2016 Satchmo SummerFest Symposium at Le Petit Théâtre du

N E W
O R L E ANS,
LOUISIANA
SY M P O S I U M
AT L E P E T I T T H É Â T R E D U V I E U X CA R R É
F R I D A Y, A U G U S T 5
S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 6
S U N D A Y, A U G U S T 7
HOUMAS HOUSE
Plantation and Gardens
Houmas House Plantation and Gardens makes memories of
legendary proportions. Tour the original plantation house built in
the 1770s, stroll through 16 acres of breathtaking gardens, discover
rooms for overnight stays. Plan your visit today!
Houmas House Plantation and Gardens • 40136 Hwy 942 • Darrow, LA 70725
fqfi.org/satchmo
225-473-9380 • www.HoumasHouse.com
ii
knowlouisiana.org
TA BLE OF CONTENT S
2
4
8
10
2016 SATCHMO SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
2016 SATCHMO SUMMERFEST SPEAKERS/PANELISTS
SATCHMO AND THE JEWISH FAMILY
JACK BRADLEY SPREADS THE GOSPEL OF LOUIS
Welcome to the 16th annual Satchmo SummerFest presented by Chevron. We would like to
extend a huge thanks to Chevron – our title sponsor and greatest friend, to the Louisiana
Endowment for the Humanities for partnering with us to produce this beautiful Symposium
program and the Pulitzer panel, and to all of our Satchmo Symposium Sponsors. You have no
idea how much we appreciate you all.
It is a historic year for us as we move into Jackson Square, Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, and
Louisiana State Museum’s Arsenal. A few years ago when a record 57,000+ fans attended Satchmo
SummerFest, it became apparent to us that it was time to grow. We hope that you will enjoy the
best Traditional Jazz in New Orleans (in the world, really!) at our new Jackson Square location, one of the most
beautiful and famous parks in the world. We know that you will enjoy every minute with our incredible and
accomplished Symposium presenters – I’m personally thrilled to welcome back our Keynote Speaker, Gary Giddins.
Be sure to find our new indoor, air-conditioned Back o’Town Stage and Pops’ Playhouse for Kids and enjoy the entire
weekend of events that have a 100% pure focus on honoring and celebrating Louis Armstrong.
Our organization, French Quarter Festivals, Inc., puts a lot of heart and soul into Satchmo SummerFest. We want to
entertain, educate, and honor the man who gave us so much – it feels good to pay tribute to Louis with lifelong
admirers and new generations of fans.
— Marci Schramm,
Executive Director, French Quarter Festivals, Inc.
Thank you to the 2016 Satchmo Symposium Sponsors: Ella Fitzgerald
Charitable Foundation, The Lionel Hampton Foundation, The Joseph
& Inez Eichenbaum Foundation (Stephen Maitland-Lewis and Joni
Berry), Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, The Midlo Center
(UNO), Harrah’s New Orleans, and Richard and Vicki Noorigian.
fqfi.org/satchmo
1
knowlouisiana.org
2016 Satchmo SummerFest Symposium
at Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré – Full Schedule
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2016
and 1960s. Riccardi will screen some of these prized features, including a
must-see duet with opera star Robert Merrill.
12 noon – Keynote Presentation
Pops and Bing: A Real Mutual Admiration Society – Award-winning journalist,
author, and biographer of Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, Gary Giddins
explores the long friendship and mutual regard between Crosby and Armstrong
from their first meeting in 1926 to Pops’ death in 1971, illustrating their
relationship with film clips and photographs. Giddins will focus on Armstrong’s
influence on Crosby and vice versa, and the way that cross-influence thrust
jazz into the mainstream of popular song. He will also discuss their mutually
expansive approach to repertory and the way each musician returned to
small-band jazz in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2016
11:30 am
A Born Genius: The Partnership of Big Sid Catlett and Louis Armstrong – Louis
Armstrong loved the drumming of Big Sid Catlett, calling him “the greatest
drummer that ever picked up a pair of sticks.” Catlett spent many years with
both Armstrong’s big band and his small combo, the All Stars, leaving behind
numerous examples of one of the great partnerships in jazz. That partnership
is best illustrated on two Mosaic Records boxed sets, The Complete Louis
Armstrong Decca Sessions, 1935-46, and Columbia and RCA Victor Recordings
of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars, 1947-1958. Mosaic Records Scott Wenzel,
Louis Armstrong House Museum’s Ricky Riccardi, and drummer Rich
Noorigian will discuss some of Armstrong’s and Catlett’s greatest recorded
moments and share magic moments from the two boxed sets.
