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Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

12 films on Best Blurays2 in 4K8 in HD2 in SD

Louis Armstrong photo

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics. Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin-color was secondary to his amazing talent in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a person of color. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a huge supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.

Biography from TMDB

Leading role · Director: Bert Stern

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

FRA Carlotta Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode. At least slightly better than the Kino see caps

Additional Info:

Carlotta ports over all special features from the Kino release, except the booklet essay. All specials are in English.

Leading role · Director: Sacha Jenkins

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best English-Friendly:

Apple TV 4K Streaming

Best Video:

Apple TV 4K Streaming with Dolby Vision

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Streaming with Dolby Atmos

Leading role · Director: Johan Grimonprez

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Kino Lorber or UK Modern Films Blu-ray

Video Notes:

US Kino Lorber or UK Modern Films Blu-ray no comparison available

Supporting role · Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Supporting role · Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive DVD

Video Notes:

Also available on Amazon Streaming in SD

Supporting role · Director: Charles Walters

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray is a remaster from the original VistaVision camera negaitve, FiM encode

Audio Notes:

The original mono sounds good. The Atmos remix is a mixed bag, music performances are sourced from magnetic stereo recordings and sound great, but mono dialogue/effectshas undergone destructive noise reduction and unnecessary EQ, so the jumps in fidelity are incredibly jarring.

Small role · Director: Shannah Laumeister Stern

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Included in Kino Lorber Jazz on a Summer Day Blu-ray as 1080i extras

Small role · Director: Anthony Mann

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Shout Factory Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Shout's BD has both cuts of the film in addition to the 3.0 stereo and  2.0 mono mixes making it the first time the full theatrical cut is available with the 3.0 mix. The new commentary is good. The 3.0 stereo sounds wonderful and the mono sounds solid.
That's where the positives end. This is the same terrible Universal DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc with a terrible encode making both versions share the disc separately taking up more space. This master was already poor for DVD and is nearly unwatchable here on the Shout disc. It looks virtually identical to the upscaled DVD most of the time with only a bit less noise due to it being 1080p. This is one of the most appalling cases of "DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc" you can possibly find. Absolutely shameful video presentation. This should have never been released this way. Sadly it's still ever so slightly better than the DVD and the only way you get the proper theatrical cut with lossless 3.0 stereo. This is still the best source we have for the film.

Small role · Director: Raoul Walsh

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Gene Kelly

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Victor Schertzinger

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Frank Capra

Video format: DVD

Best Video:

WB DVD

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