Viva

The complete album + 2 bonus tracks pressed on limited edition 180g blue coloured vinyl. Contains new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz's writer Brian Morton. This Louis Armstrong tribute LP to W. C. Handy was recorded in 1954 when the composer and trumpeter was still alive. Most of the songs on the album had not previously been recorded by Louis and were therefore new to his discography at the time. The album is an acknowledged true classic and reissued here as a special edition on blue vinyl. Trumpeter W. C. Handy (1873-1958) remains among the most influential of American songwriters. Though he was one of many musicians who played the distinctively American form of music known as the blues, he is credited with giving it it's contemporary form; he took the genre from a regional music style with a limited audience to one of the dominant national forces in American music.