Louis Armstrong's America

One might think that an album titled Louis Armstrong’s America is a tribute to the famed trumpeter, and certainly he’s a focus here, but a normal tribute would feature compositions by him, or at least associated with him. Allen Lowe doesn’t operate in the realm of the predictable, though; instead, the concept—powered entirely by Lowe compositions—takes in not just Armstrong’s influence but also the evolution of jazz starting with influences (not all jazz) on Armstrong and continuing to the end of his five-decade career in 1971—which means that even Albert Ayler is touched on in this wide-ranging album (heck, even indie-rock icon Steve Albini is referenced). In his liner notes, Lowe quotes himself: “I think that Louis Armstrong may have been the first true post-modernist, picking and choosing between a hierarchy of personal and public musical sources and tastes, but without any concern for the way in which hierarchy acted on all of this in terms of class and even, ultimately, race (e.g.; think of Armstrong’s reverence for opera and the way it effected his broad and classically expressive method of phrasing). So he fits all the definitions of post-modernism, even as a kind of anachronistic vessel for so much that was still to come not just in jazz but in all of American popular music, in particular but not only through the mediation of black life and aesthetics. Black song, vernacular and popular, is amazingly flexible it its ways and means of expression, lyrically, rhythmically, and sonically.”

For downloads, please go here: Louis Armstrong's America | Allen Lowe & the Constant Sorrow Orchestra | Allen Lowe (bandcamp.com)

PERSONNEL: Allen Lowe, tenor sax, piano; Aaron Johnson, alto sax, clarinet; Elijah Shiffer, alto sax; Nicole Glover, tenor sax; Frank Lacy, trumpet; Ray Anderson, Brian Simontacchi, trombone; Andy Stein, violin; Ursula Oppens, Lewis Porter, Loren Schoenberg, Matthew Shipp, Jeppe Zeeberg, piano; Marc Ribot, guitar; Ray Suhy, guitar, banjo; Will Goble, Colson Jimenez, Nick Jozwiak, bass; Ethan Kogan, Rob Landis, James Paul Nadien, Kresten Osgood, drums; Huntley McSwain, vocal

Track Listing:

CD 1

1.Mr. Jenkins’ Lonely Orphans Band 6:15 (A)

2.Aaron Copland Has the Blues 5:32 (D)

3. Bo Did It 3:04 (H)

4.Calling All Freaks 6:33 (A)

5.Sepia Danceteria 4:15 (C)

6.The Old Regulars 5:34 (L)

7.The Last Bebop Tune 4:36 (E)

8.Laughing With Louis 4:00 (J)

9.Utah Smith Visits MOMA 3:23 (E)

10.One Two Fuck You: Steve Albini Ascends to Heaven 2:22 (H)

11.Love is a Memory 4:16 (M)

12.Mr. Harney Turn Me Loose 3:31 (I)

13.Valley of Sorrows 3:59 (J)

14.Riot on the Sunset Strip 4:30 (L)

15.Hello Dali 3:07 (G)

16.I Should Have Stayed Dead (ballad) 3:21 (I)

17. Shufflin’ the Deck (Take 5, Please!) 4:16 (K)

18. Muskrat Rumble 3:05 (G)

CD 2

1.The Seven Foot Policeman 3:07 (A)

2.When Dave Schildkraut Goes Marching In 3:33 (E)

3.Bathing With Doc Walsh 2:14 (F)

4.Under the Weather 3:56 (C)

5.Candy, Darling 3:57 (E)

6.The Other Side of the Tracks 7:24 (K)

7.Little Rock Goddamn 4:40 (F)

8.Blue Mist 3:39 (N)

9.Back Home Rag. 3:52 (A)

10.In a Lonely Place 1:51 (M)

11.Roswell’s Dream 8:34 (A)

12.I Should Have Stayed Dead (theme) 5:32 (D)

13.Pullin’ the Plug 4:15 (K)

14.Pleased 4:12 (B)

15.Speckled Red’s Revenge 5:47 (K)

16.Greenwich Village Dada 2:50 (J)

17.Brother Claude Ely Ascends to Heaven 6:40 (L)

CD 3

1.Apocalypse Next 5:56 (L)

2.Beefheart’s on Parade 4:00 (E)

3. Get Hopped Up 4:51 (C)

4.I Should Have Stayed Dead Again (Variation) 4:09 (D)

5.Dance of the Occupiers 2:50 (J)

6.Black and White Fantasy 6:34 (A)

7.Miss Ann Returns 3:44 (K)

8.What Did I Do (To Be So Blue)? 6:06 (C)

9.Spiritual Impunity 4:13 (L)

10.The Murder of Jaki Byard 5:34 (K)

11.Bix’s Silver Chalice 3:14 (G)

12.Gone to Heaven 2:19 (A)

13.In the Mode 7:25 (B)

14.Requiescat (Bird Has Flown) 5:19 (G)

15.Hittin’ the Jaw 3:19 (B)

16.Middle Brow Blues: William Grant Still at Carnegie Hall 3:22 (G)

17. John Cage Turns the Page (or: 3:02) 3:02 (D)

All compositions by Allen Lowe

CD 4.

1.The Sorrow Song: On the Cooling Board 3:54 (I)

2.Garner’s Mood 5:45 (G)

3.Jelly’s Last Breath 6:22 (B)

4.Charlotte Osgood Mason Dances the Africain 4:35 (C)

5.I Am A Woman Again 2:59 (M)

6.Pete Brown 3:45 (J)

7.Naked Dancer 5:32 (K)

8.Lester Lopes In 4:31 (C)

9.Tiger Rage 5:39 (A)

10.In Dreams Begin Isaac Rosenfeld 4:04 (G)

11.Lewis Lewis 4:57 (L)

12.Tea with Me 5:54 (C)

13.Poem for D.A. Levy 4:08 (J)

14.Joi Lansing Escapes from the Web Of Love 3:02 (G)

15.Name Her 2:08 (O)

16.The Dying Musician 5:00 (K)

17.Blues No End 4:37 (B)

Musicians: Allen Lowe