Here’s my advice: buy any and all Louis Armstrong albums you encounter. I guarantee your life will be enriched. Louis felt that marijuana and Swiss Kriss laxative were the keys to a long and healthy life. Many of today’s young jazz players—specifically those of the coat-and-tie Wynton Marsalis School of Humorlessness—could benefit from the occasional brain-bake. Louis Armstrong, marinated in marijuana smoke, revealed the Ultimate Truth: enjoy life. The beauty of Louis is that he combined awesome musicality with comic relief, mixing soaring notes with a bullfrog’s bellow. The lesson to be learned is fire your psychiatrist and listen to Louis Armstrong.

And lest we forget, the other key to life—besides herb, regularity and humor—is love, the subject of this Robert Parker-engineered compilation. All 20 selections, recorded between 1932 and 1946, are love songs and thanks to Parker’s analogue equalization , hiss reduction and real-time computerized de-crackling, the tracks sound like they were cut last week.

Approximately half of the tunes feature Louis with the Luis Russell Orchestra, the other half highlight Louis with the Mike McKendrick Orchestra plus there’s a delightful rendition of “Cherry” with Louis accompanied by the Mills Brothers and “I Want A Little Girl” featuring Louis’ 1946 Hot Seven. The majority of tunes—including “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby,” “All Of Me,” “I’m In The Mood For Love,” “It’s Wonderful” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’”—are standards, which in Louis’ case, means that these are the standards by which all other contenders must be measured. “You Are My Lucky Star,” from 1935, says it all: Louis is everybody’s “Lucky Star” and it’s a blessing that he will forever illuminate our cosmos.