Louis Armstrong House Museum

01/18/2023

Louis Armstrong’s 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 161-165

Our latest “That’s My Home” post on Louis’s tapes has audio of him at home and on television in the 1950s (including the line that almost got him in trouble with the censors on the Dorsey Brothers’s “Stage Show”!) and on “The Pearl Bailey Show” in 1971, plus lots of collages and much more from our Archives!

Our previous post was packed with content and today’s won’t be very far behind as Louis continues to reach back to tapes from the 1950s and 1960s and come up with almost nothing but gol…

01/17/2023

It's been a good week for legendary jazz drummers! First we paid tribute to Gene Krupa on January 15 and today, January 17, we celebrate the birth of "Big" Sid Catlett, of whom Louis called a "born genius" and "the greatest drummer that ever picked up a pair of sticks." Sid was with Armstrong's big band for many years and was also in the charter edition of Louis's small group, the All Stars. Perhaps Catlett's greatest night with Louis was captured on "Satchmo at Symphony Hall," the epic 1947 concert that was the subject of one of our recent “That’s My Home” Virtual Exhibits:

https://virtualexhibits.louisarmstronghouse.org/2022/11/30/whip-it-big-sid-75-years-of-satchmo-at-symphony-hall/

And here’s a rare photo of Louis and Sid at the Spotlight Club on 52nd Street, sitting in with (from left to right) trumpeter Idrees Sulieman, clarinetist Tony Scott, and bassist Lloyd Trotman! Whip it, Big Sid!

01/16/2023

On this Martin Luther King Day, it's worth remembering Louis Armstrong's words after "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama when John Lewis and hundreds of Civil Rights activists were beaten bloody in 1965 while marching for voting rights. Asked about it, Armstrong, a strong supporter of Dr. King, said he became physically sick watching the footage and angrily told the press, "They would beat Jesus if he was black and marched." The quote made headlines around the world. Later that month, King led follow-up marches in Selma that helped spur the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Armstrong followed his statement by performing "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" each night on his tour of the Iron Curtain. Thank you, Dr. King. Thank you, Louis Armstrong.

01/15/2023

“Of course, Louis' influence is apparent in the development of every instrument in the jazz orchestra. Singers, too, from Mr. Crosby on down, have been swayed by this powerful force. In fact, the real tribute to the greatness of Louis Armstrong on his 50th birthday lies in the knowledge that no orchestra, no instrumentalist, and no singer of popular songs can go through 32 bars without acknowledging the immense debt to the creative genius of Louis Armstrong.” — Gene Krupa, 1950

Happy Birthday to Gene Krupa, born on this date in 1909 and shown here in a Maynard Frank Wolfe photo rehearsing with Pops for a Timex All Star Jazz Show in 1959.

01/13/2023

Happy Birthday, Lucille Armstrong, born on January 13, 1914! Without her dedication to her late husband’s legacy, there would not be a Louis Armstrong House Museum and Archives today. She also had quite a career before she met Louis, too; watch, listen and read all about it in this Virtual Exhibit post from 2020: https://virtualexhibits.louisarmstronghouse.org/2020/05/18/brown-sugar-the-story-of-lucille-wilson-armstrong/

01/12/2023

Trummy Young, Louis’s longtime trombonist, was born on this date in 1912! Here’s a beautiful offstage photo of the two close friends donated to our Archives by Trummy’s daughter Andrea in 2019.

01/09/2023

Louis Armstrong’s 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 156-160

Our first “That’s My Home” post of 2023 has enough content to last into 2024!

*Audio from a hang at Louis’s in 1953
*Lots of collages
*Audio of the All Stars live in Caracas in 1957 and live on the ill-fated Benny Gooodman tour of 1953
*Audio of the rare Johnny Carson special “Sun City Scandals” (video is lost entirely)
*Catalog pages galore
*A tape Velma Middleton made for Louis in 1957 with her family
*Louis rehearsing “Mm-mm” with pianist Marty Napoleon

And much more!

Happy New Year and welcome to the first “That’s My Home” post of 2023! We took a breather during the holidays but we’re ready to jump back in with the final few installments…

01/07/2023

The great trumpeter Henry “Red” Allen was born 115 years ago today! Here’s a publicity photo of Red, inscribed to “Louis ‘King’ Armstrong” in 1930!

01/06/2023

Louis and Lucille visiting the Capitol in 1957.

01/03/2023

Jack Bradley

Today would have been the 89th birthday of our friend Jack Bradley, who passed away in March 2021. We miss him tremendously but his legacy lives on, especially in the photos he took of Louis Armstrong. To view these timeless photos and other treasures from Jack’s monumental collection, check out the first 25 parts of our “That’s My Home” series on Jack’s legendary friendship with Louis, with more installments to come. We miss you, Jack!

On March 21, 2021, Louis Armstrong’s close friend and personal photographer Jack Bradley passed away at the age of 87. Bradley’s monumental Armstrong collection is an integral part of o…

01/02/2023

The arrest of 12-year-old Louis Armstrong, as covered in the New Orleans Democrat 110 years ago today. Wonder what became of that “old offender”…..

