“The Greatest Photo Taker”: Remembering Jack Bradley Part 41–Brunswick Rehearsal and Session March 1968

A month has passed since the events chronicled in our last post, a Disney recordings session of February 27, 1968, and something has changed: Louis Armstrong has now lost a lot of weight. He had been slowly but steadily shedding pounds after suffering from pneumonia in May 1967, but still looked to be a healthy weight with fullness in his face and even a slight paunch, as seen in this photo from one of the Disney rehearsals in February:

But then Armstrong went to Mexico for a few weeks in March and continued losing weight, later saying he got as low as 125 pounds. Back in New York for a Brunswick recording session to be held on March 26, Armstrong and the All Stars first gathered at Nola Studios to rehearse. Jack Bradley was there with his camera and immediately took some shots of the new, extra slim edition of Satchmo:

Jack even took one photo of Louis behind, perhaps to emphasize how big his coat looked with his now smaller head. (Sure enough, Louis would have to buy a new wardrobe, giving Jack one of his old suits, which we still have at our Archives.)

But that’s enough about the ever fluctuating weight of Louis Armstrong for now, though it’s a subject we’ll probably return to as Louis’s new svelte appearance would become fodder for his interviews, leading to a renewed interest in his diet charts and the Swiss Kriss laxative he swore by. Back to the matter at hand, Louis was seemingly in a very expressive this mood for this rehearsal and Bradley’s camera captured him in a variety of gestures, as seeen in the following photos:

That’s arranger Dick Jacobs on the right:

Up to this point, Bradley’s camera had been trained solely on Armstrong, but in the next photo, we find him talking to band boy Bobby Buster, with Danny Barcelona laughing in the background:

Buster now has his back to us but another unidentified man with glasses is talking to Louis; I haven’t been able to identify him. Meanwhile in the background, that’s Buddy Catlett on bass–and check out Dick Jacobs trying on the clarinet! Originally a reedman, he had performed in the section on some of Louis’s early 1950s Decca recordings:

Anytime Bradley took multiple photos of someone, I have to think they were somewhat important, or perhaps what was happening was important, but alas, he left no clues as to who this man was or what was going down between him and Armstrong:

Finally, it was time to go to work. Armstrong would record three more songs for Brunswick, which we’ll deal with in full below, but Jacobs was quoted in the liner notes for the eventual LP as saying he always admired how Armstrong began every rehearsal and session with an instrumental warmup on “(Back Home Again in) Indiana,” just as he did in his shows. Perhaps that’s what they’re playing in the photos below since no one seems to be paying attention to the sheet music stands:

A nice portrait of Danny Barcelona–more to come below:

Louis is blurry here, but Catlett and Barcelona look like they’re digging in so it’s worth a share:

Bradley then turned his camera around to get some of the guests; that’s valet Bob Sherman on the right and Bradley’s longtime girlfriend Jeann “Roni” Failows in the middle, but the women and the child in the middle remain unidentified:

The child took a liking to Bradley’s camera–wish we knew who he was as he very well might be out there and only in his 60s today!

Finally, Jack got close enough to take this striking photos of Louis in full flight:

We now turn our attention to the session of March 26, which took place at Decca Studios in New York. Here’s Louis entering with an overcoat on:

Another blurry photo and another mystery man; here, Louis talks with clarinetist Joe Muranyi across from him, but who is the man in the bowtie?

Again, he was seemingly important enough for Bradley to take a separate photo of, but his identity remains elusive:

This woman appeared in a previous post, too, and I still believe she’s Lenore Avin Morgenstern, but I’m not 100% sure; she always seemed to bring out Louis’s silliest side:

Bradley then snapped a joyous photo of Louis with Bobby Buster:

Perhaps it became known at some point that Danny Barcelona was celebrating his tenth anniversary with Louis as Bradley soon trained his camera on Louis’s longtime drummer to get these charming shots:

Naturally, it made sense to get a couple of photos of Armstrong and Barcelona together:

Eventually, someone had the idea to switch instruments with Danny holding Louis’s trumpet and Louis manning the drumset! They look a little uneasy in this photo….

….but then Pops hams it up moments later!

Moving around the studio, Jack next shot the horn section, with All Stars regulars Joe Muranyi and Tyree Glenn once again joined by trumpeter Jimmy Nottingham in the middle:

Someone also brought Tyree a new bottle of booze, which seemed to delight him:

Finally, our last mystery man: who is this guitarist? All discographies and even Bradley’s Coda column only named Art Ryerson on guitar for this date, but that’s not Art Ryerson. Hmmmmm…..

In the Disney post, Jack experimented with a few bizarre photos of Louis seemingly taken from the floor. The results were blurry, but interesting enough for Jack to try again here, this time nailing the focus and capturing Louis in a variety of expressive moods:

Armstrong was clearly in a good mood and smiling broadly every time his eyes locked in with Bradley’s camera. But Bradley really relished the quiet moments when he was able to get candid shots of the trumpeter. He got his wish during the playbacks of the tunes recorded that day, as a now tired-looking Armstrong, clutching a cup of coffee and a cigarette, listened back to his work with a small smile on his face:

With all those photos of Louis listening to playbacks, wouldn’t it be nice to have an idea of what he was listening to? Yes, and we will provide that in just one moment–but first, the master takes released from this session!