1:30 pm
Louis/Luis: Louis Armstrong and Luis Russell, Musical Pals – Pianist, composer,
arranger, and orchestra leader Luis Russell arrived in New Orleans from
Panama in October 1921, and like Armstrong, Russell moved to Chicago. Both
worked with King Oliver at different periods in the 1920s. Russell moved to
New York City in 1927, where he formed The Luis Russell Orchestra, one of the
leading orchestras in Harlem. Armstrong took over the orchestra in 1935 and
turned it into one of the most dominant big bands of the Swing Era, working
with Russell as musical director until 1943. Jazz historian Paul Kahn will
illuminate the story of Louis and Luis, tracing their parallel journeys from New
Orleans to Chicago to New York City as they rose together in the jazz world
through touring, radio, recording, and Hollywood films. Kahn will use rare
photographs, correspondence, documents, and home movies from Luis Russell’s
personal archive to trace the friendship and successes of the two jazz greats.
12:30 pm
How Louis Armstrong Revolutionized Popular Music – The music of Armstrong
paved the way for artists to sound like themselves, with distinctive voices and
styles. A wide range of superstars – from Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Bing
Crosby, and Ella Fitzgerald to Eric Clapton and Elvis Costello – benefited from
his influence. Bandleader David Ostwald will compare how popular songs
were presented before and after Louis got hold of them to argue that, beyond a
shadow of a doubt, Armstrong changed the face of popular music forever.
1:30 pm
Fats Domino Meets Satchmo – In 1956 Louis Armstrong ‘s 1949 hit “Blueberry
Hill” became Fats Domino’s signature song and established the Ninth Ward
singer and piano player as another international ambassador of New Orleans
music. Music historian John Broven, author of Rhythm and Blues in New
Orleans, delves into Domino’s records in the R&B and rock ’n’ roll eras. Broven
explores more songs from Satchmo’s vast repertoire that were drawn by Fats
and his red-hot, trumpet-playing producer, Dave Bartholomew.
2:30 pm
From Satchmo’s Knee to a Grammy: A Conversation with Catherine Russell –
Grammy award-winning singer and bandleader Catherine Russell grew up in
New York City, the daughter of musical royalty: her father was pianist, bandleader
and longtime Louis Armstrong musical director Luis Russell. Her mother,
Carline Ray, was an acclaimed artist who performed with the International
Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mary Lou Williams, and Ruth Brown, among others.
Catherine, who met Louis Armstrong when she was very young, has toured the
world as a backup singer with such top artists as David Bowie, Jackson Browne,
and Cyndi Lauper. Over the last 10 years, she has released five critically
acclaimed CDs as a solo artist and bandleader. Catherine will discuss her
musical heritage and wide-ranging career with interviewer Fred Kasten.
2:30 pm
When Louis Came Home: Björn Bärnheim in Conversation with Bruce Raeburn
– In recent years, longstanding Swedish jazz enthusiast and researcher Björn
Bärnheim has investigated the circumstances leading to Armstrong’s return
visits to his hometown, closely tracking his activities in New Orleans. The
results challenge long-held assumptions and misinformation in historical
literature and provide new insight into Armstrong’s often complex world. Dr.
Bruce Raeburn will facilitate a discussion of Bärnheim’s findings.
3:30 pm
Blow Brother Dexter: Louis Armstrong Likes What He Hears, 1944 – The year is
1944. In an after-hours club in Los Angeles, Louis Armstrong has some words
for 21-year-old Dexter Gordon: “Son, say son, I like the sound you get.” Fresh
off the road from his first gig out of high school with the Lionel Hampton
Band, Gordon went to work for Louis and never forgot that moment, nor his
time in the Armstrong band. The band made two movies in Hollywood, Pillow
to Post and Atlantic City, and then hit the road for six months. Maxine Gordon
will show clips from these films, share stories about Armstrong’s influence on
her husband, and play recordings of the Armstrong band featuring Dexter
Gordon.
