BLUER THAN BLUE: CELEBRATING LIL HARDIN ARMSTRONG
Caili O’Doherty. Outside In Music.
Scheduled to be released this Friday is an album which pays tribute to an unsung jazz heroine, Lillian “Lil” Hardin Armstrong.
The second wife of legendary jazz trumpeter-vocalist-entertainer Louis Armstrong, the Memphis-born Hardin was not only influential on his career but also was a songwriter for artists such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.
She collaborated with Louis Armstrong on several of his recordings in the 1920s.
On Bluer Than Blue, pianist Caili O’Doherty and her band bring new life to Hardin’s little-known and long forgotten work. O’Doherty, as bandleader, is backed by bassist Tamir Shmerling, and drummer Cory Cox. Special guests include Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone, with Tahira Clayton and Michael Mayo alternating on vocals.
The biggest highlight is Hardin’s most beloved standard, “Just For a Thrill,” which features the sublime interplay of Tahira Clayton on vocals and O’Doherty on piano. There are several fine moments on this nine-song set, but none exemplify so much sheer beauty and grace as this one.
The most fun is O’Doherty’s bouncy version of “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,” a rollickin’ little ditty co-written by Hardin and the great Gil Evans.
O’Doherty’s fascination with Hardin began with her studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College.
She continued digging deeper into her research, curious to learn more about Hardin’s life and career.
O’Doherty’s efforts culminated 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.
Hardin died in Chicago on Aug. 27, 1971 at age 73.
Riverwalk Jazz, a former weekly radio series affiliated with Stanford University, called her “one of the most prominent women in early jazz” who "had a serious career as a respected jazz composer, pianist and bandleader long before her marriage to Louis Armstrong.”
Bluer Than Blue is a labor of love and an interesting project.
First Published March 6, 2025, 12:00 p.m.
