In my opinion, and anyone may disagree with me, I believe that the single greatest cultural contribution that the U.S. has made to the world is music, especially like this.
I agree, even though the blues was achieved through literal slavery, it's still the biggest and most evolved genre in the world. We wouldn't have our modern music like we know it if the US didn't oppress blacks. Kinda weird to think about, huh?
A Story about a Musician and Singer : A grandson of slaves, a boy was born in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans known as the 'Back of Town'. His father abandoned the family when the child was an infant. His mother became a prostitute and the boy and his sister had to live with their grandmother. Early in life he proved to be gifted for music and, with three other kids, he sang in the streets of New Orleans. His first gains were the coins that were thrown to them. A Jewish family, Karnofsky, who had immigrated from Lithuania to the USA had pity for the 7-year-old boy and brought him into their home. They initially gave him 'work' in the house, to feed this hungry child. There he remained and slept in this Jewish family's home where, for the first time in his life he was treated with kindness and tenderness. When he went to bed, Mrs. Karnovsky sang him a Russian Lullaby that he would sing with her. Later, he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs. Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family. The Karnofskys gave him money to buy his first musical instrument, as was the custom in the Jewish families. They sincerely admired his musical talent. Later, when he became a professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions, such as 'St. James Infirmary' and 'Go Down Moses'. The little black boy grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family who had adopted him in 1907. In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore a star of David and said that in this family he had learned "how to live a real life and determination." You might recognize his name. This little boy was called Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong. Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish! And I bet you didn't know any of this.... And 'Satchmo' is Yiddish for 'Big Cheeks."
The Jewish Karnofsky family WAS very important to Louis and he did wear a Star of David, but they never adopted him, they advanced him the money to buy his first cornet (Louis paid it back while working for them) and "Satchmo" is "Satchelmouth" and not Yiddish for "big cheeks."
Gotta admit this version speaks volumes. The slow tempo and those instruments are way beyond. A real sound to be reckoned with. To all you good people who have an ear for really listening as well as feeling the vibs of this incredible version. Play on. 🙏🌵👍
I did a book report on Louis Armstrong in the 8th grade. I was so taken by his story, I had to hear his music. A music teacher gave me some of his records to take home to listen . I loved it. That was in early 1964. My parents must have thought I had gone off the deep end. But I really think they liked the break from the Rock & Roll I had blasting from my room - the British bands had invaded the previous summer.
The greatest American musician, and one of the greatest Americans. Everything he did was golden. This is thus the golden version of “St James Infirmary.”
Um. What? Louis Armstrong made the first recording (1928) and this is nothing like it as that was a much lighter, faster version. It may still be Louis, but it is nothing like his original version.
The original of this song is not known. It's a long long evolution of a song that, some think, began in Ireland or Scotland or something and kept changing as it went. Consider the strange nonsensical lyrics.
@@rwwagner It feels very New Orleans in many of the versions. I have an old Eric Burden cover before the Animals. But a lot of English musicians tok the blues back to Britain. It really seems to me to be an OLD OLD blues.
@@aleleeinnaleleeinn9110 Yes! Super old. Morphed and changed and altered to suit every singer. The first time I heard it was at Donna’s on Rampart where Tremendous Brass Band did it: ‘She’ll never find a sweet trumpet player like me!’ I heard it again the next night with different lyrics. It FEELS like old New Orleans, but it’s older. It came to New Orleans, like many of these songs, through black folk traditions and players played on banjos and fiddles and whatnot. FWIW, this version is outstanding. My favorite is still Snooks Eaglin’s, but they all deserve mention as they’re so diffferent and fantastic.
My late dad’s favourite musical artist and song, he would sit for hours in the lounge on his own in the dark playing his old records on the Blaupunkt gramophone. He wad one of twelve children from a poor family, his father passed away at a young age, yes still young after fathering twelve children, they lived in Mayfair Johannesburg in an old red brick semi-detached home that had this big old black coal stove in the kitchen. Life was hard in those days, gold and coal miners the lot of them. I guess Satchmo was some one he could relate to.
