The story behind puzzle No. 46
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven · Single · Okeh · 1927
Halfway through, the band stops playing on every beat and leaves Louis Armstrong alone in the gaps. That stop-time chorus is one of the most celebrated solos in jazz.
Louis Armstrong recorded Potato Head Blues in Chicago on May 10, 1927, for Okeh. Armstrong wrote it.
For these sessions his Hot Five was temporarily expanded to seven players with the addition of tuba and drums, and the band was billed as the Hot Seven.
In the stop-time chorus, the band plays short hits and then falls silent, and Armstrong fills each gap alone. The idea came from the tap-dancing acts at Chicago's Sunset Café and the New Orleans tradition of breaks.
Critic Thomas Ward called the record one of the most astonishing accomplishments in all of twentieth century music. In Woody Allen's 1979 film Manhattan, it makes his character's list of reasons life is worth living.
Listen for the moment the band drops away and Armstrong keeps the time going by himself.
After the solo, the whole band returns for a joyful ride-out chorus.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Jump ahead a year to West End Blues (puzzle No. 15) to hear Armstrong's next great leap.
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