Orleans

01/01/2023

Happy New Year from the Louis Armstrong House Museum...and Pops! Here’s to 2023!

12/31/2022

New Year's Eve is always a time of reflection so we'd like to thank everyone who visited the Louis Armstrong House Museum, followed us, or even just listened to a single Louis Armstrong song in 2022! But in the Armstrong world, New Year's Eve is a special day because it was on December 31, 1912 that little Louis (already singing and playing a little self-taught cornet) was arrested for firing his stepfather's gun while celebrating and was sent to the Colored Waif's Home—a move that changed his life. With guidance from Capt. Joseph Jones and formal music lessons from Peter Davis, Louis became leader of the Home's brass band within five months of his arrest and turned professional as soon he was discharged in 1914.

So to celebrate the greatest arrest in the history of arrests, here's that famous photo of young Louis and the Waif's Home band, a timely reminder that a poor child who was once arrested at the age of 9 for being for being "a dangerous and suspicious character" and was referred to in the press as "an old offender" when arrested again at the age of 11, would go on to change this wonderful world of ours. Happy 2023!

12/28/2022

Late December is a golden period for birthdays of some of Louis Armstrong’s greatest associates. Here are photos from our Archives of Louis with Earl “Fatha” Hines (born December 28), Kid Ory (December 25), Bunk Johnson (December 27), Baby Dodds (December 24), and Joe Oliver (December 19)!

12/25/2022

Merry Christmas from the Louis Armstrong House Museum! Here’s one of Louis and Lucille’s original holiday cards (check out those trumpet “L’s,” the treble clef “&,” and the eighth-note “A”). Have a Cool Yule!

12/25/2022

It’s the Night Before Christmas! Today is the perfect day to listen to Louis Armstrong’s touching reading of Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, recorded in his den on February 26, 1971, less than five months before he passed away. To hear a complete, unedited version direct from Louis’s tapes with new accompaniment by Sullivan Fortner, check out the version on the hit record “Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule,” streaming everywhere!

12/23/2022

Happy Holidays 2022

Happy Holidays 2022

12/22/2022

Louis Armstrong’s 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 151-155

Today's "That's My Home" post on Louis Armstrong's reel-to-reel tapes shows Pops in many different lights: co-hosting "The Mike Douglas Show," playing with the All Stars in South America, hanging with the Hot Club of Genoa, reading letters and write-ups with a fan in Philadelphia, hosting the Brown family from across the street in Corona, Queens, listening to records (everything from Bob Dylan to Bix Beiderbecke), making collages, and much, much more!

Last time out, Louis began redubbing his May 1970 appearances as co-host of The Mike Douglas Show in December of that same year, something that continues for the first few tapes in today’s po…

12/19/2022

Happy birthday to one of the most important figures in Louis Armstrong’s life, King Oliver. “He was the best,” Louis said in 1967. “Laid a new horn on me when mine was so beat I didn’t know what sounds might come out of it. Advised me…took me home for red beans and rice feasts. Taught me about blowing trumpet, too. Lotta claims been made that Bunk Johnson put me wise to trumpet—Bunk hisself helped that story along. No such thing. Joe Oliver was the man.” It was hard for Armstrong to leave Oliver’s band in 1924 and harder for him to start competing with his mentor a few years later in Chicago. “I felt real bad when I took most of Joe Oliver’s crowds away,” Armstrong reflected. “Wasn’t much I could do about it, though. I went to Joe and asked him was there anything I could do for him. ‘Just keep on blowing,’ he told me. Bless him.”

12/16/2022

Louis Armstrong comes to life in a new way

Our Director of Research Collections Ricky Riccardi was on NPR’s “Here and Now” today to talk about the latest resurgence of interest in Louis Armstrong thanks to the documentary “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” and the hit album “Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule”—listen at the link below!

One of the greatest artists of the last century is having a little revival. Louis Armstrong — the gravely voiced singer and maestro of the trumpet — has a new album topping the charts now, more than 50 years after his death.

12/15/2022

Louis Armstrong’s Tapes 1969-1971: Reels 146-150

Today's "That's My Home" post on Louis Armstrong's tapes is filled with audio of his 1970 TV appearances, including a very memorable one on "The David Frost Show" we're sharing for the first time. We also have rare audio of Jack Teagarden's family, lots of striking collages, and much more!

It’s crazy to think that when I revived this series in July of this year, I started with Reel 50 and here we are with a post that ends with Reel 150. I didn’t plan on dedicating the res…

12/14/2022

This week is your last chance to take the Louis Armstrong House Museum Holiday Tour! We’re offering it Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and then will be closed for the holidays until January 5. Learn more and purchase your tickets here! https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/visit/

12/12/2022

Happy birthday, Frank Sinatra! Take a few minutes to watch this legendary 1957 duet between Frank and one of his acknowledged early influences, Louis Armstrong, on “Birth of the Blues”!

youtu.be/7sYdUGoIqUM

And here’s a wonderful Getty photo of the two giants rehearsing:

12/12/2022

Louis Armstrong’s 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 141-145

Louis Armstrong's collages are prominently featured in our latest "That's My Home" post, which also features audio of an Armstrong interview from Lansing, Michigan in 1954, a couple of tracks from an All Stars concert in Brazil in 1957 with guest star Booker Pittman, and much more!