3:30 pm
Louis and the Good Book – When asked about his religious affiliation, Louis
Armstrong is said to have replied, “Well, I was born a Baptist, wear a Star of
David around my neck, and am good friends with the Pope!” In this multimedia
presentation, Michael Cogswell, Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong
House Museum in New York City, explores spirituality and religion in the life
of Louis Armstrong. This presentation is guaranteed to make you smile.
4:30 pm
Rare Treasures from the Ed Sullivan Show - Part 1 – Since last year’s Satchmo
Summerfest, Louis Armstrong House Museum Director of Research Collections
Ricky Riccardi has helped the Armstrong House acquire every single surviving
appearance made by Louis Armstrong on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s
4:30 pm
Satchmo, Mingus, and the Performer’s Choice – Growing up in Los Angeles in
the 1920s and 1930s, Charles Mingus was surely aware of Louis Armstrong
and his crowd-pleasing behavior on stage. Many jazz performers of Mingus’s
generation, most notably Miles Davis, went to the opposite extreme and
fqfi.org/satchmo
2
knowlouisiana.org
appeared to hold the audience in contempt. Mingus, by contrast, tried to
reason with his audience, often lecturing them but also finding ways of
entertaining them without compromising his own convictions. Having
played in bands led by both Armstrong and Lionel Hampton, Mingus
understood the choices faced by Armstrong as a performer. Krin Gabbard,
author of Better Git It in Your Soul, the new biography of Charles Mingus,
will discuss Mingus and Armstrong in performance.
5:30 pm
Rare Treasures from the Ed Sullivan Show - Part 2 – Ricky Riccardi,
author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later
Years, returns with more jewels from The Ed Sullivan Show, showcasing
performances by Louis Armstrong and his All Stars not seen since they
were originally broadcast- including a rare 1961 episode featuring the
great Duke Ellington and Louis together.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2016
11:30 am
Inner Voices, Outer Sounds: Louis Armstrong’s Methods for Exteriorizing the
Interior – Renowned as a trumpeter who singlehandedly changed the
course of musical history, Armstrong was also a masterful singer,
gregarious speaker, prolific writer, incessant home recordist, and avid
collage artist. In short, Armstrong was a virtuoso at expressing his inner
thoughts via speech and song, trumpet and typewriter, reel-to-reel recorder
and canvas. In cataloguing these numerous “outputs,” Tulane music
professor Matt Sakakeeny will discuss the ways in which Armstrong,
despite his situation as a black American born under Jim Crow, used a
range of media to construct a revolutionary voice that challenged racist
laws and dominant ideologies.
12:30 pm
From Louis To Lester Bowie: Armstrong and the Avant-Garde – In his talk,
Robert O’Meally takes seriously the avant-garde trumpet player Lester
Bowie’s assertion that Armstrong was a “true revolutionary” in music–
one whose band young Bowie dreamed of joining someday. Emphasizing
Armstrong as lifelong experimental artist, revolutionary in the use of both
his horn and his voice, O’Meally asserts an Armstrong continuum that
includes late twentieth century jazz modernists through the Association
for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and beyond. This session will
swing the music from Louis to Lester Bowie to today!
1:30 pm
From New Orleans to the World Stage: The Artistic Journeys of Louis Armstrong
and Wynton Marsalis – Saxophonist, educator, and longtime Wynton Marsalis
collaborator Victor Goines joins music historian Dr. Bruce Raeburn, awardwinning author Dan Morgenstern, and moderator James Karst (NOLA Media
Group) for a freewheeling comparison of the outlooks, approaches, accomplishments,
and outputs of two of the most prominent sons of New Orleans, and the ways
that Louis Armstrong’s life, legacy, and
music have influenced Marsalis, winner
of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Music. This
special panel was developed in partnership with the Louisiana Endowment for
the Humanities and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative.
2:30 pm
Louis’ Last Year – In 1970, then Downbeat editor Dan Morgenstern devoted an
entire issue of the magazine to Armstrong’s 70th birthday and sent him an
advance copy. Louis wrote back that it “knocked me flat on my...” This
presentation will focus on shared highlights from that final year (Louis died in
1971), and contrast the response to his passing in New Orleans and New York.
