Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five in 1965 Berlin Concert Arts Essay (Essay Sample)

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Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five in 1965 Berlin Concert
Louis Armstrong’s All Star, also known as Hot Five, created a music generally described as traditional jazz using the classic or downtown New Orleans style. Where the combination of various stylistic elements was the creative process itself, traditional jazz is a constant change of styles being turned to generate new colors. Their instrumentation, which included a front-liner trumpet, clarinet, trombone, bass, piano and drums (Minn 15), produced an emotional, composite with usually thick texture of rhythm. The clarinet released heavy vibrato and deep tone, and can be recognized within the unit by its plunger growls, and shakes. Trombone, on the other hand, was used as both an alternating streak and a rapid staccato for filling-in. While the piano generates a series of straight plunks, drums used both choked cymbal and light snare to produce a soft and restrained effect. As observed, every performance was relatively structured and second endings with breaks happened frequently.
One of the songs entitled “When It's Sleepy Time Down South” exposed the movement of African Americans from South to North and contained such racial stereotypes. Although Armstrong dealt with a decrease in popularity among African-American listeners because of this song (Friedman 123), he still managed to make broader connection using the same song. With a combination of foxtrot and jazz, the music is influenced by a primitive African spirit.