Louis Armstrong, In His Own Words: Selected Writings - Softcover

Armstrong, Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019514046X ISBN 13: 9780195140460

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001

Synopsis

Trumpeter. Singer. Actor. Entertainer. In his life, Louis Armstrong thrilled audiences worldwide and influenced countless musicians. But beyond being a revolutionary musician and an enchanting stage personality, Louis Armstrong was a writer--and he was prolific.

This unparalleled collection of Armstrong's candid writings reveals a side of the artist not widely known to his fans. With idiosyncratic language and punctuation that recalls his musical virtuosity, Armstrong presents his thoughts on his life and career--from abject 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, these writings reveal Armstrongs honest, and often controversial, opinions about racism, marijuana, bebop, and fellow jazz artists. Whether a devoted Armstrong fan or a jazz neophyte, everyone will find here an illuminating, unvarnished portrayal of this truly compelling man.

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas Brothers is an Associate Professor of Music at Duke University and the author of Chromatic Beauty in the Late Medieval Chanson. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

From Kirkus Reviews:

These writings from jazz great Louis Armstrong swing with the same warmth, rhythms, and inventive phrasing that made his music so popular. Armstrong toured with a typewriter and used it often for journals, writing letters to friends or strangers, and supplying reporters with material about his life. Eavesdropping backstage on Armstrong and his bandmates would make worthwhile reading for any jazz fan or historian, regardless of Armstrong's ability as a writer. But Armstrong writes well, in a style completely his own. Editor Brothers provides context and insight through short introductions to each piece. But he has a deep respect for Armstrong and has interfered as little as possible with his idiosyncratic writing. Armstrong developed a unique usage of quotation marks, commas, dashes, and underscoring that gives the writing its rhythm. In a letter to his manager, Joe Glaser, he writes ``IJust, Love, Your, Checks, in, My POCKETSOH They look so pretty, until, I hate like hell to cash them.'' Armstrong uses jazz argot, much of it now assimilated into the language, translating when he thinks it necessary: ``Here's how we were busted (arrested to you) . . .'' Of some sharp sight-reading musicians he writes, They might read a Fly Speck, if it get in the way.'' The collection covers Armstrong's entire life, from his poor beginnings in New Orleans to his heyday in Chicago to his last years in Corona, New York. But the most compelling reading comes from Armstrong on his passions for music, gage (marijuana), and laxatives. He even signed a telegram to President Eisenhower (offering to take ``those little negro children personally into Central High School'') ``Am Swiss Krissly Yours . . .'' Swiss Kriss was the herbal laxative to which Armstrong credited his health. This collection transcends jazz and conventional grammar, revealing the humor and spirit of a legendary entertainer. (29 halftones) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 019514046X
• ISBN 13: 9780195140460
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Brothers Thomas