In A Mellow Tone, March 12: For International Women’s Day - Female jazz pioneer Lil Hardin Armstrong

A dive into the music of Lil Hardin Armstrong and an interview with Caili O’Doherty about her new release of Lil Hardin compositions, “Bluer than Blue”.

International Women’s Day was last week, and the rest of the world celebrates Women’s History Month in March (Canada’s Women’s History Month is in October). Wednesday night’s show will feature the music of Lil Hardin Armstrong.

Lil Hardin Armstrong is best known as Louis Armstrong’s wife and the piano player in his Hot Five and Hot Seven. However, she was also a composer and band leader when it was not common for a woman to take on these roles.

Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, I was able to obtain a recording of a Lil Hardin Armstrong interview and we will hear some of her recollections of her early years.

I also had a chat with Caili O’Doherty, a New York based pianist and composer, who has just released an album of compositions by Lil Hardin Armstrong, “Bluer Than Blue”. Ricky Ricardi, the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum, writes as follows in the liner notes:

O'Doherty has wisely chosen the Hardin compositions that make up Bluer Than Blue, offering up creative new versions of two songs associated with Louis, "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" and "Two Deuces," as well as a definitive interpretation of perhaps Hardin's best-known standard, "Just for a Thrill," gorgeously sung by Tahira Clayton. But the rest are deep cuts from the Hardin songbook, all ripe for rediscovery and reexploration, many emanating from Hardin's excellent, yet often overlooked series of recordings made for Decca in the late 1930s, a series that sadly rarely gets reissued.

That's just one part of O'Doherty's mission, to get audiences to learn about Lil, be empowered by her story, and seek out her music and compositions. But O'Doherty is equally interested in bringing Lil's compositions into the 21st century, re-harmonizing the original chord changes and even changing up the meter of certain songs to show how these works - most written 80 to 90 years ago - can still sound contemporary in the right hands. Bluer Than Blue really does run the gamut of jazz history, from O'Doherty's stomping two-fisted stride playing on "Barbecue" (complete with nod to Louis, quoting a lick he originally played on "Tears"-co-written with Hardin-and later immortalized on "Potato Head Blues") to the infectious swing of "Clip Joint" to the daring scat escapades of vocalists Tahira Clayton and Michael Mayo to the earthy, modern, tough tenor playing of Nicole Glover. The rhythm section of O'Doherty, bassist Tamir Shmerling, and drummer Cory Cox shows great elasticity from track to track, nailing all of the intricacies of O'Doherty's arrangements.

"Thoroughly modern," a phrase to describe Lillian Hardin Armstrong, the woman and her music, and to describe Bluer Than Blue, Caili O'Doherty's loving tribute that will ensure Hardin's memory is not forgotten. Lil would be proud-and a fan!

The origins of this project was a performance at Dizzy’s Club at the Lincoln Center in New York. Here is “Clip Joint” from that session - quite different from the album version.

You can listen live on Wednesday from 9 to 11 p.m., at 93.1 on the FM dial or at CKCUFM.com. The show is also available for on demand streaming.