"West End Blues" by Louis Armstrong (1928)

MUSIC VIDEO

LYRICS
[instrumental]

ANALYSIS
            “West End Blues” was Louis Armstrong’s break out recording, and it captured the revolutionary style and virtuosic technique that launched Armstrong to fame. Respected jazz educator and composer Gunther Schuller wrote, "It was ‘West End Blues’ that made it clear jazz could never again revert to being entertainment or folk music. The clarion call of 'West End Blues' served notice that jazz could compete with the highest order of musical expression” (Burnett 2000). For most of the decade, jazz was considered to be a lesser genre of music than classical, but “West End Blues” was a mile marker for jazz as not just entertainment but an art form. Armstrong’s skill in “West End Blues”--notably his incredibly complex 15-second opening solo--helped prove to traditionalists that new styles of playing could be just as sophisticated as their beloved classical music.

WORKS CITED
Burnett, John. “'West End Blues'.” NPR, NPR, 6 Aug. 2000,

            www.npr.org/2000/08/06/1080400/west-end-blues.