I nave to agree that this is the " best version" I've heard to date. I have a lot of music and interpretations left unheard. 72 and going back in time. Thanks,
This is as good a recording as was made by anybody in the last half of the century. Louis's trumpet and vocal are superb. The interplay between Trummy Young and Peanuts Hucko is unbelievable. I am trying to put together a version for my You Tube channel. Should be up soon.
Got to leave in New Orleans last summer: from June to September. Experiencing the city and it’s heat made sense of the music, cuisine, culture. Can’t explain it other than you have to live there.
Love this song and, unbelievably, haven't heard Satchmo's version before. Thanks for posting, knocks all the other versions into a cocked hat - even Cab Calloway, and I love that man.
Great audio. Satchmo seems to be in top vocal form. He accents both the funeral dirge and the dark humor of the song. His trumpet riffs are brilliant and on point as always. A perfect slice of the original darker, yet celebrated Blues (Stormy Weather, Mack the Knife, Good Morning Heart Ache, Strange Fruit, Killer Joe, etc.).
Caleb, the man himself, let's not escalate something we don't know the responsible for. Without you I would never had a chance to hear this version again in my life time. I'm grateful and let's leave it at that. There are enough conflicts in today's world, we don't need this one also. Let's call it water under the bridge, we both have good taste. Peace Bro! God bless! M.P.
This is great. Never saw it b4. It's 3 AM & I'm watching this, but I really love Old Blues. Can u say insomnia? I live with it. I'm usually up to abt 5 Pm the nxt day, then I fall asleep for 2 or 3 hrs. I'm really enjoying this. Thanks
Heard this first by Josh white on a 78 , this is as good , considering I grew up with my , uncle Louis , ... thought he really was an uncle , ..king of the cornet , 🤩
@@Tipi_Dan Technically that is true. It does not have the "blues" harmonic structure. HOWEVER, this song is uniquely influential and this song characteristics is "informed by" and "informs" the character of the blues that we hear today. This song is anonymous and fundamental. to the history of jazz AND the blues.
I think a lot of people have overlooked the dragging drum beat.... It's painfully behind the measure perfectly. It gives that lumbering misery such mass!
Louis Armstrong, along with Pablo Picasso, is the greatest world artist of the 20th century -- a century loaded with great world artists. AND, between Louis and Pablo, only one of them beat their wives.
This is an amazing version especially seeing as i live louie and his trumpet but Im buzzing right now and i wanna make this so much better. I just hear extra notes in my head and a added melody i wish i could ass to fit my mood. More fast highs and and added rythem
I just listened to this version for the first time now. I think you're probably right. I'm not sure it's "a version" though. It sounds more like an original...if ya know what I'm sayin'.
Yeah it’s an original in a way there basically 3 versions: The old version, has very different lyrics; The Louis Armstrong(The guy singing in the video) one, this one; and the Cab Calloway one, has a more gambler feel and lyrics and is the happier version
I always heard it... I went down to Shakey's barroom, corner of the square The drinks were going down like water And the same old crowd was there On my left, sat ------( put in a name), His eyes were bloodshot red He turned to that crowd assembled And these are the words that he said- Well, I went down to Saint James. Infirmary Saw my baby there All stretched out on a long white table So Cold, So dead, so bare Let her, let her go God bless her Wherever she may be And you can search the whole wide world over Never find a sweet Lovin' man like me Now when I die, I want them to bury me In my tomb with my stetson hat And a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain So the boys will know I died standing pat And I want five crap shooters for my pallbearers And I want ______( any name) To sing me a sad song Just raising hell, as we go along Chorus ( let her go...) Now that you've heard my sad story Won't somebody buy me a shot of booze And I'll go ahead and sing you a chorus Of The Old Saint James Infirmary Blues... Chorus Old piano player, Tiny, ( rip), played this for my husband when we met, 43 years ago, and every time we went into the Turf Club, SD, CA....Awesome! Also he always played Somewhere Over The Rainbow , whenever I walked through the door 😂, his other job? Episcopalian minister 😁, talented to the max & sooo smooth, big man, of heart & soul, body, was Tiny 💙, never heard anyone do this song better, heavens got a hell of a band.
honey, was it really necessary to send you to school for all this time, just so you can recite some numbnut, to express an approximation of what you (would have thought) think?
