Hot Seven
Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven was a jazz studio group organized to make a series of recordings for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois, in May 1927. Some of the personnel also recorded with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, including Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Armstrong (piano), and Johnny St. Cyr (banjo and guitar). These musicians were augmented by Dodds's brother, Baby Dodds (drums), Pete Briggs (tuba), and John Thomas (trombone, replacing Armstrong's usual trombonist, Kid Ory, who was then touring with King Oliver). Briggs and Thomas were at the time working with Armstrong's performing group, the Sunset Stompers. In five sessions between May 7 and May 14, 1927, the group recorded at least 12 sides, including "Willie the Weeper," "Wild Man Blues", "Twelfth Street Rag" and "Potato Head Blues" (celebrated for Louis Armstrong's stop-time solo and triumphant ride-out final chorus). Thomas Brothers cites "Wild Man Blues" as a "breathtaking breakthrough" for Armstrong's solo style because of its "effortless flow between melody, embellishment, fill-ins, and breaks." In these records, Armstrong continued and further developed his mastery of the jazz solo, almost completely dominating some of the numbers and further breaking down the New Orleans jazz style of collective improvisation into a vehicle for the soloist. In addition to his continued personal development, the Hot Seven sides feature Armstrong's new inclination towards worked-out and rehearsed arrangements, which can be heard in "Chicago Breakdown" and "Willie the Weeper." The Hot Seven song "Melancholy Blues" is included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft. |
Birth and Death Data: Born Founded 1927, Died Ceased 1928
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1927
Roles Represented in DAHR: Musical group
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OKeh | W80847 | 10-in. | 5/7/1927 | Willie the weeper | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80848 | 10-in. | 5/7/1927 | Wild man blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80851 | 10-in. | 5/9/1927 | Chicago breakdown | Louis Armstrong ; Earl Hines ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80854 | 10-in. | 5/10/1927 | Alligator crawl | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80855 | 10-in. | 5/10/1927 | Potato head blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80862 | 10-in. | 5/11/1927 | Melancholy blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80864 | 10-in. | 5/11/1927 | Twelfth Street rag | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80876 | 10-in. | 5/13/1927 | Keyhole blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble, with male vocal solo (scat) | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80877 | 10-in. | 5/14/1927 | Gully low blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble, with male vocal solo | Musical group | |
OKeh | W80884 | 10-in. | 5/14/1927 | That's when I'll come back to you | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble, with female-male vocal duet | Musical group | |
OKeh | W81126 | 10-in. | 5/13/1927 | S. O. L. blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble, with male vocal solo | Musical group | |
OKeh | W81302 | 10-in. | 9/2/1927 | Put 'em down blues | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble, with male vocal solo | Musical group | |
OKeh | W81310 | 10-in. | 9/2/1927 | Ory's Creole trombone | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble | Musical group | |
OKeh | W81317 | 10-in. | 9/6/1927 | The last time | Louis Armstrong ; Hot Seven | Jazz/dance ensemble, with male vocal solo | Musical group |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hot Seven," accessed November 1, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/105973.
Hot Seven. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/105973.
"Hot Seven." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 1 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Hot Seven - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88613402
Wikidata: Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1862419
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/121021544
MusicBrainz: Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/49905118-45d2-4b09-9643-a40b87d0ce42
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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