3:30 pm
A Conversation with Jack Bradley – In late 1958 former Merchant Marine Jack
Bradley moved to New York City with a suitcase and his trusty camera. Through
a girlfriend, Jack soon found himself a member of the inner circle of his idol,
Louis Armstrong. Over the next fourteen years, Jack was one of Pops’ most
trusted friends as well as the “photo-taker” of some of the most beautifully
candid photographs ever captured of the legendary performer. A long-time
favorite at Satchmo SummerFest, Jack, now 82 and retired on Cape Cod, sat
down for a wide-ranging interview with author Mick Carlon (Travels with
Louis) about his deep friendship with the man the world knew as “Satchmo.”
See page 10 for an interview with Mick Carlon.
4:30 pm
Louis Armstrong on the Dick Cavett Show – Louis Armstrong made three
appearances on The Dick Cavett Show in a 13-month stretch from January 1970
to February 1971. Satchmo SummerFest favorite Ricky Riccardi closes out this
year’s symposium by sharing the audio of one performance and the complete
videos of Armstrong’s appearances in July 1970 and February 1971. The poignant
1971 appearance is the last surviving footage of Armstrong on television,
including some of the last glimpses of Armstrong playing the trumpet. A fun,
hilarious, and sentimental way to end the 2016 Satchmo SummerFest!
About Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong grew up in one of New
Orleans’ poorest neighborhoods, an area
known as ‘Back o’ Town.’ Throughout his
career, he entertained millions – from heads
of state and royalty to the kids on his stoop in
Corona, New York. Despite his fame, he lived
a simple life in a working-class neighborhood.
The man known around the world as ‘Satchmo’
was widely recognized as a founding father
of jazz – a uniquely American art form. His
influence as an artist and cultural icon is
universal, unmatched, and very much alive today. Armstrong was a charismatic,
innovative performer whose improvised soloing was the main influence for
a fundamental change in jazz. One of the most famous musicians of the
20th century, he was first known as a cornet player, then a trumpet player,
and toward the end of his career was best known as a vocalist and
influential jazz singer. The nickname ‘Satchmo’ is short for ‘Satchelmouth.’
In 1932, Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted Armstrong in
London with “Hello, Satchmo!” and the nickname stuck.
fqfi.org/satchmo
Satchmo SummerFest is produced by French Quarter Festivals, Inc.
(www.fqfi.org), the 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that also produces
French Quarter Festival in April and Christmas New Orleans Style in
December. French Quarter Festivals, Inc. promotes the Vieux Carré and the
City of New Orleans through high quality special events and activities that
showcase the culture and heritage of this unique city, contribute to the
economic well-being of the community, and instill increased pride in the
people of New Orleans. For more information on all FQFI festivals and
events visit our website at www.fqfi.org or call 504-522-5730.
3
knowlouisiana.org
2016 Satchmo SummerFest Symposium
Speakers/Panelists
Dr. Connie Zeanah Atkinson
Unitied States and Europe. Says critic Nat Hentoff: “These novels are opening
up the minds and ears of a new generation to the glories of Jazz. Nothing like
these books has yet been attempted. Mick Carlon is a soul story-teller.” Says
Louis Armstrong’s dear friend Jack Bradley: “The Pops in Travels with Louis
is the man I knew. Reading this book is like visiting with my friend again.”
Carlon’s novel, Girl Singer, starring Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday,
Jo Jones, Lester Young, and Herschel Evans, was published in November
2015.
Dr. Connie Atkinson is Co-Director of the Midlo
Center for New Orleans Studies and Associate
Professor of History at the University of New
Orleans, where for 17 years she has taught a
popular course on the history of New Orleans
music. She received her doctorate in music from
the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Popular
Music, the first academic institute in the Englishspeaking world dedicated to the study of popular music. Dr. Atkinson was a
journalist in New Orleans for many years, at the Courier and Figaro newspapers,
and New Orleans Magazine. She edited and published the New Orleans music
magazine Wavelength for 11 years. Dr. Atkinson has published many articles
and book chapters related to New Orleans music, including “Armstrong and
the Image of New Orleans” in Satchmo Meets Amadeus. She is also one of the
curators of the Satchmo SummerFest Symposium.
