Jazz Junctions: The Birth of the Solo
Guy Barker charts the pivotal moments that have changed the direction of jazz. He looks at the birth of the jazz solo and the legacy of the great improviser Louis Armstrong.
The Birth Of The Solo considers the legacy of Louis Armstrong. The real soul of all jazz is improvisation, but early jazz musicians were more inclined to extemporise collectively around the melody rather than to perform fully improvised solos. All that changed with the advent of early jazz's greatest improviser and pioneer, Louis Armstrong.
Recordings such as West End Blues, Cornet Chop Suey and Potato Head Blues led the way in a whole new direction for jazz musicians. But where did Louis get his inspiration from? Were his solos purely improvised or had he prepared whole sections in advance? What is it about his music that was so revolutionary and continues to inspire musicians of all styles even today? And was it all about Louis, or were there other great early improvisers who deserve some of the credit?
Fellow trumpeter Guy Barker looks at the birth of the jazz solo with new and archive contributions from Gunther Schuller, "Wild" Bill Davison, Ted Gioia, Hoagy Carmichael, Budd Johnson, Lewis Porter, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Dan Morgenstern, Dick Hyman, Artie Shaw and, of course, Louis Armstrong himself.
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
Snake Rag
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00:07Sam Morgan’s Jazz Band
Bogalusa strut
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00:08Noble Sissle’s Swingsters
Characteristic Blues
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00:08King Oliver
Dippermouth Blues
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00:08Ruby Braff & Howard Alden
Cornet Chop Suey
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00:11Clarence Williams, Clarence & Blue Five
Cake Walking Babies From ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
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00:14Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
Heebie Jeebies
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00:18Louis Armstrong
Savoy blues
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00:19Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven
Potato Head Blues
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00:22Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
West End Blues
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00:27Louis Armstrong
Weather Bird
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00:31Louis Armstrong
Ain't Misbehavin'
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00:34Frankie Trumbauer
Singin' The Blues
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00:38Paul Whiteman
From Monday On
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00:42Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
Chinatown My Chinatown
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00:47Louis Armstrong & Budd Johnson
Sweet Sue Just You
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00:48Cab Calloway
You Rascal You
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00:51Duke Ellington
East St Louis Toodle-Oo
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00:53Louis Armstrong
Struttin' With Some Barbecue
Broadcast
Mon 14 Nov 2016 01:00ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Music Jazz
