LOUIS ARMSTRONG Vinyl & CDs

Review: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong came together first of all for their 1956 album Ella and Louis. Just a year later, the enduring jazz icons hooked up once more on Verve Records for the simply titled Ella and Louis Again. It was recorded at Radio Recorders and Capitol Studios in Hollywood and where their first album was all duets, this one features seven solo vocal tracks by either Armstrong or Fitzgerald amongst its dozen duet tracks. Louis only played trumpet on six of these tunes but there was such a vibe between the two artists that it was never seen as an issue.

Review: 'The Creator Has a Masterplan (Peace)' might have been performed beautifully by Louis Armstrong but it was written by Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas. Sanders was the first to record and release it on February 14, 1969 and it has since been covered by the likes of Don Cherry, Krokodil, The Dynamics, Lord Echo and many more artists right up to the present day. Here we get the Leon Thomas versions from 1969 as well as the one he recorded alongside Louis a year later. Two sublime sounds that make the whole world feel at peace.