Great Chicago Concert 1956

(3-LP + 12 page booklet) This album documents just one of Louis Armstrong's countless concert appearances. It is unique and typical at the same time, for the evening began with a review of "50 years of Jazz" (which also parallel Armstrong's life, for he and jazz were both born at the turn of the century - Louis in 1901, as a baptismal certificate discovered after his death has established, not 1900, as he had always believed), followed by a standard-issue Armstrong All Stars program. Although his choice of selections would change slightly from one night to another, and then more so from one year to the next, certain elements remained constant. No matter how often a composition was repeated (he opened every show "Sleepy time Down South", almost invariably followed by "Indiana"), Louis Armstrong gave his all every performance - no matter how many or few in the audience, and no matter if the decades of nearly non-stop touring had left him exhausted on a particular night. Tracks include: Black And Blue, West End Blues, Rockin' Chair, Bucket's Got a Hole in It, Mack the Knife, Big Mama's Back in Town.