleans or with King Oliver in Chicago, but his qualities became evident to the musicians and record producers, resulting in many sessions outside the big orchestra.
About a hundred years ago, between March 16-22, 1925, he was in the studio with Charlie Green, trombone, and Buster Bailey, clarinet, to accompany the blues singer Trixie Smith. Fletcher on piano and Charlie Dixon on banjo filled out the quintet.
Trixie, who came from Atlanta, had won a blues competition with a song of her own, and the prize was a recording contract for Paramount Records. Though the big record companies were on the brink of using the electrical method, Paramount had to stick to the acoustic one.
In his answers, his solo and his background countermelody in the last chorus, Armstrong is already sensational, full of fire and playing a mixture of Oliver’s and his own cornet style.