Michael Cogswell
When he dropped out of the University of
Virginia in 1973 to play saxophone professionally,
Michael Cogswell did not imagine his musical
career would lead him back to a college campus
and into the life of Louis Armstrong. But after
eight years of performing in jazz and R&B
bands, he returned to school, fell in love with
historical musicology, libraries, and archives,
and earned master’s degrees in Jazz History and Library Science. In 1991
Queens College hired Cogswell to preserve and catalog Louis Armstrong’s
vast personal collection of home-recorded tapes, scrapbooks, photographs,
manuscripts, gold-plated trumpets, and other treasures. The Louis Armstrong
Archives opened to the public in 1994 and has grown to include nine major
collections. It is now the world’s largest archive for a single jazz musician.
Cogswell also administered the nine-year, two-million-dollar project to open
the Louis Armstrong House Museum, a National Historic Landmark and
New York City landmark, as a historic house museum. The Louis Armstrong
House Museum opened to the public in 2003 and is a popular destination for
tourists, school groups, musicians, and jazz lovers. It is the only national
landmark for a jazz musician that is completely authentic and open to the
public six days a week, 52 weeks a year. Cogswell has made presentations on
Armstrong in cities across the U.S. and Europe and is the author of Louis
Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo (Collectors Press, 2003). He lives in
Greenwich Village, New York City.
Björn Bärnheim
Björn Bärnheim lives in Hallstahammar, Sweden.
His interest in jazz began in 1953 and accelerated
in 1957 when he was introduced to the music
of clarinetist George Lewis and the jazz tradition
of New Orleans. Bärnheim has contributed
articles about jazz to Swedish newspapers and
magazines since 1965. When the Swedish Jazz
Museum was established in 1998, he was elected
vice president of the board and curator of its archive. In 2000, on what would
have been George Lewis’ 100th birthday, he arranged a special exhibition at
the Jazz Museum in Sweden and published a book, George Lewis on CD.
Some of Bärnheim’s recent work on Armstrong is available in an article
published in The Jazz Archivist in 2015.
John Broven
A co-editor of Blues Unlimited (mid-1970s) and
co-founder of Juke Blues Magazine (1985), John
Broven was a reissue consultant at Ace Records
in England (1991-2006) before managing his
family-owned Golden Crest Records. He is author
of the recently republished and updated Rhythm
and Blues in New Orleans (originally Walking to
New Orleans from 1974, and elected “Classic of
Blues Literature” by the Blues Hall of Fame); South to Louisiana (1983); and
Record Makers and Breakers (2009). In 2013 he helped launch the Cosimo
Code website. He lives in Long Island, NY.
Krin Gabbard
Krin Gabbard is professor of Jazz Studies and
director of the J-Disc discography project at
Columbia University. His books include Jammin’
at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema
(1996), Black Magic: White Hollywood and African
American Culture (2004), and Better Git It in Your
Soul: An Interpretive Biography of Charles Mingus
(2016). He also has published more than 60
articles in journals and two anthologies, Jazz Among the Discourses and
Representing Jazz (both Duke Univ. Press, 1995). He was one of several
scholars (from disciplines outside of musicology and music history) to open
up jazz studies to interdisciplinary approaches involving psychoanalysis,
critical race theory, modes of representation, gender theory, and the history
of the music’s reception. For over 30 years, he taught Comparative Literature
at the State University of New York in Stony Brook. He plays trumpet on a
regular basis and edits the Oxford Biblography on Cinema and Media Studies.
Mick Carlon
English teacher, novelist, and jazz ambassador,
Mick Carlon uses his knowledge of and passion
for jazz as a vehicle for teaching today’s youth
about America’s cultural heritage. Carlon’s three
novels – Riding on Duke’s Train; Travels with
Louis; and Girl Singer (Leapfrog Press) – are
now in the curriculum of 60+ schools in the
fqfi.org/satchmo
4
knowlouisiana.org
Gary Giddins
Paul Kahn
Gary Giddins wrote the “Weather Bird” jazz
column in the Village Voice for 30 years and
served as artistic director of the American Jazz
Orchestra from 1986-92. He has served as the
Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for
Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center, where
he has also taught, since 2011. His essays on
music and film have appeared in several
publications including The New Yorker, Esquire, The New York Times, The
Atlantic, DGA Quarterly, Vintage, Jazz Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The
New York Sun. He is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award,
the Jazz Journalists Association Lifetime Achievement Award, a Guggenheim,
Peabody, Grammy, two Ralph J. Gleason Music Book awards, and an unparalleled
six ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for Excellence in Music Criticism. He has
written and directed three documentary films and appeared in many others.
