Satchmo:
The Genius of Louis Armstrong
by Gary Giddins
Book Description:
Louis Armstrong has been called the most influential jazz musician
of the century. Together this auspicious pairing has resulted in Satchmo,
one of the most vivid and fascinating portraits ever drawn of perhaps the
greatest figure in the history of American music. Available now at a new
price and size, this text-only edition is the authoritative introduction
to Armstrong's life and art for the curious newcomer, and offers fresh
insight even for the serious student of Pops.
Paperback: 224 pages
Da Capo Press; ISBN: 0306810131 (January 16, 2001)
Louis
Armstrong : An Extravagant Life
by Laurence Bergreen
Book Description: Louis Armstrong was the founding father of jazz and
one of this century's towering cultural figures, yet the full story of
his extravagant life has never been told.
Born in 1901 to the sixteen-year-old daughter of a slave, he came of
age among the prostitutes, pimps, and rag-and-bone merchants of New Orleans.
He married four times and enjoyed countless romantic involvements in and
around his marriages. A believer in marijuana for the head and laxatives
for the bowels, he was also a prolific diarist and correspondent, a devoted
friend to celebrities from Bing Crosby to Ella Fitzgerald, a perceptive
social observer, and, in his later years, an international goodwill ambassador.
And, of course, he was a dazzling musician. From the bordellos and honky-tonks
of Storyville--New Orleans's red light district--to the upscale nightclubs
in Chicago, New York, and Hollywood, Armstrong's stunning playing, gravelly
voice, and irrepressible personality captivated audiences and critics alike.
Recognized and beloved wherever he went, he nonetheless managed to remain
vigorously himself.
Now Laurence Bergreen's remarkable book brings to life the passionate,
courageous, and charismatic figure who forever changed the face of American
music.
(Paperback - July 1998)
Louis
Armstrong : An American Genius
by James Lincoln Collier
Synopsis
Louis Armstrong. "Satchmo." To millions of fans, he was just a great
entertainer. But to jazz aficionados, he was one of the most important
musicians of our times--not only a key figure in the history of jazz but
a formative influence on all of 20th-century popular music. Set against
the backdrop of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York during the "jazz age",
Collier re-creates the saga of an old-fashioned black man making it in
a white world. He chronicles Armstrong's rise as a musician, his scrapes
with the law, his relationships with four wives, and his frequent feuds
with fellow musicians Earl Hines and Zutty Singleton. He also sheds new
light on Armstrong's endless need for approval, his streak of jealousy,
and perhaps most important, what some consider his betrayal of his gift
as he opted for commercial success and stardom. A unique biography, knowledgeable,
insightful, and packed with information, it ends with Armstrong's death
in 1971 as one of the best-known figures in American entertainment.
Paperback: 416 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.03 x
8.56 x 5.60
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand; Reprint edition
(September 1985)
ISBN: 0195037278
Satchmo
: My Life in New Orleans (Da Capo Paperback)
by Louis, Armstrong, Dan Morgenstern (Illustrator)
Book Description:
"In all my whole career the Brick House was one of the toughest joints
I ever played in. It was the honky-tonk where levee workers would congregate
every Saturday night and trade with the gals who'd stroll up and down the
floor and the bar. Those guys would drink and fight one another like circle
saws. Bottles would come flying over the bandstand like crazy, and there
was lost of just plain common shooting and cutting. But somehow all that
jive didn't faze me at all, I was so happy to have some place to blow my
horn." So says Louis Armstrong about just one of the places he grew up
in, a tough kid who also happened to be a musical genius. This story of
his early life, concluding with his departure to Chicago to play with his
boyhood idol King Oliver, is a fascinating document. Contrary to popular
belief, it turns out that life in New Orleans was an amazingly eventful
and a basically happy experience for Louis Armstrong-and he ought to know-for
in no other city in the world at the time could a boy discover and learn
about the music that he loved, for this was New Orleans, and he was Louis
Armstrong.
Paperback: 248 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.75 x
8.25 x 5.25
Publisher: DaCapo Press; (August 1986)
ISBN: 0306802767
If
I Only Had a Horn : Young Louis Armstrong
by Roxanne Orgill, et al
(Hardcover - October 1997)
The
Louis Armstrong Companion : Eight Decades of Commentary (The Companion
Series)
by Joshua Berrett (Editor)
(Paperback - December 2000)
Louis
Armstrong : King of Jazz (African-American Biographies)
by Wendie C. Old
(Library Binding - August 1998)
Louis
Armstrong : Jazz Musician (Great African Americans Series)
by Patricia McKissack, et al
(Library Binding - September 1991)
Louis
Armstrong : An American Success Story (Great Achievers Series)
by James Lincoln Collier
(Paperback - January 1994)
Louis Armstrong, in His Own Words : Selected Writings
by Louis Armstrong, Thomas David Brothers (Editor)
Book Description:
Louis Armstrong has been the subject of countless biographies and music
histories. Yet scant attention has been paid to the remarkable array of
writings he left behind. Louis Armstrong: In His Own Words introduces readers
to a little-known facet of this master trumpeter, band leader, and entertainer.
Based on extensive research through the Armstrong archives, this important
volume includes some of his earliest letters, personal correspondence with
one of his first biographers in 1943-44, autobiographical writings, magazine
articles, and essays. Here are Armstrong's own thoughts on his life and
career--from poverty in New Orleans to playing in the famous cafes, cabarets,
and saloons of Storyville, from his big break in 1922 with the King Oliver
band to his storming of New York, from his breaking of color barriers in
Hollywood to the infamous King of the Zulus incident in 1949, and finally,
to his last days in Queens, New York. Along the way Armstrong recorded
touching portraits of his times and offered candid, often controversial,
opinions about racism, marijuana, bebop, and other jazz artists such as
Jelly Roll Morton and Coleman Hawkins. Indeed, these writings provide a
balanced portrait of his life as a musician, entertainer, civil rights
activist, and cultural icon. Armstrong's idiosyncratic use of language
and punctuation have been preserved to give the reader an unvarnished portrayal
of this compelling artist. This volume also includes introductions to the
writings, as well as an annotated index of names and places significant
to Armstrong's life.
(Hardcover - November 1999)
ISBN: 0195119584
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Louis : the Louis Armstrong story, 1900-1971
by Max Jones
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