First up was “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof. Brunswick usually tried very hard to have Louis record something that was from a new Broadway show or film, but Fiddler had been around since 1964 and the film wouldn’t come out until 1971. It’s possible Louis himself just liked the tune, as he owned a copy of the 1966 LP Herschel Bernardi Sings Fiddler on the Roof and later would dub it to tape. Marty Napoleon also began using “Sunrise, Sunset” as a scorching piano feature in waltz-time with the All Stars in this period, so perhaps Pops dug that rendition and wanted to give the lyrics a spin in swing-time. Here’s the results; no trumpet, but still, an appropriately wistful performance:

Next up would be “I Will Wait for You,” to me, a highlight of not only Armstrong’s Brunswick output, but also a highlight of his entire 1960s discography. Like “Sunrise, Sunset,” there doesn’t seem to have been any urgent reason to record this selection, which came from the score of the popular French musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, also from 1964. We’ll actually start with the released version but there are some goodies below so don’t go nowhere:

Bless Dick Jacobs (a phrase I’ve never typed) for opening his arrangement with something we have not heard in a number of years: a genuine opening trumpet cadenza. It’s not unaccompanied a la “West End Blues,” as the horns are there to play some striking minor chords, but it’s dazzling nonetheless and the last of its kind. Armstrong’s chops were consistently strong in 1968 and though beggars shouldn’t be choosers, it’s a shame this was the only trumpet work he did on the March 26 date.

Here’s Armstrong’s part from Jacobs’s original arrangement, which we have in full in our Archives:

Interestingly, Jacobs has Armstrong’s vocal beginning after three bars, plus he wrote out a “repeat to fade” ending. But in the studio–or perhaps more likely–something changed, as the vocal group’s chart now has a new ritard ending, which is much more effective:

The choir’s part also has says “Wait for count off” after the opening four chords. I didn’t know exactly what that meant until discovering a tape Joe Muranyi made from the session of the playback! Muranyi didn’t record much that day–though the best is yet to come–but he must have known “I Will Wait for You” was special and turned on his recorder just as they began to playback this take. You’ll hear there’s a gap after the opening trumpet cadenza in which Jacobs can be heard indeed counting everyone off to start off at the correct tempo. Those few seconds would be edited out of the master, but it’s still a neat glimpse of how the sausage was made:

But even better are the reactions to the playback. “I Will Wait for You” was played twice in the studio. Here’s the first ending, where you can hear Jeann Failows repeat “Ditto,” a Jack Bradley giggle, and a few syllables from Armstrong:

But then “I Will Wait for You” was played back and someone–maybe Dick Jacobs, maybe Brunswick producer Nat Tarnopol, maybe the mystery man in the bow tie–loses his mind with excitement! You have to listen carefully but during Louis’s closing descending chromatic run, there’s a voice that shouts, “That was unbelievable, man!” When it’s over, the same voice continues, “That is just unbelievable! Don’t even to THINK about making another take! That was just fantastic!” He’s right, whoever he is–here’s the audio:

I should point out that “I Will Wait for You” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 1966. Armstrong’s third and final selection recorded on March 26 was “Talk to the Animals,” then also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song, which it would win at the ceremony held just two weeks later on April 10. Introduced by Rex Harrison in the 1967 film Doctor Doolittle, “Talk to the Animals” would give Armstrong one of his wordiest vocals to date, though Jacobs did build in some time to “rest,” allowing the choir to take the first half of the second chorus. Here’s Armstrong’s part for those who would like to sing along:

Seems pretty straightforward, no? Unlike “I Will Wait for You,” Joe Muranyi’s tape recorder caught the playback of three separate attempts at “Talk to the Animals.” On one of them, Louis followed the arrangement and mostly sat out the group portion, though he couldn’t resist an “Oh yeah” midway through:

Louis also ad-libbed another line towards the end that’s difficult to hear but it must have tickled those present. A decision was made to have the choir still sing the lead, but now Louis would respond with more off-the-cuff comments. At this point, another take was called and Louis did just that but at the very end of the take, Louis got lost in the arrangement and it broke down. Another take was called immediately and Louis came up with a fresh slate of responses. We’re going to listen to THAT take first ((I hope this isn’t confusing, but bear with me because the results will be worth it!):

But that take ended, whoever was in the booth said, “I want to hear the one before the that, the one where Louie broke up on the splice.” (The little giggle after is Danny Barcelona, and you can also hear Marty Napoleon trying some chords on the piano.)