@@Tipi_Dan, yes, it is a sound, that evokes a feel, that is conveyed in the title and ambiance of Mez Mezzrow's excellent book. Plus, as someone who listens to for a number of decades, as well as plays and sings blues, I know that a song may have a blues structure, and yet not really BE blues as performed (such as an insipid version of Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too" done by The Grateful Dead), while another song may not have a blues structure, per se, and yet, by dint of its interpretation and conveyance, actually BE blues (such as Otis Rush doing "Rainy Night in Georgia").
This version is insanely amazing, but not the best :) I can understand why you people are mistaken. You simply haven't heard "St.James Infirmary from The Complete Town Hall Concert 1947". Lowest version I've ever heard.
In my opinion, and anyone may disagree with me, I believe that the single greatest cultural contribution that the U.S. has made to the world is music, especially like this.
true John, this music - only in america
John Rickert disagree haha
Can't imagine American Music without Louis Armstrong..
@@mountainfree4980 ... being from Denmark - I can't imagine Music without Louis Armstrong.
I agree, even though the blues was achieved through literal slavery, it's still the biggest and most evolved genre in the world. We wouldn't have our modern music like we know it if the US didn't oppress blacks. Kinda weird to think about, huh?
A Story about a Musician and Singer :
A grandson of slaves, a boy was born in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans known as the 'Back of Town'. His father abandoned the family when the child was an infant. His mother became a prostitute and the boy and his sister had to live with their grandmother.
Early in life he proved to be gifted for music and, with three other kids, he sang in the streets of New Orleans.
His first gains were the coins that were thrown to them.
A Jewish family, Karnofsky, who had immigrated from Lithuania to the USA had pity for the 7-year-old boy and brought him into their home. They initially gave him 'work' in the house, to feed this hungry child. There he remained and slept in this Jewish family's home where, for the first time in his life he was treated with kindness and tenderness.
When he went to bed, Mrs. Karnovsky sang him a Russian Lullaby that he would sing with her. Later, he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs. Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family. The Karnofskys gave him money to buy his first musical instrument, as was the custom in the Jewish families. They sincerely admired his musical talent. Later, when he became a professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions, such as 'St. James Infirmary' and 'Go Down Moses'. The little black boy grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family who had adopted him in 1907. In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore a star of David and said that in this family he had learned "how to live a real life and determination." You might recognize his name. This little boy was called Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong. Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish!
And I bet you didn't know any of this.... And 'Satchmo' is Yiddish for 'Big Cheeks."
Satchmo comes from "satchel mouth"
WONDERFUK. THANKS
DO EXCUSE THE SPELLING. OM
The Jewish Karnofsky family WAS very important to Louis and he did wear a Star of David, but they never adopted him, they advanced him the money to buy his first cornet (Louis paid it back while working for them) and "Satchmo" is "Satchelmouth" and not Yiddish for "big cheeks."
Thank you so much for sharing this Treasure Trove of Information.
Intense and soulful would be an understatement....if there were a Nobel Prize for soulful music....this get's it.
Depressing as Hell. I love it.
Gotta admit this version speaks volumes. The slow tempo and those instruments are way beyond. A real sound to be reckoned with. To all you good people who have an ear for really listening as well as feeling the vibs of this incredible version. Play on. 🙏🌵👍
Playing along with my clarinet, man it is so freeing playing blues like that. Absolutely remarkable group of musicians and music.
Every time i hear this track i wish it would go on and on.
I did a book report on Louis Armstrong in the 8th grade. I was so taken by his story, I had to hear his music. A music teacher gave me some of his records to take home to listen . I loved it. That was in early 1964. My parents must have thought I had gone off the deep end. But I really think they liked the break from the Rock & Roll I had blasting from my room - the British bands had invaded the previous summer.
