Released 1928 (1928) Label Brunswick | Genre Jazz Composer(s) Joe "King" Oliver | |
Recorded June 11, 1928 (1928-06-11) | ||
"West End Blues" is a multi-strain twelve-bar blues composition by Joe "King" Oliver. It is most commonly performed as an instrumental, although it has lyrics added by Clarence Williams.
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King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators made the first recording for Brunswick Records on June 11, 1928. Clarence Williams later added lyrics to the instrumental tune. He recorded the song several times in 1928, first with vocals Ethel Waters, then with Hazel Smith (with King Oliver playing trumpet), then again with Katherine Henderson.
The "West End" of the title refers to the westernmost point of Lake Pontchartrain in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. In its heyday, it was a thriving summer resort with live music, dance pavilions, seafood restaurants, and lake bathing.
Louis Armstrong's recording
By far the best known recording of "West End Blues" is the 3-minute-plus, 78 RPM recording made by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five on June 28, 1928.
Armstrong plays trumpet and sings, backed by a band including pianist Earl Hines, clarinetist Jimmy Strong, trombonist Fred Robinson, banjoist Mancy Carr and drummer Zutty Singleton on hand cymbals. Armstrong's unaccompanied opening cadenza is considered to be one of the defining moments of early jazz, incorporating a rhythmic freedom that anticipated many later musical developments. Also notable is Armstrong's scat vocal chorus (in a duet with clarinetist Strong), and a piano solo by Hines. The final chorus is dominated by a four-bar (12-second) long high Bb note played by Armstrong. The number is closed by the metallic click of drummer Zutty Singleton's cymbals.
This recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1979.
Armstrong recorded several later versions of "West End Blues", including for the 1947 film New Orleans and with his All Stars in the 40s.
King Oliver's recordings
Joe "King" Oliver wrote "West End Blues", and was the first to record it on June 11, 1928, with his band The Dixie Syncopators. This recording established the basic form of the song that Armstrong's later recording followed. On January 16, 1929, Oliver recorded the song again, borrowing from the Hot Five arrangement, though at a quicker tempo. The opening trumpet cadenza (based heavily on Armstrong's 1928 recording) has frequently been incorrectly credited to Oliver, but was in fact played by trumpeter Louis Metcalf. Pianist Luis Russel also takes a solo, in turn basing it on Earl Hines' solo from the Hot Five recording.