Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
by Terry Teachout
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Book Summary Information
Author: Terry TeachoutEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-12-02
ISBN: 0151010897
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Book Reviews of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
Book Review: What a Man...What a Life...What A Wonderful Life! Pops: The Definitive Biography of Louis Armstrong: A Critical Review.
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
In Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, Wall Street journalist and author, Terry Teachout traces Mr. Armstrong's youthful journey through the winding streets of New Orleans at the turn of 20th century: from the jook joints and bordellos to a Christian boys home for wayward youth and a solitary, but beneficent Jewish home to the highest pinnacles of musical and artistic success. This was a biography that was done right.
*Why another biography?
**Two (2) historically unanswered questions about Louis Armstrong
***A brief review of Armstrong's Life
****Louis Armstrong vs. Miles Davis and Nat King Cole
*****Concluding Thoughts
*Before I read a biography, I typically find myself struggling internally like two wrestlers wanting the dominant position because biographies and, especially, autobiographies are rarely truthful or forthcoming. I generally ask myself, "Do I really want to know this person?" Or, "Will this person's life-experiences really provide me with constructive and, hopefully, universal information for my own use?"
The dilemma becomes a lot more complicated, if the person is well known and many things have already been written about her/him. What's new here that hasn't been written before considering Mr. Armstrong, himself, wrote three autobiographical volumes?
**With regards to Mr. Armstrong, there are two (2) questions that have never been answered to my satisfaction (but then, who am I to make such demands anyway?) but I'll still ask.
1. What is it about "Louie Armstrong," The Performer, which made him so beloved that even a Wall Street Journal writer would consider chronicling another chapter of his life, four decades since his passing?
2. What is it about Louis Armstrong, the Man, whose image made him a reviled figure by many of his younger contemporaries such as Miles Davis and several "liberal" media outlets?
In order for this to be worth my time and money, Mr. Teachout would have to answer all of these questions in addition to filling in a lot of missing details of Armstrong's life along the way.
The first thing that should be noted is that Mr. Teachout uses the indefinite article, "A" in the title instead of "The" to define Mr. Armstrong's life, as if to suggest that there were more than one life that Mr. Armstrong lived. Reading through this page-turner, however, one does wonder, Whom did all of these other Armstrong biographers write about? And, by the end of this book, it becomes abundantly clear that "the" Louis Armstrong of people's memory is not the man we're introduced to here.
***New Orleans, at the turn of the twentieth century, was the urban hotspot south of the Mason-Dixon where Southerners sojourned from their Antebellum "hospitality," where a pool of inexpensive labor swelled the region's population fourfold in a decade and where European tourists converged into the landscape of a new kind of American existence called "Creole." It was also the place where Roman Catholics and Protestants waged an aggressive and unrelenting immoral political campaign against each other and one of the few places where prostitution was legalized. New Orleans was called the "eccentric cousin" in the South, and for good reason. If this was the New Orleans Kate Chopin painted so eloquently in The Awakening, then Louis Armstrong's childhood is nothing less than a page out of Tom Sawyer.
It was during this time of Louis Armstrong's youth that Armstrong's parents separated and left him with a relative. After a brief reconciliation and a sister followed, Armstrong's father abandoned the family for good leaving Armstrong's mother, Mayann, to turn to prostitution.
Armstrong had a run in with the law and spent some time at the Colored Waif's Home For Boys. This was where Armstrong was first heard playing the horn, marking his initiation into the world of Dixieland/Creole Jazz. He would play various functions and engagements before Joe "King" Oliver moved to Chicago, eventually inviting him to join "The Hot Five" in the Windy City. The adult life of Louis Armstrong was about to begin.
While in Chicago, Armstrong would meet his second wife, Lillian "Lil" who was also in Oliver's band. During this middle period, after Lil took over the reigns of Armstrong's career, he was now fronting and developing his own distinct style of showmanship, which mixed vaudevillian humor with "Big Band" and Swing jazz. Wildly popular, such casual and informal interaction with the band and the audience was something completely new and certainly not to be expected from a "colored" performer. This, I suspect, is where the perception of Armstrong being an accommodationist began.
