Louis Armstrong, A Musical Autobiography

[medjuck]

https://storyvillerecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-musical-autobiography-vol-1?utm_source=album_release&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fanpub_fb&utm_campaign=storyvillerecords%2Balbum%2Ba-musical-autobiography-vol-1

Has this been released before? 

Edited Saturday at 03:18 PM by medjuck

[Big Beat Steve]

Looks treacherously like record no. 1 and not quite half of record no. 2 of the 4-LP set that has been released and reissued countless times since 1957 under the same "Musical Autobiography" name on Decca, Brunswick and assorted other labels that eventually came under the MCA flag. 

https://www.discogs.com/master/411024-Louis-Armstrong-Satchmo-A-Musical-Autobiography-Of-Louis-Armstrong

Not a particularly rare item on the secondhand market.
Makes me wonder why anyone would want to hop on THAT bandwagon now ...

[jazzbo]

The Storyville parent label has released the Autobiography sessions before, in the '90s on their Jazz Unlimited label.

https://www.discogs.com/release/9895558-Louis-Armstrong-The-New-and-Revised-Satchmo-A-Musical-Autobiography-Volume-1

 

Edited Saturday at 04:16 PM by jazzbo

[medjuck]

How is the music?  And what is the recording date?  I'm looking at an Armstrong discography which is rather dismissive of the project but can't find this particular line-up.  Doesn't mean it's not there just that I couldn't find it. 

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, medjuck said:

How is the music?  And what is the recording date?  I'm looking at an Armstrong discography which is rather dismissive of the project but can't find this particular line-up.  Doesn't mean it's not there just that I couldn't find it. 

As far as I can see the line-up on the Storyville site is ONLY correct for track 17 (Muskrat Ramble) taken from the 1947 Boston Symphony Hall concert. The booklet of the 4-LP set on MCA gives several different lineups and recording dates for the tracks that are included in the set shown under the Storyville link (and that make up the first 1 1/2 LPs or so of that set, except for track 4 which was not on that 4-LP set). Most tracks are from various dates in December, 1956, and January, 1957.
In short, the information on that site is only an approximation.

Edited Saturday at 07:17 PM by Big Beat Steve

[Chuck Nessa]

No time to sort the details, but I have this 3 cd Verve set.from 25 years ago

[jazzbo]

The authentic "Autobiography" music is great. I have that 3 cd set, and also any corresponding material (sans "reminiscences") on the Armstrong Decca All Stars set.

[John L]

This is a great set indeed.  If you have the Mosaic Decca All Stars box, that doesn't do it justice at all, even though all of the studio tracks are there.  You need the 3-disc set with the original ordering and the narration. 

[mikeweil]

2 hours ago, John L said:

You need the 3-disc set with the original ordering and the narration. 

This one?

[John L]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

This one?

I personally have the three discs that Lon posted above on Jazz Unlimited.  But I assume that the newer set is the same, maybe with better sound.  

[AllenLowe]

I honestly think the narration is not particularly interesting or important. What is interesting and important is that Armstrong, in these performances, breaks out of the formulas he had gotten into as a matter of touring. They made him a star, but THIS made him an artist.

On 3/14/2026 at 2:09 PM, medjuck said:

How is the music?  And what is the recording date?  I'm looking at an Armstrong discography which is rather dismissive of the project but can't find this particular line-up.  Doesn't mean it's not there just that I couldn't find it. 

yes, this has been released in a few formats. And any discography that is dismissive of this, one of Armstrong's great post-War efforts, ought to be tossed in the garbage, after being burned.

Edited 11 hours ago by AllenLowe

[jazzbo]

I enjoy the narration but I agree it's not essential. The music is amazing.

[Big Beat Steve]

At any rate it's interesting to see this set is put into some sort of spotlight again. 
I must admit it's been an awful long time since I listened to it. I picked up a mint late 60s MCA stereo reissue of the 4 LP box set dirt cheap at a clearance sale years ago (a 50s original of Vol. III of the individually released LPs on German Brunswick had come my way at some point back then too), figuring that it WAS an important element of his discography and at that outlay you could not go wrong.
But I listened to it once after purchase, trying to skip the narrations (not easy to do with no silent grooves proper between the tracks) which I found non-essential too (and even a bit wearisome over the course of 4 LPs) and that was that ... Louis Armstrong's All Stars just never were at the top of my priorities. 
Time to revisit that set at a leisurely moment now, I guess ...

Edited 1 hour ago by Big Beat Steve

[EKE BBB]

On 3/14/2026 at 9:53 PM, Chuck Nessa said:

No time to sort the details, but I have this 3 cd Verve set.from 25 years ago

Same here. A favorite among Satchmo's 50s output. And, from me perspective, the narration does add up to get the whole picture.