Louis Armstrong had four wives, but it was his last and longest wife, Lucille, that bought the house in Corona and brought him to the community the Louis Armstrong House Museum still calls home. Born in the Bronx, Lucille Wilson Armstrong started working in show business in the 1930s during the Great Depression to helpContinue reading “Brown Sugar: The Story of Lucille Wilson Armstrong”
On Monday, our Archivist Sarah Rose published this excellent Virtual Exhibit on the life of Louis Armstrong’s fourth wife, Lucille “Brown Sugar” Armstrong. For this week’s installment of “Hanging With Hyland,” we asked Hyland Harris to talk a little bit more about Lucille’s role as Louis’s wife and her impact on his legacy. Hyland mentionedContinue reading “Hanging With Hyland: Lucille Armstrong”
This is the fifth installment of Satch’s Tracks, our weekly exploration of what’s in Louis Armstrong’s record collection, and the first one to feature one of Armstrong’s own recordings. It probably won’t be the last because Armstrong was one of the few artists who delighted in listening to his own music and a fairly comprehensiveContinue reading ““Isn’t That Wonderful?”: Louis Armstrong Town Hall Concert”
We took this Monday off for Memorial Day but we still have plenty of virtual exhibits from the past two months for you to dive into. Two of our most popular ones were explorations of Louis’s record collection and of his collages. In this week’s installment of “Hanging With Hyland,” Hyland Harris talks with RickyContinue reading “Hanging With Hyland: Louis Armstrong’s Record Collection and Collages”
For the second straight week, “Satch’s Tracks” is covering one of Louis Armstrong’s own albums, but today’s is a special choice as it was 50 years ago today that he finished recording what was his penultimate studio album, Louis Armstrong and His Friends. And though the theme of these Virtual Exhibits is “That’s My Home”Continue reading “50 Years of “Louis Armstrong and His Friends” Part 1: The Preparation”
Last week, we took you inside of Louis Armstrong’s home as he met with producer Bob Thiele in March 1970 to begin preparing to record an album to be issued in time for what Armstrong believed to be his 70th birthday in July. Armed with recordings by Harry Nilsson, the Beatles, Leon Thomas, the PlasticContinue reading “50 Years of “Louis Armstrong and His Friends” Part 2: The May 26, 1970 Session”
This week’s installment of “Hanging With Hyland” continues our 50th anniversary examination of the album Louis Armstrong and His Friends with our own Hyland Harris and Ricky Riccardi having a deep discussion about the album and about Armstrong’s role in the Civil Rights era. In case you missed it, here are the links to PartContinue reading “Hanging With Hyland: 50 Years of “Louis Armstrong and His Friends””
In Part 1 of our look at the album Louis Armstrong and His Friends, we examined how Louis Armstrong prepared for this work after consulting with producer Bob Thiele when Thiele visited him at his home in Queens. Part 2 focused on the events of May 26, 1970, which kicked off with an all-star assemblageContinue reading “50 Years of “Louis Armstrong and His Friends” Part 3: The May 27, 1970 Session”
We have reached the final chapter, friends. To be honest, I thought of Louis Armstrong and His Friends as a one-time “Satch’s Tracks” post a few weeks ago–and then the events of the world exploded and there was something about this album, and especially the songs covered today, that seemed so relevant and timeless andContinue reading “50 Years of “Louis Armstrong and His Friends”: The May 29, 1970 Session”
Last week marked Hyland Harris’s tenth anniversary of working at the Louis Armstrong House Museum. He has probably given more tours of the Armstrong House than anyone in else in that time period. Since people come from all over the world for a variety of reasons, we asked Hyland what he information he hopes toContinue reading “Hanging With Hyland: Tours of the Armstrong House”