Armstrong would slowly gain fame throughout Europe as offers to take his act to film awaited him at home. There were many firsts for Armstrong: he shared top billing with Bing Crosby in "Pennies From Heaven." He made, according to Teachout, the first "concept" album "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy" seven months before Sinatra made his landmark album, In The Wee Small Hours (1955). Along the way, Armstrong married and divorced twice.
His later years were spent making albums for Decca, Columbia and Verve. The last of which he was reunited with his most famous duet partner, Ella Fitzgerald.
****Louis Armstrong was one of the early pioneers of jazz. But, there's a line of demarcation within this genre. On one side, you have the Swing/big band/ vocals by people like Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day and Nat King Cole.
On the other side, you had the lesser-known, underground "lounge lizard" jazz. This style of jazz, unlike its counterpart was marked by its somber and sometimes morbid tonality. This existential presentation was set against the Showmanship-style of Armstrong. And, within this group you had Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Blakely, Thelonius Monk, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman and many more.
(There were some in the middle ground who were respected by both groups of jazz enthusiasts: Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah Washington and, maybe, Billie Holiday. I should throw Ray Charles in this group, but he seems to be an enigma.)
This is an important distinction because of the implications of calling Armstrong a sellout. The way Bob Marley was to Reggae, so was Armstrong to Jazz: he was the first national and international ambassador of his genre. The implications of this is hard to imagine considering we're talking close to 90 years since his fame spread from the riverboat bandstands of New Orleans to gangland threats he suffered in Chicago to the home he shared with Lucille in Queens, New York. 90 years ago. A period after the Reconstruction, but still in the heat of segregation and rapid discrimination still ruled the day.
If you're a pioneer in your field, as Armstrong no doubt was, and with an audience that was spellbound by your music and charisma, what responsibilities do you have if one (1), you have no formal education. Two (2), you're living in a midst of the deep South where by conservative estimates state that there was one lynching everyday in the decade of 1910. Three (3), you have a family before you're 20. And, four (4), you're "colored."
Now it didn't help that he'd eventually co-starred in films that had less than flattering images of African-Americans. It also must be said in Armstrong's defense, that he was the first to insist on integration. Teachout tells of quite a few instances where Armstrong lashes out at racial discrimination in his shows. His bands were always integrated. He played with those who genuinely loved to play his style of music. By all accounts, he loved people.
I would suggest that what Armstrong did in the early to middle decades of the twentieth century is precisely what Muhammad Ali did in the 1960's, which was, he presented himself as a goodwill ambassador. He had his limitations (as all of us do) and all things being equal, disparaging remarks by Miles Davis and, unfortunately, Dizzy Gillespie should be considered the harbingers for a small, isolated group of younger musicians who didn't have the life experiences that would enable them to embrace such a broad cross section of humanity. It was a lethal concoction of ignorance and jealousy that slandered this great man: plain and simple.
To deny something obvious is one thing, to refuse to allow that which is obvious to determine the course of one's behavior is quite another. He never denied racism and he never accepted it as to determine whom he'd play with and whom he'd play for. The same can't be said of Nat King Cole, unfortunately.
*****Rarely has a biography so gripped my imagination for the past two weeks as Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong has. Terry Teachout should be commended for his erudition albeit laudatory biography of the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century.
Summary of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong is widely known as the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century. He was a phenomenally gifted and imaginative artist, and an entertainer so irresistibly magnetic that he knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts four decades after he cut his first record. Offstage he was witty, introspective, and unexpectedly complex, a beloved colleague with an explosive temper whose larger-than-life personality was tougher and more sharp-edged than his worshiping fans ever knew.
Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout has drawn on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous biographers, including hundreds of candid after-hours recordings made by Armstrong himself, to craft a sweeping new narrative biography. Certain to be the definitive word on Armstrong for our generation, Pops paints a gripping portrait of the man, his world, and his music that will stand alongside Gary Giddins?s Bing Crosby and Peter Guralnick?s Last Train to Memphis as a classic biography of a major American musician.
Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2009: Crafted with a musician's ear and an historian's eye, Pops is a vibrant biography of the iconic Louis Armstrong that resonates with the same warmth as ol' Satchmo?s distinctive voice. Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout draws from a wealth of previously unavailable material ? including over 650 reels of Armstrong's own personal tape recordings ? to create an engaging profile that slips behind the jazz legend's megawatt smile. Teachout reveals that the beaming visage of "Reverend Satchelmouth" was not a mark of racial subservience, but a clear symbol of Louis's refusal to let anything cloud the joy he derived from blowing his horn. "Faced with the terrible realities of the time and place into which he had been born," explains Teachout, "he didn't repine, but returned love for hatred and sought salvation in work." Armstrong was hardly impervious to the injustices of his era, but in his mind, nothing was more sacred than the music. --Dave Callanan Product Description
Louis Armstrong was the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century and a giant of modern American culture. He knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts, wrote the finest of all jazz autobiographies--without a collaborator--and created collages that have been compared to the art of Romare Bearden. The ranks of his admirers included Johnny Cash, Jackson Pollock and Orson Welles. Offstage he was witty, introspective and unexpectedly complex, a beloved colleague with an explosive temper whose larger-than-life personality was tougher and more sharp-edged than his worshipping fans ever knew. Wall Street Journal arts columnist Terry Teachout has drawn on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous Armstrong biographers, including hundreds of private recordings of backstage and after-hours conversations that Armstrong made throughout the second half of his life, to craft a sweeping new narrative biography of this towering figure that shares full, accurate versions of such storied events as Armstrong's decision to break up his big band and his quarrel with President Eisenhower for the first time. Certain to be the definitive word on Armstrong for our generation, Pops paints a gripping portrait of the man, his world and his music that will stand alongside Gary Giddins' Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams and Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley as a classic biography of a major American musician.
Amazon Exclusive: A Letter from Terry Teachout, Author of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
(Photo © Ken Howard)
Amazon Exclusive: Terry Teachout's Top 10 Louis Armstrong Recordings
In Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, I tell the story of a beloved giant of jazz whose greathearted, larger-than-life personality shone through every record he made. Here are ten of my special favorites: 1. "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" (1933). Of all Louis Armstrong's records, this is the one I love best. Listen to how he floats atop the beat in the last chorus--he sounds just like a tenor going for a high C. 2. "West End Blues" (1928). The most celebrated of all Armstrong recordings and the quintessence of swing." 3. "Hotter Than That" (1927). ?I just played the way I sang," Pops said. His wordless vocal on this Hot Seven track proves it. 4. "Star Dust" (1931). Further proof: listen to how he rewrites the lyrics to this familiar Hoagy Carmichael ballad. 5. "Darling Nelly Gray" (1937). Satchmo transforms an old slave song, backed up by the suavely swinging Mills Brothers. 6. "Jeepers Creepers" (1939). A charming souvenir of Armstrong's film career--he introduced this Johnny Mercer song in "Going Places." 7. "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" (1938). A boiling-hot big-band remake of a classic 1927 Hot Five side in which the trumpeter improves on perfection. 8. "You Rascal, You" (1950). Louis meets Louis in this raucous romp through an Armstrong standard, accompanied to high-spirited effect by Louis Jordan's Tympany Five. 9. "New Orleans Function" (1950). An old-time New Orleans jazz funeral recreated by the All Stars, with Earl Hines on piano and Jack Teagarden on trombone. 10. "Sleepy Time Down South" (1941). Armstrong's theme song, an irreplaceable example of his rich and resplendent lyricism.Music Books
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