"Muggles" is the title of a recording by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

, recorded in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 on December 7, 1928. The title refers to the use of the word "muggles" as a slang term for marijuana amongst jazz musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. Armstrong was an enthusiastic user of marijuana, which was legal in most American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 states at the time.

The personnel of this recording were, in addition to Armstrong on trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, Fred Robinson, trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

; Jimmy Strong, clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

; Earl Hines

Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...

, piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

; Mancy Carr (not "Cara" as his name has been too often misspelled) on banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

, and Zutty Singleton on drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

.

"Muggles" is in the 12-bar blues form. It starts out with some rather modernistic piano work for the time with Singleton playing sensitively on the brushes. Robinson then takes a gutsy lead without breaking the mood, followed by a chorus by Strong showing the influence of Jimmie Noone

Jimmie Noone

Jimmie Noone was an American jazz clarinetist.- Background :...

. The rest of the band then stops for 2 measures while Armstrong starts a chorus on an adventuresome break

Break (music)

In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....

 subtly playing with the rhythm. The horns then play chords behind Armstrong's excellent 2 choruses of solo. The rhythm gently suggests double-time

Double-time

In music and dance, double-time is a type of meter and tempo or rhythmic feel. It is also associated with specific time signatures such as 2/2. Contrast with half time....

 on the first chorus, giving a sense of acceleration without actually speeding up the tempo, then returns to the dreamy feel of the tune's beginning for the final chorus, with Hines creating fills behind Armstrong.

This was the only side issued from the recording session that day. It is one of the last 4 sides Armstrong made before moving to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 where, while Armstrong remained magnificent, the bands backing him up were often less interesting, and he switched from recording original compositions to covering popular songs.

"Muggles" is regarded as one of Armstrong's masterpieces. It was originally issued on Okeh

Okeh Records

Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...

 8703, a 78 RPM disc

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 in Okeh's race record

Race record

Race records were 78 rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans during the early 20th century, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. They primarily contained race music, comprising a variety of African American musical genres including blues, jazz, and gospel music, though comedy...

 series. The recording has been reissued numerous times, and is available on compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

. "Muggles" has been covered by later jazz musicians, including Nicholas Payton

Nicholas Payton

Nicholas Payton is a jazz trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana.-Biography:The son of bassist and sousaphonist Walter Payton, he took up the trumpet at the age of four and by the time he was nine he was playing in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band alongside his father...

.