Louis Armstrong Performance Reflection Essay
Tomas Corza
Music 306
23 February 2022
Jazz Performance Essay #1
I chose to write my essay on the performance by Louis Armstrong at Satchmo in East Berlin March 22, 1965. What I first notice, is that Louis Armstrong is performing with the support of a sextet ensemble. I first hear the drummer hold a smooth and light beat with their high hat. Then on top of that I can hear the bass player playing a walking bass line. While the trombone, trumpet and clarinet play the melody and harmony. What is most notable to me is how Armstrong holds out the notes he plays on his trumpet with an amazing vibrato. After the intro, Armstrong comes in with vocals and what is notable to me is his method of scat singing and how he adds a vibrato to his vocal parts. During the vocal part of the second song I can hear the drummer keeping a smooth beat on their snare and high hat with what sounds like brush strokes. I also notice the trombone playing a counter melody with swung slides, which I believe gives the music a really nice texture. The rhythm is slow and smooth, which I feel gives the song a relaxed, and laid back mood. I imagine this would be the kind of song you would slow dance to.
In the beginning of the second song, “indiana” I can hear the piano playing an intro which I would describe as staccato. What I like about the beginning of this song is how it starts as staccato but then as the brass and clarinet come in, they are play more swung legato notes. Then I hear Armstrong start to solo with what appears to be to an improvisation based on a pentatonic scale. I can hear him go up and down a scale while changing a few notes to create the improvised melody. During the solo section of the first song I think I would say my favorite solo was the double bass solo. Because I find it interesting how he goes from playing a walking bass line with his fingers to playing arco, which I thought was really interesting to watch. I feel that this song takes the mood of the performance from relaxed to exciting, the tempo is faster and the horn parts are more pronounced.
I think one of my favorite pieces in this performance is the arrangement they simply referred to as, “a tune in title without a song”. Where the piano starts by playing an arpeggio, then Jonny Glenn comes in, playing the melody on trombone with a straight mute in its bell and a plunger mute over the bell. I personally love the raspy wah sound that he gets out of it. This is my favorite arrangement because of how innovative this kind of trombone technique was. It really gives the texture of the music a unique and rich sound. What is most notable to me is how the plunger makes the trombone part sound like it can talk, causing it to sound like someone singing. I feel that it is almost as if the trombone is scat singing. The combination of the mute and plunger on the trombone, at times give the trombone somewhat of a distorted sound. Which stands out to me because it sounds similar to some of the distorted sound effects you hear in modern day electronic music. I would describe the mood of this song as being energetic and happy.
My second favorite piece is, “How High Moon”. I thought it was really interesting to see how the bass player Arnold Shaw utilized natural harmonics to play the intro, before transitioning into a walking bass line. It was really entertaining to watch Shaw carry the song by improvising a melody with minimal accompaniment of drums and piano. There are some points where the song almost goes silent because the bass part he is playing is so light and smooth but then unexpectedly comes back in with the bass line. I feel that this gives the performance a sense of anxiousness and excitement because you just do know where the bass line will take you next.
What I notice in the styling of some of the piano parts is that they appear to have a lot of ragtime influence. I also feel that the horn parts have a really close resemblance to Dixieland Jazz, which makes a lot of sense considering that Louis Armstrong is originally from New Orleans. After learning in class about the progression and development of jazz, I found it really interesting to watch this performance and think about the development of jazz up to this point and how it evolved after this era. It is interesting to listen to the influences of previous musical styles and how they have been combined to create music with a more swung eighth note feel, rather than the more rigid feel of ragtime.
Personally I greatly enjoyed watching this performance. I like how the performance takes the viewer through several different moods from calm to exciting to happy and back to calm. What I enjoyed the most was appreciating the amazing musicianship of all those in the band. It is not very common to see modern day popular musicians with such a high level of musicianship and creativity. I do not think there was a portion of this performance that I did not greatly enjoy. I feel like actively listening to this performance was very easy because there are many aspects that kept me drawn in and focused on the music.