Can I like this a million times?????? SOOOOOOOOOOO INCREDIBLE!!!!
Dark indeed .... but beautiful ..... what a voice & trumpet.
Agreed. Best version I found too. I play it on my city tour in New Orleans when explaining jazz funerals.
I'm actually from Houma!
The greatest American musician, and one of the greatest Americans. Everything he did was golden. This is thus the golden version of “St James Infirmary.”
This version is the first I’ve ever heard in a dorm room at university in Georgia.
Love this version, is similar to how my father played it decades ago. Oh I so miss this version.. so mournful and with a cadence march, so funeral.
I never heard this version before. Really close to the oringin of the song. Louie's trumpet intro is so expresssive.
Um. What? Louis Armstrong made the first recording (1928) and this is nothing like it as that was a much lighter, faster version. It may still be Louis, but it is nothing like his original version.
The original of this song is not known. It's a long long evolution of a song that, some think, began in Ireland or Scotland or something and kept changing as it went.
Consider the strange nonsensical lyrics.
@@rwwagner It feels very New Orleans in many of the versions. I have an old Eric Burden cover before the Animals. But a lot of English musicians tok the blues back to Britain. It really seems to me to be an OLD OLD blues.
@@aleleeinnaleleeinn9110 Yes! Super old. Morphed and changed and altered to suit every singer.
The first time I heard it was at Donna’s on Rampart where Tremendous Brass Band did it: ‘She’ll never find a sweet trumpet player like me!’ I heard it again the next night with different lyrics. It FEELS like old New Orleans, but it’s older. It came to New Orleans, like many of these songs, through black folk traditions and players played on banjos and fiddles and whatnot.
FWIW, this version is outstanding. My favorite is still Snooks Eaglin’s, but they all deserve mention as they’re so diffferent and fantastic.
Definitely the best version for sure. So glad I have this on an album.
My late dad’s favourite musical artist and song, he would sit for hours in the lounge on his own in the dark playing his old records on the Blaupunkt gramophone. He wad one of twelve children from a poor family, his father passed away at a young age, yes still young after fathering twelve children, they lived in Mayfair Johannesburg in an old red brick semi-detached home that had this big old black coal stove in the kitchen. Life was hard in those days, gold and coal miners the lot of them. I guess Satchmo was some one he could relate to.
I nave to agree that this is the " best version" I've heard to date. I have a lot of music and interpretations left unheard. 72 and going back in time. Thanks,
so many awesome versions of this great song
and such a variety of flavors among the diff versions
This is the Greatest 💕💖
So glad I know of this.
Jeah. This version strike you right in the brain! Just listen Louis trumphet and voice . Powerful so powerful!
Absolutely the best version ever- awesome music- love it !!!!
The best ever version
This is as good a recording as was made by anybody in the last half of the century. Louis's trumpet and vocal are superb. The interplay between Trummy Young and Peanuts Hucko is unbelievable. I am trying to put together a version for my You Tube channel. Should be up soon.
This is the first version I hear in my life years, years ago.... Man, this shit is dope!! Armstrong genius!
Got to leave in New Orleans last summer: from June to September. Experiencing the city and it’s heat made sense of the music, cuisine, culture. Can’t explain it other than you have to live there.
Love this song and, unbelievably, haven't heard Satchmo's version before. Thanks for posting, knocks all the other versions into a cocked hat - even Cab Calloway, and I love that man.
You've lost it ya codger, Cab Calloway version stands supreme
Love that ragtime rhythm in this one!!!
This was a special time lost but not forgotten
Perfection.... A summit of music... From France.
Wow! That's all just wow!
Great audio. Satchmo seems to be in top vocal form. He accents both the funeral dirge and the dark humor of the song. His trumpet riffs are brilliant and on point as always. A perfect slice of the original darker, yet celebrated Blues (Stormy Weather, Mack the Knife, Good Morning Heart Ache, Strange Fruit, Killer Joe, etc.).
Dd
Signori, che cosa dire ancora.questa meravigliosa meridiani rapisce l'anima, allietando ogni singola cellula del corpi.spettacolare
I have, as have many, listed to various versions of this song but hands down this is the best I've heard yet.
