[Author’s Note: A longer version of this piece was published on this site in 2020. This updated version has removed discussions of other tapes that have recently been covered in our special 2021 series on Louis Armstrong’s final tapes. You can read the entire series here.] Louis Armstrong passed away in his sleep in theContinue reading “The Story of Louis Armstrong’s Final Tape”
Today is the 50th anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s death (though seeing how many were paying tribute to him and sharing his music this past July 4 weekend, his legacy is alive and well!). As we have painstakingly chronicled in the past month, he went out on his own terms, making tapes, designing collages, playing theContinue reading ““A Jazz Era Ends”: The 50th Anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s Passing”
The funeral of Louis Armstrong took place 50 years ago today. In our last post, we introduced Phoebe Jacobs, who showed up after Louis passed away to help Lucille Armstrong get in touch with the media and to begin planning the funeral. The first order of business was to have Louis’s body lie in stateContinue reading ““Move Over Gabriel, Because Here Comes Satchmo”: The Funeral of Louis Armstrong”
It’s been over a month since we began telling the story of Louis Armstrong’s final weeks in great detail (see all posts here) and after last week’s look at his funeral, one would think that we had reached the conclusion. But no, there’s one more component we’d like to examine in a series of postsContinue reading ““He Will Be Missed. But Above All, He Will Be Remembered”: Lucille Armstrong’s Condolence Letters Part 1″
Last week, we began a new series of posts sharing some of the thousands of condolence letters Lucille Armstrong received after the passing of Louis on July 6, 1971. That post centered on contributions from entertainers and politicians; today’s will focus on musicians, songwriters and those in the music business. As one can imagine, musiciansContinue reading ““God, How I Loved That Man”: Lucille Armstrong’s Condolence Letters Part 2″
This is the third part in a series of posts devoted to sharing selections of the tens of thousands of condolence letters Lucille Armstrong received after Louis passed away on July 6, 1971 (here are links to Part 1 and Part 2). We’ve shared letters from prominent politicians, entertainers and musicians already; today’s post willContinue reading ““Louis Still With Us Forever”: Lucille Armstrong’s Condolence Letters Part 3″
To get a warning out of the way immediately, this will be an extra long post. Initially, we thought this would be the final post in our series sharing many of the condolence letters Lucille arrived after Louis passed away. In compiling this series, we mainly stuck to the scrapbooks Phoebe Jacobs helped assemble forContinue reading ““His Wreath Will Never Wither and His Star Will Always Shine”: Lucille Armstrong’s Condolence Letters Part 4″
We have reached the conclusion of our series on Lucille Armstrong’s condolence letters which means we have also reached the conclusion of our posts about the eventful year of 1971. I’ll admit off the bat that when the calendar turned to 2021, I knew there’d have to be posts on the 50th anniversary of Louis’sContinue reading ““He Made Me Happy–And God Knows That’s The Most Fantastic Thing!”: Lucille Armstrong’s Condolence Letters Part 5″
After Jack Bradley passed away on March 21, we launched into a multi-part series chronicling Jack’s famed friendship with Louis Armstrong. After publishing five parts (all of which can be read here)–and only covering the first 20 months of their relationship–we shifted focus over to the 50th anniversary of Louis’s passing.. That turned into aContinue reading ““The Greatest Photo Taker”: Remembering Jack Bradley Part 5–60 Years of “The Real Ambassadors””
The first five parts of our series on the late Jack Bradley–all of which can be read here–have mostly dealt with single events Jack attended with his camera in hand: recording sessions for Louie and the Dukes of Dixieland and The Real Ambassadors, All Stars performances in Scarsdale, NY and at Freedomland, etc. But today’sContinue reading ““The Greatest Photo Taker”: Remembering Jack Bradley Part 7–Fan Mail, Queens, Goodyear Film and Newport”