His books are Riding on a Blue Note, Rhythm-a-ning, Faces in the Crowd,
Satchmo, Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker, Visions of Jazz, Bing
Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, Weather Bird, Natural Selection, Jazz (now in
its third edition, with Scott DeVeaux) and Warning Shadows: Home Alone
with Classic Cinema. The textbook edition of Jazz is used at universities
across the country. The long-awaited second volume of his three-volume
biography of Bing Crosby, Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star, will appear in the
fall of 2017.
Musician, songwriter, producer, writer, and music
publisher Paul Kahn was born on the Lower
East Side of Manhattan in 1949. Finding bands
were more often in need of bass players than
guitarists, Paul took up string bass, and in the
1970s worked with banjoist Bela Fleck, Pat
Enright, Stacy Phillips, and Jack Tottle. In 1980
Paul founded Concerted Efforts, a music booking
and management agency. He has represented a wide array of notable and
legendary artists, including Buckwheat Zydeco, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown,
Ali Farka Toure, The Holmes Brothers, Rosanne Cash, Booker T. & The MG’s,
Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Odetta, among others. He was honored by
The Blues Foundation in Memphis with a W.C. Handy Award as Agent/Manager
of the Year in 1994. He is a contributor to the book Such Sweet Thunder:
Views on Black American Music, has written for Onstage magazine and The
Advocate, and is the founder of music publishing company Foggy Day Music.
His original songs and co-writes have been recorded by C.J. Chenier, Eddy
Clearwater, The Holmes Brothers, and vocalist Catherine Russell. Paul has
produced albums by Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson (Telarc), The Holmes
Brothers (Alligator), and Catherine Russell (Jazz Village). Today, Paul is
enrolled in a master’s degree program in jazz history and research at Rutgers
University, researching pioneering pianist, orchestra leader, songwriter, and
arranger, Luis Russell.
PHOTO BY CEDRIC ELLSWORTH
Victor Goines
James Karst
Clarinetist, saxophonist and educator, Victor
Goines has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis Septet
since 1993, touring throughout the world and
recording over twenty-one releases including
Marsalis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning recording,
Blood on the Fields (Columbia Records, 1997).
Goines has more than 100 original works to his
credit. He has recorded, performed, and/or collaborated with many noted
jazz and popular artists such as Terence Blanchard, Ruth Brown, Dee Dee
Bridgewater, Ray Charles, Paquito D’Rivera, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy
Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Freddie Hubbard,
B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis,
James Moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, Wayne Shorter,
Chucho Valdez, and Stevie Wonder. Additionally, Goines can be heard on the
film scores for the motion pictures Undercover Blues, When Night Falls On
Manhattan, and Rosewood as well as several music videos. The New Orleans
native received a bachelor of music education from Loyola University in New
Orleans in 1984, and a master of music from Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond in 1990.
James Karst is a senior editor at NOLA.com
and The Times-Picayune. In the past few years
he has uncovered and published stories about
previously unknown information from Louis
Armstrong’s early life in New Orleans, including
details of an arrest as a “dangerous and suspicious
character” when Armstrong was nine years old.
He has also written extensively about Armstrong’s
childhood musical performances. Karst moved from Fairbanks, Alaska, in
2000 to join the staff of The Times-Picayune. He was part of the team that
won two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
He writes a weekly column on New Orleans history called Our Times. Karst
has a B.A. in English literature from the University of the South (Sewanee).
He moonlights as an actor, having appeared in television programs including
“Treme” and “America’s Most Wanted,” and is a professional competitive
eater (formerly the No. 4 oyster eater in the world).
Fred Kasten
Fred Kasten is an Edward R. Murrow awardwinning radio producer and interviewer. In
2007, he retired from a two-decade-plus tenure
at the New Orleans NPR affiliate, 89.9 WWNO,
but continues to produce work for the station.