And now the main event: they rolled the tape back and played back the breakdown take where it turns out Louis was on fire. The musicians were busy with the arrangement and who knows if they could even hear Louis’s voice clearly in these early-ish days of stereo recording. Well, now everyone was listening and the response is explosive–it sounds like a stand-up comedy record!

The sound isn’t great so I’ll take you through it. Right off the bat, the choir sings, “If we consulted with quadrupeds,” and Louis shoots back, “Never happen.” A small bubble of laughter starts; if you knew them, you’ll instantly spot Jack Bradley’s nasal laugh, as well as Muranyi’s particular chortle.

But then the choir sings, “Think what fun we’d have asking crocodiles over for tea.” Louis first responds quizzically, “Crocodiles?” One of his favorite jokes, which he used to tell onstage all the time, was the “Alligator Story,” about a time young Louis was scared to get water from a pond because of a “big, old, rusty alligator.” “Don’t you know that alligator is as scared of you as you is of him?” Louis’s mother would ask, causing him to respond, “Mama, if that alligator is as scared of me as I is of him, that water ain’t fit to drink!”

Now, back to “Talk to the Animals,” Louis repeats “Crocodile” and quickly slips in, “Scared of me as I is of them” at 14 seconds into the next clip. What follows can only be described as hysterics as those close to Louis–Bradley, Failows, Muranyi, the other All Stars and entourage members, lose it, with, again, Bradley and Muranyi leading the way.

But Louis isn’t through! When the choir asks, “What a lovely place the world would be?” Louis says distrustfully, “I don’t know about that!” More laughter. The choir follows with, “If we spoke slang to orangutangs (“Mmm, orangutangs?” Armstrong asks), the advantages any fool on earth can plainly see.” This time Armstrong almost sarcastically responds, “It’ll take a fool to see it,” which really breaks up Muranyi, though Bradley can still be heard moaning with laughter in the background. As Louis resumes singing straight, there’s still a buzz in the room listening to the playback. At 1:50, though, Louis gets lost in the ending of the arrangement, but still, the producer immediately responds, “There were a lot of great things in there, Pops.” Not much happens after that but we’ve included a minute of just background noise to add more of a soundtrack to these photos, with Tyree Glenn getting Dick Jacobs’s attention, Marty still at the piano, and just general small talk from the folks who live through the photos Bradley took, even though they’re no longer with us in physical form.

Here’s the audio of what was described above:

In the end, Brunswick did the right thing and spliced Armstrong’s responses from that particular take along with clean portions from other takes to make the master. I’ve always listened to it and silently chuckled along, but hearing the roars of laughter from those present has now made it a different, earthier experience. Here’s how it appeared on record:

Brunswick would have the single out of “I Will Wait for You” and “Talk to the Animals” by the end of May 1968, the same time Disney released its single of Armstrong doing “‘Bout Time” and “Ten Feet Off the Ground,” as discussed in our previous post.

Cash Box named both “Picks of the Week” in their June 1 issue, writing, “Featuring ‘Satchmo’ in a movie kick, two new singles arrive from the hornman with special appeal to the adult music market. ‘Ten Feet Off the Ground’ has a witty lyric and dixie band flavor as well as the current interest being roused by Walt Disney’s ‘Original Family Band’ exposure for heavy sales influence. The coupling of ‘I Will Wait for You’ with ‘Talk to the Animals’ offer two time-tested Oscar songs in the unique Armstrong style for further easy listening and middle-of-the-road programmers.”

“Sunrise Sunset” gave Brunswick an even 12 selections in the can going back to October 1967, enough for a full-length LP, titled I Will Wait for You and released in October 1968. “The enduring legend of Louis Armstrong is continued with this rollicking set of joyous tunes,” Cash Box wrote on October 18, naming it a “Pop Pick” and summing it up with, “Here’s a package of happiness for everyone.”

I’m not going to lie, the album I Will Wait for You might be my least favorite in the Armstrong discography; Dick Jacobs’s arrangements are too square, there’s not enough trumpet, and at least half the selections are forgettable to begin with, though Louis tries hard to inject some life into them. Perhaps tellingly–or perhaps not–Louis didn’t own this LP in his collection and never dubbed it to tape, though he did have multiple copies of the various singles. But I will say that in putting this series together, seeing Jack Bradley’s photos, going through the sheet music, listening to Joe Muranyi’s audio diaries and tapes of the playbacks, I did come away with a new appreciation for it. Armstrong was pushing 70 and had had a rocky 1967 in terms of health, but he still rehearsed for these dates and gave them everything he had and if the Cash Box reviews are to be trusted, they sounded quite good and appropriate for the 1968 pop landscape.

But then again, Louis was on top of the international pop landscape at the end of March due to the release of “What a Wonderful World.” We’ll have more on that story in a future post, but for now it’s time to bid the Brunswick dates and all the wonderful photos–and sometimes wonderful music–they allowed us to share.

Two days after this session, Armstrong would be back on television on The Tonight Show. Bradley would be there with his camera–and with a tape recorder. We’ll have the results next time!