When I was a kid about half past three

Continuing my trip back through the 1956 album charts.

22/07/56 : Louis Armstrong At The Crescendo Vol 1 - Louis Armstrong 

One more week skipped over in which Frank Sinatra was #1 and we're back at The Crescendo again. I like a bit of Louis, but I don't think I've ever listened to a full album of his, so I'm quite looking forward to this.

Yeah - it's some very fine jazz featuring some very fine musicians, who sound like they're having a very fine time indeed.  It's not something I'll ever listen to again, but if someone invents a time machine I'll happily go back there and watch the show - I bet it was sooo cool.  It was also funny to hear "Tain't What You Do", which I obviously know from Fun Boy Three & Bananarama's 1982 - but this Louis's version even close to being the original version because that was recorded in 1939 by Ella Fitzgerald.

We're at #4 in the charts this week on the only week this ever charted and the rest of the top five were Frank Sinatra, Carousel, Mel Tormé and Oklahoma! - two visits to The Crescendo and two visits to Rodgers and Hammerstein.  It's a unique chart because they're all new entries - for the simple reason that this is the first chart ever.  Yes, we're reached the dawn of the charts!

Wikipedia has one extremely informative sentence on the album - "Concert at the Crescendo Vol. 1 is a 1955 jazz album by jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong".  Louis's entry is slightly longer - the man lived an interesting life and he sounds like a pretty decent kinda guy with his career lasting from the early 20s until his death in '71, so there's plenty there to entertain you.

"Customers also listened to" "no similar recommendations" - awww, shame.   Having said that, I'd never have checked any of them out so I guess it's not the end of the world - but this is a fine album which feels historically significant and is also a lot of fun.

And that's it - 1956 is done.  Where next, I wonder?  Stay tuned to find out...

05/08/56 - A very peculiar album
1956 - All done!

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