Jazz Casual; 23; Louis Armstrong

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Series
Jazz Casual
Episode Number
23
Episode
Louis Armstrong
Producing Organization
KQED-TV (Television station : San Francisco, Calif.)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/75-72p5hz2s
NOLA Code
JZCL
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Description
Episode Description
Departing from the "live performance" format of Jazz Casual, this episode presents the greatest single figure in jazz, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, listening to some of his early records and commenting on them. Except for the recordings, the program is devoted entirely to conversation. Armstrong looks back over his forty years as a jazz musician and recording artist, reminisces about the blues singers and jazz men he has known, and about his early days with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Chicago. Listening to his recordings, he tells host Ralph Gleason, among other things, that "Skit-dat-de-Dat" and other classic tunes of his early Chicago days were created by the musicians just prior to the recording session. In addition to "Skit-Dat-De-Dat," the recordings played are "When it's Sleepy Time Down South," "Snake Rag," and "Countin' the Blues." (Description adapted from the NET Microfiche)
Series Description
Jazz, an exciting and very personal American art form, is discussed, dissected, and played during Jazz Casual. Jazz began to be created in New Orleans during and after the Civil War. The simple melodies created then can still be heard in both jazz and popular music. From Turk Murphy who is devoted to the preservation of rare old jazz tunes to Dave Brubeck and his avant garde work with rhythm, Jazz Casual presents a panorama of jazz as it exists today and existed yesterday. Throughout the series, outstanding musicians in the field of jazz play and interpret the music they improvise. Although classical music through the early nineteenth century used improvisation, jazz is the only musical form since to use this unique form of composition. Because jazz is not written, it has many variations and shadings depending upon the temperament of the performer. Therefore, each group included in this series represents a different attitude toward the requirements of jazz style. (Style is basically that quality which gives distinctive character to a particular performers work or to a particular kind of music.) Each episode is devoted to a well known jazz performer or group and includes an actual jazz session as well as a brief, informal interview with the featured personality. Guest performers include Sonny Rollins and Company, Turk Murphys San Francisco Jazz Band, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ben Webster, The Modern Jazz Quartet, the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, the Julian Cannonball Adderly Quartet, Carmen McRae and the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Host and producer for this series is Ralph J. Gleason, whose syndicated column on jazz appears in such papers as the San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Milwaukee Journal, New York Journal American, Cleveland Press, Des Moines Register, and Salt Lake City Desert News. Of the series Gleason says, The aim of the program is to present jazz in as natural a way as possible. To this end, the selection of the music and its programming has been left entirely in the hands of the musicians themselves. In other words, on JAZZ CASUAL, the music director each week is the leader of the group. The musicians are encouraged to set and arrange themselves informally in a manner most natural to them and every attempt is made to make them feel thoroughly at home. The program is only as good as the music. Jazz Casual is produced by KQED, San Francisco. This series of 24 half-hour episodes was originally recorded on videotape. (Description adapted from the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1964-07-10
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Talk Show
Topics
Music
Recorded Music
Media type
other
Credits
Director: Christian, Richard
Guest: Armstrong, Louis
Host: Gleason, Ralph
Producer: Gleason, Ralph J.
Producer: Christian, Richard
Producing Organization: KQED-TV (Television station : San Francisco, Calif.)
AAPB Contributor Holdings
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Citations
Chicago: “Jazz Casual; 23; Louis Armstrong,” 1964-07-10, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 14, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-72p5hz2s.
MLA: “Jazz Casual; 23; Louis Armstrong.” 1964-07-10. American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 14, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-72p5hz2s>.
APA: Jazz Casual; 23; Louis Armstrong. Boston, MA: American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-72p5hz2s