Caleb, the man himself, let's not escalate something we don't know the responsible for. Without you I would never had a chance to hear this version again in my life time. I'm grateful and let's leave it at that. There are enough conflicts in today's world, we don't need this one also. Let's call it water under the bridge, we both have good taste. Peace Bro! God bless! M.P.
Music certainly has a way to touch the soul.
Yes! This is the exact slowww version I love.
Outstanding...!
from Austria: I agree. Jazz, Blues, Folk and Harley Davidson.
Wonderful, the real thing.
AGREED THIS IS THE BEST VERSION , THANKS FOR SHARING
3:47 i was unaware andy actually made it all the way over to america - he is from up north 🇬🇧
Powerful &smooth
Satchmo was a King and a true Gentleman he stands were only a few can claim, class act in every way.
The best I ever heard.😯😯.
This is so great!!!
Great version,thanks for sharing!
Marvellous. The warm clarinet-sound of Martin Schmidt-Hahn would have fit as well
I have dozens of versions of this tune and Louie's is the one to beat - hasn't been done yet
Gary bb colmenan?
Tears,tears,tears....on monday morning....
It’s the best version I’ve heard so far
Best version you'll EVER hear my friend.
I just don't understand this cartoon video combined with this immense masterpiece
Sound quality's nice. You've helped me decide to go with Satchmo myself. Thanks!
Ooh, Sooo good👍
This is magnificent. Cab Calloway still takes the crown for me.
Can't abandon Louis on this one, but so glad you commented. I never knew Cab Calloway was such a great singer!!!
Superb ! ... Is anyone could tell me who is playing clarinet in this wonderful piece ?
This is great. Never saw it b4. It's 3 AM & I'm watching this, but I really love Old Blues. Can u say insomnia? I live with it. I'm usually up to abt 5 Pm the nxt day, then I fall asleep for 2 or 3 hrs. I'm really enjoying this. Thanks
Heard this first by Josh white on a 78 , this is as good , considering I grew up with my , uncle Louis , ... thought he really was an uncle , ..king of the cornet , 🤩
Impresionante. El sentimiento. Magistral.
Awesome stuff right there my friend!!!!
great version!
"they just don't make the blues like they used to..." - Anon
This song is not blues.
@@Tipi_Dan Technically that is true. It does not have the "blues" harmonic structure. HOWEVER, this song is uniquely influential and this song characteristics is "informed by" and "informs" the character of the blues that we hear today. This song is anonymous and fundamental. to the history of jazz AND the blues.
Heavenly.
nobodys hurtin like that anymore........
ish...
Bro this was my fav version but i can't find it on spotify anymore :(
Absolutely😻 thank you 4 this
I think a lot of people have overlooked the dragging drum beat.... It's painfully behind the measure perfectly. It gives that lumbering misery such mass!
yessir
I assumed you claimed this to be the "best version" for views, but this is truly the best recording
Sounds like the King Oliver version. I still have a gorgeous copy of that album
OMG this is good.
Satchmo was the best, he really felt the blues. R.I.P. Louie!
Das konnte ich von Anfang an akzeptieren, nicht jedoch "Wonderful World". Jetzt komme ich auf Louis Armstrong wieder gern zurück.
Bravo!!!
Simply the BEST!
Louis Armstrong, along with Pablo Picasso, is the greatest world artist of the 20th century -- a century loaded with great world artists. AND, between Louis and Pablo, only one of them beat their wives.
Great song . Jesse stewart has to be a close second if not the best
RIP Jesse Stewart ...we miss you!
St. James infirmary is cancer hospital. Irish traditional. Song. My mama and my Little brother death cancer under 3 months. Sorry bad English.
Good Lord above, what exactly is that sound he makes at 2:57? Louis Armstrong was an alien sent to earth to make us love one another.
Send him back...
The song is incredible, the video gets on my nerves.
This is actually pretty awesome.. Not gonna lie...
totally the best.
