A Gift to Pops: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars

It’s remarkably ironic that famed producer George Wein has put this tribute to Louis Armstrong together, as during the latter period of his career, “Pops” was considered “old hat”, “out of step”, and almost an insult to the racially conscious musical activists of the 50s and 60s. Well, Armstrong legacy has outlived them all, and he’s finally appreciated for each of his decades of musical and social brilliance. This collection of songs associated with Satchmo are delivered by a Who’s Who of today’s scene, such as Wynton Marsalis-Nicholas Payton-Ashlin Parker-Wendell Brunious/tp, Wycliffe Gordon/tb-voc, Reginald Veal/b and Herlin Riley/dr, to name a handful. The mood, and not the exact notes, are what’s emphasized here, and it’s emphasized well.

Veal is convincing on the gospel train of “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”, complete with Don Vappies banjo, while Payton takes on the socially conscious “ Black and Blue”. Payton  goes for the proverbial “It” on the frenetically joyful “Swing That Music” and coos with Roderick Paulin’s tenor sax for “A Kiss To Build A Dream On”. Niki Haris is nostalgic and hopeful on “What A WOndeful World”, with Davel Crawford mugging and playing p iano with Brunious on a cozy “Rockin’ Chair”. A bit of Armstrong himself bookends the album, opening with (of course) “ When It’s Sleep Time Down South” and closing with a philosophy of life. An album to build a dream on, with your imagination.

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