Caili O’Doherty

Bluer Than Blue – Celebrating Lil Hardin Armstrong

Outside in Music

You may recall that two years ago pianist and composer Caili O’Doherty made her debut on Posi-Tone Records, as we covered it on these pages. O’Doherty is a pianist originally from Portland, OR, but based in NYC for over the last decade. Then, as now with her second release, she leads a quartet of fellow Portland native and NYC-based rising tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, Israeli bassist Tamir Shmerling, and Houston-based drummer Cory Cox, as well as vocalists Tahira Clayton and Michael Mayo, due to the nature of the material on Bluer Than Blue – Celebrating Lil Hardin Armstrong. As you’ve gleaned from the title, this album has no original material. Each track is O’Doherty’s arrangement of a Lil Hardin Armstrong tune, many sourced from a series of recordings Hardin made for Decca in the late ‘30s, which sadly have never been reissued.

While most people associate Lil Hardin Armstrong with her more famous husband, Louis, few understand the impact of her influence. That’s not true for O’Doherty, who discovered through research, study, and the music itself that not only did Lil Hardin Armstrong’s music become the staple foundation of her husband Louis’s career, but she went on to write hits for greats throughout history such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.

While studying a course entitled “The Music of Louis Armstrong” under Ricky Riccardi, the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong Museum, O’Doherty found that though Hardin’s name appears in the credits of many of her husband’s works, that it was because Louis “allowed” her to claim credit. She took matters into her own hands. O’Doherty’s research continued through correspondence with Riccardi and began to culminate in practice when her project highlighting Hardin’s music and influence earned a week-long residency at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2018 and a grant-funded, high-profile performance of Hardin’s music at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, where Bluer Than Blue was recorded in 2021. She also learned that Hardin was a forward thinker who enjoyed the music of Thelonious Monk, Dr. Billy Taylor, Gil Evans, and Cannonball Adderly, to name a few. So, this collection includes the well-known tunes such as “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” and “Just for a Thrill” with the lesser known.

The latter is an example of the album leadoff track “Let’s Call It Love,” from 1937, a cabaret sounding tune where O’Doherty’s arrangement takes a 12/8 bembe twist on the piece. Listen carefully to how her left hand and Shmerling’s upright bass walk a unison line. The skilled Michael Mayo sings lyrics and scats as Cox gets ample space to work his magic on the drum set. “Clip Joint” introduces O’Doherty’s stride piano technique while Clayton takes the sassy vocal (“if I had my way, I’d burn this place down”) and Glover plays the blues, both here and on other tracks, in a more bluesy way than we’ve ever heard her, sounding like one of the old school tenors. “Let’s Get Happy Together” is a ballad sung emphatically by Clayton, with Glover blowing her signature clusters, serving as almost a second vocalist. O’Doherty’s arrangement of “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” again showcases O’Doherty’s stellar stride piano playing, which brilliantly incorporates an iconic lick from Louis Armstrong’s performance of “Tears,” which was co-written with Hardin and then later made famous in his recording of “Potato Head Blues.” Another popular piece in “Two Deuces,” rendered here in swinging fashion by the quartet, with Glover in ‘beast’ mode.

“Happy Today, Sad Tomorrow” is a bluesy ballad sung by Clayton, a tune that would be an appropos retro piano lounge piece, as is true for the title track, deftly phrased and emotionally delivered by Clayton, and featuring potent bass playing by Schmerling. Thea bass leads us into “Riffin the Blues” with a remarkable one minute plus intro. The theme seems designed for a big band arrangement, but this quartet has fun with it, accentuating all aspects of the theme as they improvise in their solos, Glover reaching high and also plumbing the depths. O’Doherty puts her stamp on the famous “Just for a ThrilL,” a showcase for Clayton’s charming vocal.

Kudos to O’Doherty and her cast for honoring the unsung great Lil Hardin Armstrong.

– Jim Hynes

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