Joe “King” Oliver composed “West End Blues” and made the first recording of the piece on June 11, 1928 with his group The Dixie Syncopators. Seventeen days later Oliver’s former protege Louis Armstrong was in the studio recording the song for Okeh Records. That was on June 28, 1928. Both Oliver and Armstrong were former New Orleans residents and knew “West End” as the final stop on the trolley line to Lake Pontchartrain.

Armstrong’s recording with his Hot Five is considered by many jazz critics and music historians to be one of the most important recordings in the history of jazz. Gunther Schuller of the New England Conservatory of Music wrote that “West End Blues” proved that jazz music “had the potential capacity to compete with the highest order of previously known musical expression.” In short, that jazz was indeed an art form worthy of consideration alongside of any other music.

In addition to playing trumpet and singing on the record, Armstrong is joined by Jimmy Strong on clarinet, Fred Robinson playing trombone, Mancy Carr on banjo, Zutty Singleton at the drums and Earl Hines is the pianist on the session. The record begins with an Armstrong cadenza that trumpet players have been woodshedding for nearly 100 years now. It also includes a mellow scat solo by “Satchmo” that he shares with Strong’s clarinet.

Clarence Williams later wrote lyrics for the tune and recorded it with Ethel Waters. Armstrong also re-recorded the tune on at least two occasions later in his career. Despite that, Armstrong’s recording from 1928 is the one that has become a classic and the performance that has come to “symbolize more than any other the ascendancy of a classic American music” according to critic Gary Giddens.

Here is a link to “West End Blues” as recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five 98 years ago today:

"WEST END BLUES"