Louis Armstrong

He was the greatest of all jazz-musicians. He was a founding father of the form. No one could play the horn like him, and no one could sing his gravelly voiced songs like him. "I'm white inside that can't help my case cause I can't hide what is on my face. Old feather bed, Filled up with lead Feel like Ole Ned Wish I wuz dead, What did I do to be so black and blue? One of the finest music critics writing today, Terry Teachout, says that this book is true Satchmo and he would have loved it to be twice as long as it is. The more Satchmo the better. While it is true that he knew problems with the black-community in later years because some held him to be serving the 'Man' the truth was he brought great honor and dignity to not only blacks in America but all Americans. And above all he brought joy and beauty through his music into the lives of so many.

Of the 21 books I have collected which are either by or about Louis Armstrong, this is definitely the one I would choose if I was allowed to keep only one. Basically a collection of autobiographical pieces, interviews, letters and so on, it reveals more of Armstrong as a man than all the other books put together. It also proves that, just as Armstrong had his own unique voice as a musician, so he has virtually invented his own language when doing his "typing" as he modestly called it. Grammar and punctation have been used this way nowhere else. Particularly moving are Armstrong's lengthy reminiscences of his early life in New Orleans, Chicago and elsewhere. Yes, his childhood was severely deprived but he recalls it not just without self-pity but with a kind of joy - joy in his family, in the friends who helped him along the way and, of course, his discovery of his own innate talent for both playing and singing. The book is filled with affectionate pen-portraits, as well as sharp social comment and, at times, with indignation at the injustices of life, whether suffered by himself or others. Equally moving are the pieces written when his life was nearing its end yet still exuding that same extraordinary open-ness and generosity of spirit which are humbling to experience. If anyone wants to know what Louis was like, and if they can take a little time to tune in to his vivid and utterly unself-conscious style, this is the book they should read.

Satch fans will find a whole lot more to our hero than we knew before. For one thing,his 1954 bio was severely edited and we get some of the raw stuff here. Satch wrote as eloquently (and uniquely) as he sang. He does not hold back on his views of race (see "Louis Armstrong and the Jewish Family" (1970) which may shock some people and outrage others, as is true with almost everything else here. He holds forth on his love of "Swiss Kriss" and its after effects and delivers a heartfelt letter to a fan in Vietnam closing with the lyrics of "You'll Never Walk Alone."Would be nice if the complete unedited documents were here in a multivolume series,but this will suffice. Swiss Krissly yours.

If you like jazz, Armstrong, "Potato Head Blues," or life itself, read this book.