@KenKnight @howard Perhaps not when he started recording in the early 1920s, as we think of record albums today (LP, long playing). But they literally did have record âalbumsâ in the 1920s (see bold statement below), and later he did record some LPs when they became available:
- History of record albums, from Wikipedia
With the advent of 78 rpm records in the early 1900s, the typical 10-inch disc could only hold about three minutes of sound per side, so almost all popular recordings were limited to around three minutes in length. Classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on the longer 12-inch 78s, playing around 4â5 minutes per side. For example, in 1924, George Gershwin recorded a drastically shortened version of his new seventeen-minute composition Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The recording was issued on both sides of a single record, Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. By 1910, though some European record companies had issued albums of complete operas and other works, the practice of issuing albums was not widely taken up by American record companies until the 1920s.
By about 1910, bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums that customers could use to store their records (the term ârecord albumâ was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than the records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them. In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78 rpm records by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight compositions per album.
The 10-inch and 12-inch LP record (long play), or 33+1â3 [rpm] microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. A single LP record often had the same or similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, and it was adopted by the record industry as a standard format for the âalbumâ. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl albums.
The term âalbumâ was extended to other recording media such as 8-track tape, audio cassette, compact disc, MiniDisc, and digital albums, as they were introduced. As part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some observers feel that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album.
- Louis Armstrong, (August 4, 1901 â July 6, 1971). He could have recorded an âalbumâ in one variety or another from the 1930s on. And Wikipedia also shows, under âOriginal Albumsâ for him:
Year. . . . . . . Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Label. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Additional Notes
1944 . . Jazz Classics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brunswick B-1016
1951 . . Satchmo at Symphony Hall. . . . Decca DL 3087/8038. . . 2-LP set; concert recorded November 30, 1947
The 1944 was likely a 78rpm album, and the 1951 likely an actual LP album (collection of separate musical pieces on one disk) as we think of them. Another, recorded in 1951, âSatchmo at Pasadena,â was 48:05 in length, and undoubtedly an LP album:
Al Campbell at AllMusic gave the album four stars and said, "At the time of this concert, musicians began to take advantage of the new LP format that allowed them to bypass the usual three-minute time constraints of 78 rpm and stretch out a bit. Armstrong was no exception, and even though Satchmo is more of the ringleader/vocalist/showman on this set . . .
By 1964, with his release of the âHey Dollyâ album, Louis Armstrong had recorded 27 albums.
You sure one of your fingers wasnât typing faster then the other? 36 I would buy⌠Must be stage lightingâŚ
OP - thereâs nothing wrong with deciding that playing music was a pandemic era project for you. You learned something new, your life was enriched and now the pandemic is over.