Jazz Performance Saturday! Fati Live Band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In"



Fati Live Band



Today's jazz performance is by the Fati Live Band out of Hong Kong. They bill themselves as an all around band that can play multiple of styles for corporate events, banquets and private functions. On their website they say that they have already performed over 5000 shows!

Here we see a video where they play the old chestnut, When the Saints Go Marching In. The tune obviously started out as a Gospel hymn, however, it's true history has become obscured by time. Louis Armstrong remembered the tune from the streets of New Orleans played by bands when a deceased was being brought to the cemetery.

In November 1923 a group called the Paramount Jubilee Singers recorded the traditional song.

But it wasn't until May 13, 1938 when Louis Armstrong, made the first popular recording of it that it became a jazz standard. Considered over played now by some musicians, it is still a commonly requested tune and most Dixieland bands will have it in their repertoire.

 

 Fati Live Band at the Hong Kong Opitical Fair, 2013

Now that we've heard the Fati Live Band's performance of the number, let's hear Louis Armstrong's original recording!

Louis Armstrong's 1938/1939 recording.