The story of the Louis Armstrong Copenhagen 1933 live recording

The usual live recordings of Satch comes from his later years and as good as they are, none of them can match the unique performance seen in the (sadly short) three track clip used in an obscure danish movie called "København-Kalundborg - Og-". The depression era USA had taken some heavy tolls on the music scene, none more than Jazz, as it was not yet as solidly founded in the culture as "white" music. Even Louis Armstrong had to seek refuge, first in LA, but after getting tangled up with the mob, he turned towards Europe and toured there for more than a year around 1933-34 (?).

The significance of this recording is not to be overlooked. It is the earliest surviving live film footage of Louis Armstrong. It shows him at the peak of his capabilities as a jazz musician and it shows. It is the most energetic playing by him I have ever seen and the sheer genius of his solo´s are to me almost beyond human. I know, it is bombastic, but listen to how he holds the single tone during "Tiger Rag" (the last of the three) with such nerve and soul and lightness all the while the Harlem Hot Band plays the notes around it and it gels into a weird static harmony. Incredible.

It is also interesting to watch how he presents himself on stage. This is more than 80 years ago and no one had really been a "frontman" of any "band" as such, at least not in this kind of spotlight. We are now used to thousands of more or less outrageous frontmen, but back then, there were no agreed on antics to show or expected ways to behave. But he extends a lot of energy and rhythm in his peculiar way of bending towards the band or tapping with his cornet. Now in later years, post-war, he was accused of being an uncle tom type smiling minstrel for pleasing white audiences. But this style goes all the way back to his early days as you can clearly see here. He is a true showman and the truth is - to me at least - he was trying to bridge the race gap wherever he went. He was greater than all the other race fighters like Malcolm X or Dr. King. He was out there meeting people in real life, outside politics and making everyone happy and believing in a greater and more peaceful future. I sincerely believe this was his driving force, his soul and his purpose in life. This is what he channeled into the power and the genius of his improvisation ... this is Satchmo. He plays like a sharp knife cutting through everything. You cannot stay indifferent to him, you must take a stance, he forces you to listen, even if you may not like what you hear. His smiling face and showmanship though, makes up for whatever cultural differences he faced and wanted to overcome.

(bits from original film programs)

Now, I have tried to look a bit into the history of this recording and it seems the information is contradictory. The band played for sold out nights in Tivoli in Copenhagen between 20 October and 23 October 1933. The number of performances have been listed between 4 and nine, but most often I have seen the number 8 mentioned and thus they played an average of two a day. It is believed that the recording of the film piece was made on 21 October, but not during a gig, but specifically for the camera. The audience seen in the clip, were added in post production, to pretend to be during a gig. But it IS live in any case, even if not with a live audience.

Armstrong had become extremely popular in Scandinavia and the newspapers were writing about his arrival. He was a true star among the young:

"A Gigli or Horowitz arrive silently--but a Louis Armstrong is welcomed by the citizens of Copenhagen. Guards on both sides closed the hall of arrivals. It looked dangerous, since a couple of hundred people had climbed on top of the trains to get a glimpse of the black trumpeter."

A paper wrote about the performance:

"Louis Armstrong plays better trumpet than any others I have heard. He plays devilishly, with solid knowledge and wild ideas. He is not the kind of trumpeter that 'musts' his trumpet or gets a sobbing, crying, singing or lamenting sound out of it. No, he plays for life, full of strength on the highest notes possible. It pierces like a steam whistle or razor edge, but it is brilliant."

Another wrote:

"The musical battle was over, and when the audience had stomped and cried the concert hall into pieces, Louis came forward in a bathrobe and a handkerchief and shook his hands like a boxer--and it was over. But there was applause for another ten minutes. Hot! Very hot!"

They were watching a revolution in music taking place in front of them !!

If Louis had known how the actor Ludwig Brandstrup would "introduce" him in this revue-movie, he might not have felt too happy about it to say the least:

"It is a tropical night in the jungle and the black Howler Monkey with its big, white teeth and the strong grabbing hands, crawls around the tree tops, howling in ugly tones. Falls with a scream from the branch: Louis Armstrong is on the floor"