Every All Stars concert for many years began with ‘Sleepy Time Down South’ and this one is no exception (the version here coming from the first set at the BBC Television Theatre). Then came ‘Indiana’ – so predictable that when Barney Bigard rejoined the band after a five-year period away, he wrote ‘it was still ‘Indiana’! But this final line-up of the All Stars plays it with conviction and freshness.

When Louis came back on stage for the second BBC set in July 1968, after another opening “Sleepy Time’ he dropped ‘Indiana’ as his second number and produced a fine version of WC Handy’s ‘Ole Miss’, going back to his earliest days, and it’s released for the first time on this album (out on 12 July). ‘Kiss To Build a Dream On’ is an Armstrong standard, seldom bettered than on the 1954 Cornell concert released on Rarities from February 1954, with the same pianist as here, Marty Napoleon, but with the massively more experienced rhythm section of Milt Hinton and Cozy Cole.

Yet somehow, this BBC version conveys much of the same passion as Louis’ earlier recording from 14 years before, though his trumpet playing is less extrovert. The BBC concert has plenty of his more recent hits, to the extent that even the piano intro to ‘Helly Dolly’ gets a round of applause. This version of it, with two false endings, is different from the 1971 Brunswick LP release of some of this material – and Louis achieves the magical trick of getting the audience to clap on the off-beat. ‘Blueberry Hill’ has some fine low register playing from Muranyi, and he and Glenn create a perfect backing for the vocal. With fine versions of ‘Bare Necessities’, ‘Mack The Knife’ and Armstrong’s recent hit ‘Wonderful World’, this is not only one of the final recordings by the All Stars, but one of their best.