Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life - Softcover

Bergreen, Laurence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0767901568 ISBN 13: 9780767901567

Publisher: Crown, 1998

Synopsis

Louis Armstrong was the founding father of jazz and one of this century's towering cultural figures. The musical talents of Satchmo - as Armstrong became universally known - were prodigious and groundbreaking. After learning to blow his horn in the bordellos and honky-tonks of Storyville, New Orleans's bustling red-light district, he honed his sound on a Mississippi riverboat and later became a featured solo trumpeter in the nightclub bands of Chicago and New York, where his stunning musicianship, gravelly voice, and irrepressible personality captivated audiences and critics alike. Countless recordings, nonstop touring of America and Europe, a radio show - the first ever hosted by a black man - and film appearances catapulted him to international stardom, yet he always remained true to himself and loyal to his roots. Despite his successes, Armstrong's career was also marked by intense struggle - against the Depression, against the Chicago gangsters of the 1930s, and, above all, against racial prejudice.

About this title

Review:

"Bergreen writes with genuine love and respect for Armstrong's art....This is likely to be the standard biography of Armstrong for some time."
--Washington Post

"A full-bodied portrait of the artist and the man that is far more interesting than his already colorful legend."
--USA Today

"No one has done a better job than Bergreen of making emotional sense of Armstrong's four marriages and uncounted affairs. . . . The fullest and frankest account of Armstrong to date."
--Boston Sunday Globe

"A meticulously researched, vibrant biography, which has the potential to become the definitive word on Armstrong's life and remarkable career."
--Variety

From the Back Cover:

Louis Armstrong was a character of epic proportions. Raised on the streets of New Orleans, he spent time in reform school and as a pimp before starting to play the cornet in the city's bordellos and night-clubs. A dazzling and groundbreaking musician, composer and singer, he took jazz from its roots in New Orleans to the world and helped create the jazz age.

Married four times, with countless other romantic involvements, a life long believer in marijuana and an accomplished storyteller and correspondent, Armstrong chronicled his life experiences, creating an extraordinary hitherto unexplored archive. These intimate personal records reveal in vivid detail a man of passion and political belief, courage, humour and genius.

'You could wish for no better tool than this book to help understand the man's improbable life'
THE GUARDIAN

‘It's all there: The proselytising, the marijuana and laxatives, the woman, the protective mask and, as far as possible, the face behind it’
GEORGE MELLY, 'The Sunday Telegraph'

'An excellent biography'
TIME OUT

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0767901568
• ISBN 13: 9780767901567
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592