Wednesday, January 30, 2013  High Society: 80 Years of Louis's
January 1933 Victor Sessions  Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra
Track Time: 3:25 Recorded January 26, 1933 Written by Porter
Steele Recorded in Chicago Originally released on Victor 24232
Available on Itunes? Yes  Okay, after those slight cracks at the
end of "Sittin' in the Dark," now's probably a good time for
Louis to rest, maybe scat a bit or throw it over to Teddy Wilson
and Budd Johnson for a while....  Nope! Instead, after four,
medium-paced, foot tappers, Louis calls a flagwaver for his
fifth song of the session. And it's not just any old
song...well, actually it is a pretty old one, Porter Steele's
march of 1901, "High Society." Unlike the rest of the session's
newly minted pop tunes, this is "a good old good one" from
Louis's New Orleans days. Later in 1901, Robert Recker did an
arrangement of "High Society" with a tricky piccolo part that
was adapted to the clarinet by early master of the music,
Alphonse Picou. From that moment forward,