In our previous installment, Louis grabbed a bunch of tapes he originally made in the 1950s and gave them new catalog numbers in late 1970, which resulted in his unique collages coming back to the …

12/09/2022

Louis Armstrong’s 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 136-140

Our latest "That's My Home" post on Louis Armstrong's tapes is chock full of collages, plus an unissued live version of "Indiana," Lucille tells a joke, more catalog pages, and Louis dubs Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Edvard Grieg, Vladimir Horowitz, and much more!

In the early days of this series (which began in 2020!), most of the posts were on the short side as the goal was to share Louis’s catalog pages and collages and perhaps a paragraph or two on…

12/08/2022

The Louis Armstrong House Museum will be closed this Saturday, December 10, as we will be celebrating the life of our Founding Executive Director Michael Cogswell at a memorial service being held at The Church of the Ascension, Fifth Avenue at Tenth Street.

If you are unable to attend in person, there will be a live stream available for viewing at https://events.locallive.tv/worship/church-ascension

Cogswell, a longtime professional saxophonist with degrees in Jazz History from the University of North Texas and Library Science from Queens College, was hired as the Archivist for the Louis Armstrong Collection by Queens College in the summer of 1991.

Cogswell was named Director of the Louis Armstrong House in 1995 and oversaw the $1.8 million restoration that took place before the Louis Armstrong House Museum opened to the public in October 2003. He first proposed establishing a Louis Armstrong Education Center across from the Historic House in 1998 and was present for the groundbreaking in 2017, but retired soon after for health-related reasons.

As we approach the Museum's 20th anniversary in 2023, we will finally see the realization of Cogswell's vision, with the opening of the Center in the Spring.

12/06/2022

Louis Armstrong’s 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 131-135

Our latest post in our "That's My Home" series on Louis Armstrong's reel-to-reel tapes is another packed one, including the backstory of Louis's appearance on "The Johnny Cash Show," unedited takes from his "Country and Western" album, a long, revealing interview from Las Vegas in September 1970, collages, catalog pages, and much more!

In case you missed it, two weeks ago, we shared a post on Louis Armstrong’s Reels 126-130 that included unedited master takes from Louis ‘Country and Western’ Armstrong, audio of …

12/05/2022

We’re staying in the epic year of 1928 as it was on this date in that year that Louis Armstrong and Earl “Fatha” Hines recorded the immortal duet “Weather Bird,” later featured on this Columbia LP.

Here’s the audio—doesn’t get much better!
https://youtu.be/Dv_9B7W7Q0w

12/04/2022

Louis Armstrong recorded “Basin Street Blues” for the first time on this date in 1928, a legendary recording also featuring Earl Hines, Jimmy Strong, Fred Robinson, Mancy Carr, and Zutty Singleton. Here’s the original OKeh Records ad, as scanned from one of Louis’s scrapbooks!

And here’s the audio! https://youtu.be/FU_sEHp4odY

12/03/2022

“It’s Awful Nice To Be Up There Among All Them Beatles”: The Story of “Hello, Dolly!”

On this date in 1963, Louis Armstrong and His All Stars stepped into the recording studio to record the title song of a Broadway production that hadn't even opened yet. Six months later, "Hello, Dolly!" knocked The Beatles off the top of the pop charts at the height of Beatlemania! For the full saga, complete with session photos, sheet music, interviews and much, much more, please check out our Virtual Exhibit:

On this date in 1963, Louis Armstrong stepped into a recording studio for the first time in over two years. He knocked out recordings of two Broadway showtunes–one, the title song from a prod…

12/02/2022

“Satch and Von”: Louis Armstrong and Lloyd Von Blaine Rehearse “Integrate the Love” September 1970

In September 1970, Louis Armstrong spent an afternoon in his Los Angeles hotel room with publicist Lloyd Von Blaine attempting to learn a new song by Benny Carter and Sid Kuller, "Integrate the Love." In between rehearsing, Louis told many jokes and stories about his early days. The resulting tape was so funny, Louis had 100 copies made, which he sent to friends around the world--and we're now sharing the audio and backstory behind this tape on our "That's My Home" site!

In the previous installment of this series, we made multiple allusions to Lloyd Von Blaine, explaining that we would need a separate post to fully delve into the background of his relationship with…

11/30/2022

“Whip It, Big Sid!”: 75 Years of “Satchmo at Symphony Hall”

75 years ago tonight, Louis Armstrong and His All Stars performed at Boston’s Symphony Hall. The results were eventually released by Decca as “Satchmo at Symphony Hall,” one of Louis’s greatest live albums. Here’s the full story behind that legendary recording, stuffed with treasures from our Archives, including audio of Louis and friends discussing the album, reading the liner notes, and paying tribute to the late Big Sid Catlett.

We interrupt our ongoing series on Louis Armstrong’s reel-to-reel tapes to celebrate the 75th anniversary of arguably the greatest live recording in the All Stars’s discography, Satchmo…