“Wild Man Blues” – Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom Stompers (1927)

Recorded in Chicago on April 22, 1927.
Released as Brunswick 3567

A few weeks before the Hot Seven version of “Wild Man Blues”, Louis Armstrong and Johnny Dodds recorded the first version under Dodd’s band In Chicago in April of 1927.

This version follows the same basic structure as the Hot Seven version, with Armstrong and Dodds taking extended solos. Armstrong seems to hang back just a bit and takes a shorter solo while Dodds plays an exquisitely haunting solo that is one of my favorites.

Credits
Louis Armstrong – cornet
Roy Palmer – trombone
Johnny Dodds – clarinet
Barney Bigard – tenor sax
Earl Hines – piano
Bud Scott – banjo
Baby Dodds – drums

Equipment used in the transfer:
• Lenco L75 turntable with Shure M91ED cartridge
• Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
• Audacity (for digitization, de-clicking, and De-RIAA/Re-EQing)
• Logic (for additional EQ tweaks, light compression, and stereo mixdown to mono)
• Adobe Premiere (for adding label image and final export to MP4)