LENNY ON LOUIS:

In 1956, Bernstein was already known to the general public as an educator on classical music. He gave lectures on CBS' Omnibus TV program on the great symphonies, while he had already dabbled in the instrumentation and textures of jazz in his score to On the Waterfront, and was busy working on West Side Story. So he was in a perfect position to introduce a conservative mind to jazz. "I love it because it's an original kind of emotional expression, in that it is never wholly sad or wholly happy," he says.

Appearing on the album is Buck Clayton, Louis Armstrong, Buster Bailey, Bessie Smith, Teo Macero, and Miles Davis. Davis, who had just been signed by Columbia's George Avakian, plays "Sweet Sue," making this track his first recording for the label. Bernstein illustrates jazz music theory, "blue notes," dissonance, rhythm and explores the African origins of the music for 42 fascinating minutes. 

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