Louis Armstrong: Live in Australia 1964

Any Louis is, by definition, good Louis, including this 1964 Australian performance (exactly where in Oz it took place isn't revealed), the latest in a spate of fine concert DVDs showing the jazz legend in action. While not quite up to the level of 2006's Live in '59 (part of Naxos' excellent Jazz Icons series) in terms of overall presentation, this is nearly as strong from a purely musical standpoint. Although 1964 marked the year of the Beatles' U.S. invasion (establishing the preeminence of rock music), it also saw the release of Armstrong's “Hello, Dolly,” the biggest pop hit of his career. Filmed in reasonably crisp and clear b&w and featuring solid mono sound, this concert (which appears to have been held in a theater or TV studio in front of a relatively small crowd) is dominated by New Orleans music and Armstrong standards, including “Basin Street Blues,” “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Mack the Knife,” and “Now You Has Jazz” (from the film High Society). But even if no new ground is broken, Pops and his band (which included longtime members Trummy Young on trombone, Billy Kyle on piano, and Danny Barcelona on drums) still knew how to put on a show. Armstrong, who was as influential a singer as he was a trumpeter, was apparently bedeviled by various health issues at the time, which may account for the substantial amount of solo space given here to the other musicians. But they're more than up to the task: Kyle, looking and sounding a bit like Fats Waller, romps through “Perdido”; bassist Arvell Shaw displays both chops and wit in a marvelous turn on “How High the Moon”; deadpan clarinetist Joe Darensbourg shows off his “slap-tongue” technique on “Sweet Georgia Brown”; and singer Jewel Brown is a revelation, melding gospel and calypso on the rocking “Did You Hear About Jerry.” Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Graham)