Louis Armstrong

by Laurence Bergreen

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553067680
• ISBN13: 9780553067682
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 564 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The best biography on Louis Armstrong, by far

I believe I've read them all and nothing ever written about Louis Armstrong is as detailed as this book. Moreso than the "tired old stories" you see repeated in version after version of other tales of Armstrong, this one actually delves into the personal life as well as the persona of the man. Every Armstong fan needs to read this book - it's an awakening!

Encore for Louis!

This was one of the best biographies I have ever read. By far the best one of the life of Louis Armstrong. It took me only 2 days to read this book, I could hardly put it down. Not being much of a fan of Dixieland, New Orleans Jazz, etc...after reading this book I was hooked. I wanted to listen to every Louis recording available. Bergreen paints Armstrong as such an amazing character which he completely was. Even if you aren't a jazz fan this is just a great book about a great man.

The entertaining story of a very important jazz figure.

There is much more to Louis Armstrong than the man we think we know. Most of us are familiar with the older Armstrong, the grinning, gravelly voiced horn player we've seen in the movies. Author Laurence Bergreen takes us back to the New Orleans of the early 1900s where prostitution was legal and jazz was its background music. Louis Armstrong cut his teeth on ragtime and early jazz, and followed the jazz migration to Chicago where he helped introduce jazz to mainstream America. Despite stormy relationships and brushes with the Chicago gangland scene, Armstrong's unrivaled horn playing and his inimitable voice became synonymous with jazz in the U.S. and around the world. You can almost hear Satchmo's horn peal through the pages of this book. A must read for every jazz buff.

Admirable Biography of a 20th Century Icon

This biography of Louis Armstrong presents the rich mosaic that was the life of one of the greatest musicians and entertainers of the 20th Century. It uses his life story to describe the history of early jazz--from his childhood on the streets of New Orleans, his move to Chicago where he made his famous recordings with the Hot Five and Hot Seven, and on to New York and Europe. I was surprized to learn that in many ways his charismatic stage persona was his real personality. But at the same time he was quite a complex character (four marriages, daily marijuana use, managers with mob connections, laxative proselytizations). Aside from his musical genius, he was a cultural icon--the first African American entertainer to cross over to broad popularity throughout America. The story is often told in Louis's own words, making it easier to get to know him. I loved the story about his first trip back to New Orleans after he spent nearly a decade going from being a local talent to an international star. When I got to the last chapter I put the book aside for a little while--I didn't want the book or Louis's life to end.

Louis Armstrong blows, scats, and sings for us all.

Louis Armstrong, An Extravant Life is superb because it recreates the man and his times--and how the man changed his time. Laurence Bergreen details the poverty of Storyville, New Orleans: its honky tonks and violence, and the surprising sustenance a resilent child found there. We see how Louis Armstrong found his family among the white, Jewish Karnovskys, and in the stern Waif's Home where he became a musician. Bergreen shows us the shameful racism of the South (and North), and how Louis' exuberant personality and music helped transcend it. The Armstrong we come to know is humble, humorous, brimming with the energy of jazz itself. We learn how Armstrong invented solos and scat singing, and how his jazz went beyond even music. That is, he mesmerized America with a personality that brought rich and poor, black and white, hip and square together. Armstrong's blowing and singing, his restless amiable spirit, is a bracing ode to being alive. Bergreen's meticulous empathy lets us share the extravagance.