Louis Armstrong was an immeasurable gift for the millions of listeners, fans and musicians who feltthemselves born along the decades by the irresistible force of his trumpet playing and singing.Embarking on a 60-day tour of Europe at the end of September, 1952 was something of a rebuildingyear for the All Stars as the biggest of the early “stars” had moved on. Arvell Shaw was back onbass after a year studying in Switzerland and Cozy Cole was still on drums, having replaced theailing Catlett in 1949. Bigard decided to take this European tour off, replaced by Texas-born clari-netist Bob McCracken. The other two new members, pianist Marty Napoleon and trombonistTrummy Young–the latter having joined just weeks earlier– were exciting and excitable players wholit a spark behind their leader and started transforming the All Stars into famously incendiary outtit would blossom into in the mid-50s.The performance in Lausanne is of the highest and most beautiful quality, and that from start tonish. Louis is overowing with feeling and passion, managing to present these tunes that he’drepeated a thousand times as if he were offering them a new life with each fresh interpretation.Additionally, the overall high quality sound recording allows you to slip magically into the ambianceof the concert and feel a presence that is quite rare for testimonies from this period