“My Rose Marie” – Fletcher Henderson and his Orchestra f/ Louis Armstrong (1924)

While Columbia 228-D (Manda/Go ‘Long Mule) is known as Louis Armstrong’s first recorded appearance with the Fletcher Henderson band, here we have Satchmo’s second Henderson recording session a few days later.

Armstrong reportedly had a few initial issues with the difficult arrangements in Henderson’s book, in some cases arising from his unfamiliarity with the formal musical notations used.

In a 1950 interview, Henderson tells it: “We had a medley of Irish waltzes in the book, an intricate, well-marked arrangement. One passage began triple fortissimo, and then it suddenly softened down on the next passage to double pianissimo. The score was marked ‘PP’ to indicate the pianissimo, but when everybody else softened down, there was Louis, still blowing as hard as he could. I stopped the band, and told him – pretty sharply, I guess – that in this band we read the marks as well as the notes. I asked him if he could read the marks and he said he could. But then I asked him: ‘What about “PP”?’ and he answered: ‘Why, it means pound plenty!’”

Here we have “My Rose Marie”, a relaxed tune that featured Armstrong in two solos. Biographer Walter C. Allen notes that the various takes of recordings at this session were quite similar, indicating that perhaps Armstrong may have been reading his solo or playing a pre-composed solo from memory. Still, in contrast to the sweet tenor sax solo that precedes his, Armstrong takes the tune in a new energetic direction, while effortlessly keeping the relaxed feel of the dance number.

Allen also noted – the tenor sax solo “does not particularly sound like [Coleman] Hawkins” – and that it may have been Cecil Scott.

0:00 Intro
0:11 Saxes & Brass
1:08 Tenor Sax solo (Coleman Hawkins)
1:26 Banjo and brass
1:44 Trumpet solo (Louis Armstrong)
2:19 Clarinet obbligato (Buster Bailey) over ensemble

Recorded in New York City circa October 10-13, 1924.
Released as Perfect 14337.
Also released as Pathé Actuelle 036156 and later as Silvertone 1298.

Credits:
Fletcher Henderson – piano, arranger, director
Louis Armstrong, Elmer Chambers, Howard Scott – trumpet
Charlie Green – trombone
Buster Bailey – clarinet, alto sax
Don Redman – clarinet, alto sax, arranger
Coleman Hawkins (or perhaps Cecil Scott) – clarinet, tenor sax
Charlie Dixon – banjo
Ralph Escudero – tuba
Kaiser Marshall – drums