LISTEN · DISCOVER · CONNECT
Louis Armstrong | Essential albums and listening guide
Explore Louis Armstrong through The Hot Five Sessions. Discover what to listen for and follow related styles to your next record.
Louis Armstrong
Meet the artist
A trumpeter and singer raised in New Orleans who played a major role in developing individual solo improvisation within early jazz. His bright trumpet tone and elastic sense of rhythm helped bring the individual improviser to the foreground of early jazz.
Both his horn and his gravelly singing turn a melody into a personal story. Compare the youthful drive of the Hot Five recordings with the relaxed exchanges on Ella and Louis: virtuosity and warmth belong to the same musical language.
Where to start listening
Compare the phrasing of the trumpet with the breath of the singing voice. Moving between the two reveals how naturally these musical lines speak to the listener.
1926The Hot Five Sessions
Louis Armstrong
A series of recordings by Louis Armstrong’s small group, central to the emergence of the soloist in modern jazz and a landmark in the music’s early history.
Open this album in the Atlas →
1956Ella and Louis
Louis Armstrong / Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s vocal duet recording brings fresh character to jazz standards through the conversation between their voices.
Open this album in the Atlas →
Years follow the Atlas catalogue. Recording dates, original release dates and digital reissue dates may differ.