Chicago, 1928. Louis Armstrong was 26 when he walked into the studio with his band, the Hot Five. The young Armstrong had been playing and recording for a few years, and this session didn’t seem like it would be any different. The band would wax a few tracks and that’d be it.
Not this time. Louis had a particular song in mind. Written and recorded originally by his mentor, the man who’d really taught him to play, cornet player and bandleader Joe “King” Oliver. The song? “West End Blues.” King Oliver’s version is great, but what Louis Armstrong did with that song changed history. Satchmo took West End Blues and blew it out of the water…
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