I don’t usually cite videos on this blog, but just saw a wonderful clip of Louis Armstrong from 1933, playing “Dinah” on a Danish sound stage: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/louis-armstrong-in-2-minutes-53-seconds/
I’ve always loved Louis Armstrong. He seemed to me, when I was a child and he was an old man, to convey pure eye-popping exuberance. I marveled then that a voice that was so scratchy could also be so good. Here he is young, energy sparks inside and around him; the syncopation is perfect; his voice is instrument as well as song; he’s both beat and melody, dancer, conductor, percussionist, singer, trumpeter. So musically he’s pretty great. But once more, it’s the exuberance that carries the moment. And the listener away.
ManicDDaily 
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