Jazz duets: Louis Armstrong with Danny Kaye in “When the Saints Go Marching In”, and with Jack Teagarden in “Old Rockin’ Chair”

Watching YouTube the other night, the site thrust me down the rabbit hole of Danny Kaye videos, and I discovered (or had forgotten) what a polymathic talent Kaye was: a great singer, dancer, comedian, actor, and improviser.  And although Kaye didn’t play an instrument, he was similar to Louis Armstrong in being beloved, a great improviser, and a great scat singer (listen to Danny Kaye sing Dinah, especially after  2:09).  It’s a pity that, to capture all of America as his audience, Armstrong became somewhat of a “mascot” or a “clown”, when in fact he was perhaps the greatest jazz innovator of the 20th century. (Listen to Potato Head Blues from 1927, which to me is the very first jazz solo improvisation. I think it was Woody Allen who, in his movie “Manhattan,” called Potato Head Blues one of the things that made live worth living.)

At any rate, it was a real treat to find Satchmo and Danny Kaye together on ‘The Danny Kaye Show” (January 4th, 1967), singing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” What a great combination of singing, playing, and horsing around, with both voices meshing perfectly!  (Kaye’s imitation of Armstrong is a hoot.)

I sent this to a friend, who told me to watch it again and pay attention to the body language. His point was that Kaye, in defiance of what white America considered acceptable at the time, was touchy-feely with Armstrong, patting him on the belly, putting his arm around him and showing in every way that a white guy could be friends with a black guy. (Kaye, by the way, was Jewish, born David Daniel Kaminsky in Brooklyn; and Armstrong, partly raised by a white Jewish family who bought him his first trumpet, was a great friend of the Jews, and often wore a Star of David.)

In this video, Armstrong is not as “handsy” as Kaye, and my friend and I discussed whether it was considered uncouth for a black guy to put his arm around a white guy (they do slap each other’s hands). An alternative theory, which is mine, is that Armstrong simply was less touchy-feely than Kaye.  To test this, you’d have to look for duets of Armstrong with another black performer, but I’ll leave it to readers to do that. However, there’s another way to test this theory, which is to watch the duet in the second video. But don’t miss this first one!

The second test involves Louis playing a duet with another white man, but a closer friend: Jack Teagarden, a superb jazz trombonist who played with Lous Armstrong’s All-Stars for five years.  This video apparently came from the movie “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” (1959), and features one of their classic, laid-back duets, “Old Rockin’ Chair.”

Teagarden was known for his complete lack of racism, and, as Wikipedia notes, “Growing up in an area with a large Black population, Teagarden developed an appreciation for Black music, especially blues and gospel, and was one of the first jazz musicians to incorporate blue notes into his playing.”

Does Satchmo touch Jack more than he did Danny Kaye?  In the video, Teagarden puts his arm around Armstrong, just as Kaye did, but Armstrong again isn’t very touchy, though he does rest his head on Teagarden’s chest near the end.  So my hypothesis remains untested, but the highlight of this post is not racism in America but the music. Listen and enjoy!

The YouTube notes from the video above:

Here is Louis Armstrong on trumpet & vocal, Bobby Hackett, one of the best cornet players in the world, Jack Teagarden on trombone & vocals, Peanuts Hucko on clarinet with Marty Napoleon, piano, Arvell Shaw on bass & Cozy Cole on drums in New York, on December 30, 1957.