LOUIS ARMSTRONG & HIS APPEARANCE IN THE FILM, NEW ORLEANS

Acetate test pressing (10" 78rpm) of the classic Louis Armstrong song, "When The Saints Go Marching In." This song is for Louis Armstrong's role in the film, New Orleans. Record matrix number is C-19, with C. Webb (Chick Webb) hand written on the label. Record Disc corporation recording disc is used. The date 1947. There have been over 1,000 recorded versions of this famous song, but Louis Armstrong's version is the best.
    BACKGROUND: This version of "When The Saints Go Marching In" was for the motion picture New Orleans, a piece of Hollywood fluff that purported to tell the story of the origins of jazz in the titular city. It’s a mess of a movie but Pops lights up the screen and the music is often good. Three short takes of “The Saints” exist, all strictly instrumental and featuring Pops mainly playing the melody in a band that featured his former boss Kid Ory on trombone and future All Star Barney Bigard on clarinet. Armstrong sounds in wonderful form but the large group doesn’t exactly swing, instead marching along on top of heavy tuba beats. Armstrong sounds great riding over the ensemble. By April of 1947, New Orleans was getting ready to make its debut so Armstrong did a lot of promotion including an appearance on Rudi Blesh’s WOR radio show This is Jazz. The broadcast reunited Armstrong with many of his New Orleans cohorts, including clarinetist Albert Nicholas, bassist Pops Foster and drummer Baby Dodds. The song hadn’t exactly become a staple yet and Armstrong doesn’t seem to have played it much since the original recording nine years earlier. Thus, the arrangement follows the Decca record to a tee.