Directing a short Horror film. Planning on using this song in the soundtrack
This is an amazing version especially seeing as i live louie and his trumpet but Im buzzing right now and i wanna make this so much better. I just hear extra notes in my head and a added melody i wish i could ass to fit my mood. More fast highs and and added rythem
Check out the hot 8 Brass band version of this. My personal favourite but this is still quality though.
Love and peace always
Für die Guten, die "gestorben" sind....
Hans Thesink has a bright crisp version that you might like. this is wonderful, Thanks. There is no best just different, thank God.
Fabulosa
125% sounds good.
I just listened to this version for the first time now. I think you're probably right. I'm not sure it's "a version" though. It sounds more like an original...if ya know what I'm sayin'.
Yeah it’s an original in a way there basically 3 versions: The old version, has very different lyrics; The Louis Armstrong(The guy singing in the video) one, this one; and the Cab Calloway one, has a more gambler feel and lyrics and is the happier version
I always heard it...
I went down to Shakey's barroom, corner of the square
The drinks were going down like water
And the same old crowd was there
On my left, sat ------( put in a name),
His eyes were bloodshot red
He turned to that crowd assembled
And these are the words that he said-
Well, I went down to Saint James. Infirmary
Saw my baby there
All stretched out on a long white table
So Cold, So dead, so bare
Let her, let her go
God bless her
Wherever she may be
And you can search the whole wide world over
Never find a sweet Lovin' man like me
Now when I die, I want them to bury me
In my tomb with my stetson hat
And a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
So the boys will know I died standing pat
And I want five crap shooters for my pallbearers
And I want ______( any name)
To sing me a sad song
Just raising hell, as we go along
Chorus ( let her go...)
Now that you've heard my sad story
Won't somebody buy me a shot of booze
And I'll go ahead and sing you a chorus
Of The Old Saint James Infirmary Blues...
Chorus
Old piano player, Tiny, ( rip), played this for my husband when we met, 43 years ago, and every time we went into the Turf Club, SD, CA....Awesome! Also he always played Somewhere Over The Rainbow , whenever I walked through the door 😂, his other job? Episcopalian minister 😁, talented to the max & sooo smooth, big man, of heart & soul, body, was Tiny 💙, never heard anyone do this song better, heavens got a hell of a band.
beautiful. If you like this check out Allen Toussiant's version. I think there is room for a lot of best versions of this classic.
Dr. John & Eric Clapton done a great version too
Hot 8 Brass Band version for me
Satch , the best ever .
his laugh is incredible
big inspiration to Walk Sister's 'Silent Delight'
I think the Cab calloway version is better. But this still is amazing
This is the quintessential sound as so well described in Mez Mezzrow's "Really The Blues."
honey, was it really necessary to send you to school for all this time, just so you can recite some numbnut, to express an approximation of what you (would have thought) think?
Does your comment make any sense at all?
Greg Deyermenjian - i thrive in the knowledge that it does not, to people like you. at this stage, it's the only thing that keeps me going.
This song evokes blue feelings, but it is not blues. It does not conform to the patterns of blues. This song is Dixieland Jazz.
@@Tipi_Dan, yes, it is a sound, that evokes a feel, that is conveyed in the title and ambiance of Mez Mezzrow's excellent book. Plus, as someone who listens to for a number of decades, as well as plays and sings blues, I know that a song may have a blues structure, and yet not really BE blues as performed (such as an insipid version of Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too" done by The Grateful Dead), while another song may not have a blues structure, per se, and yet, by dint of its interpretation and conveyance, actually BE blues (such as Otis Rush doing "Rainy Night in Georgia").
the title aint lying...damn
The first ever recording of this was Louis Armstrong too. 1928. It's a much lighter, faster, more upbeat version.
i play this version in my band
This song is featured in Albert Camus' masterpiece: "The Plague".
This version is insanely amazing, but not the best :) I can understand why you people are mistaken. You simply haven't heard "St.James Infirmary from The Complete Town Hall Concert 1947". Lowest version I've ever heard.
a serious dirge!
😮wow
thahnks