Traditional and vocal jazz: “Mack the Knife” (two versions), “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”, “Cheek to Cheek” and “Summertime”

In 1956 Louis Armstrong scored his jazz transformation of Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife”. Also the Verve label hired him for a series of recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, beginning with Ella and Louis (1956) masterminded by record producer Norman Granz, in which they are supported by the excepcional pianist Oscar Peterson’s quartet. That same year he contributed to the romantic musical comedy movie High Society directed by Charles Walters and starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

In 1957 Armstrong issued Louis Under the Stars backed up by a string orchestra arranged and conducted by Russell Garcia and met once more with Ella Fitgerald in Ella and Louis Again after the success of their first album and a popular series of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. In the fall of the same year, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from joining Little Rock Central High School. This caused a national controversy and President Dwight Eisenhower advised Faubus not to challenge the Supreme Court’s ruling against segregation. Considering Eisenhower’s response to Faubus too mild, Armstrong sent an angry letter to him criticizing his handling of the situation and in protest canceled a tour to the Soviet Union that had been scheduled by the State Department for him.

In 1958 Armstrong and Fitgerald recorded together for the third time, but supported by a brassy big band with lush orchestral arrangements by Russell Garcia in the Norman Granz’s big project Porgy & Bess. In 1959 Armstrong suffered a heart attack, but in spite of this he took part in the movie The Five Pennies directed by Melville Shavelson and continued to tour extensively.

Ella Fitzgerald (vocals), Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet), Oscar Peterson (piano), Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (double bass) and Buddy Rich (drums). From the album Ella and Louis (1956).

Ella Fitzgerald (vocals), Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet), Oscar Peterson (piano), Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (double bass) and Buddy Rich (drums). From the album Ella and Louis (1956).

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with Russ Garcia and his Orchestra: Russell Garcia (conductor, arranger), Ella Fitzgerald (vocals), Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocals), Frank Beach, Buddy Childers and Cappy Lewis (trumpet), Vincent DeRosa (French horn), Milt Bernhart, Marshall Cram, James Henderson, Lloyd Ulyate (trombone), Victor Arno, Robert Barene, Jacques Gasselin, Joseph Livoti, Dan Lube, Amerigo Marino, Erno Neufeld, Marshall Sosson, Robert Sushel, Gerald Vinci and Tibor Zelig (violin), Myron Bacon, Abraham Hochstein, Raymond Menhennick and Myron Sandler (viola), Justin Di Tullio, Kurt Reher and William Van Den Burg (cello), Bill Miller, Paul Smith (piano), Tony Rizzi (guitar), Joe Mondragon (double bass) and Alvin Stoller (drums). From the album Porgy and Bess (1958).