Louis Armstrong Plays for Billie Holiday (1952)
Picture it: It's the beginning of spring in 1952. You decide to go see Louis Armstrong and his All Stars at Club Hangover in San Francisco. You settle in and Pops and his crew begins their set with his revered song "West End Blues."
The band finishes the opening and the trombonist goes into his solo. Barely a minute in, there can be rustling of the audience heard. You hear someone come in, shouting, encouragingly, at the trombonist to "BLOW!" You turn around and it's none other than Billie Holiday herself making her way to the bar. She shouts, "Hey, Pops! I'm in the house!" towards the bandstand at her idol, letting him know of her arrival. You hear someone tells Pops, "it's Billie!" Although there is no footage, the listener cannot doubt that Pops is grinning from ear to ear when he shouts back "HELLO LADY DAY!" He then goes into his iconic scat that made an astounding impression on Lady as a child while listening to his records in the whorehouses of Baltimore, even singing her name at one point. After finishing the song he tells the crowd that Lady is in the audience and dedicated his next number, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" to her. Lady can be heard cheering Pops throughout the entire recording. It is a beautiful full circle moment caught on tape.
This recording comes from Louis Armstrong's own private tape collection and was released through Dot Time Records in 2018. Hope you all enjoy!