Projects include a 15-part series with Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Bob Marshall on coastal
restoration issues in Southeast Louisiana, The
Louisiana Coast: Last Call and a weekly jazz program, Jazz New Orleans,
heard Friday nights from 8pm – 10pm on WWNO and at wwno.org. During
his years at WWNO, Kasten hosted the station’s popular Saturday Night Jazz,
created and produced the sketch comedy/New Orleans music variety program
Crescent City, and served as WWNO’s Program Director and Associate General
Manager from 2001–2007. He currently produces audio projects at his home
studio in the Carrollton neighborhood.
Maxine Gordon
Maxine Gordon is currently completing Dexter
Gordon’s biography that he began before his
death in 1990. Dexter Calling: The Life and Music
of Dexter Gordon will be published by University
of California Press. She is President of Dex
Music LLC and Director of the Dexter Gordon
Society, a nonprofit launched in 2013 to maintain
Dexter Gordon’s legacy. Maxine Gordon, an
archivist and cultural historian, is Senior Interviewer and Jazz Researcher for
The Bronx African American History Project at Fordham University, Bronx,
New York.
fqfi.org/satchmo
5
knowlouisiana.org
Dan Morgenstern
David Ostwald
Jazz historian, author, editor, archivist, and
Grammy Award winner Dan Morgenstern is one
of America’s premier writers on jazz. He served
as editor of DownBeat, Metronome, and Jazz
Magazine in the 1960s and ‘70s, produced
concerts, radio and TV programs (‘Jazz from
the Archives’ on WBGO, Newark since 1978),
and record reissues. He was Senior Advisor to
Jazz- A Film by Ken Burns. His books Jazz People (1976) and Living With Jazz
(2004) received ASCAP’s Deems Taylor Award, and he has won eight Grammy
Awards for his liner notes. Former director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at
Rutgers University, he was named a NEA Jazz Master for Jazz Advocacy in
2007. Dan serves on the boards of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation,
the Mary Lou Williams Foundation, and the Clement Meadmore Foundation.
He is co-editor of the Journal of Jazz Studies, lives in Jersey City, and writes a
column, ‘Dan’s Den,’ for Jersey Jazz Magazine. Born in Germany in 1929 and
reared in Austria, Denmark, and Sweden, he came to the U.S. in 1947. He
studied history at Brandeis University. Dan has attended and presented at
Satchmo SummerFest since the first festival in 2001.
David Ostwald began studying piano at age
seven and tuba at eleven. Solely a classical
musician until his junior year at the University
of Chicago, David formed his first jazz band at
that time, inspired by jazz pioneers Louis
Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bix Beiderbecke,
Jelly Roll Morton, and their contemporaries.
Since 1980, David has led the Gully Low Jazz
Band, whose second album with blues great Big Joe Turner was nominated
for a Grammy Award, and whose fourth album, Blues in Our Heart (NagelHeyer) is widely regarded as among the greatest recordings made by a
contemporary traditional jazz band. David’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band
is currently in the 15th year of its weekly Wednesday engagement at New
York City’s Birdland. In addition to his numerous recording appearances,
David has performed with such varied artists as Wynton Marsalis, Dick
Hyman, Nicholas Payton, Clark Terry, Benny Waters, Woody Allen, Jon
Hendricks, Leon Redbone, and the Oxford University Orchestral Society
under Sir Jack Westrup. For many years, David and the Gully Low Jazz Band
have presented jazz education programs for children at Lincoln Center’s
“Meet the Artist” and “Reel to Real” series and at the Louis Armstrong House
Museum for its “Pops is Tops” program. He has also written extensively about
jazz music and serves on the board of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
Rich Noorigian
After finding an old 78 of Gene Krupa’s recording
of “Lover,” seven-year-old Rich Noorigian began
his lifelong fascination with the sound of jazz,
drums, and drummers. A supportive father
made sure to take young Richie to see Armstrong,
Krupa, Jo Jones, Brubeck, Basie, and any other
jazz legend within driving distance of his New
Jersey home. Splitting his life between the
business world and as a working drummer enabled Rich to meet many of his
idols. An avid collector of vintage drums, today Richie can be found playing
gigs around the NJ area and as an active supporter of the Louis Armstrong
House Museum, community advisory board member of jazz radio station
WBGO, and several district improvement corporations.
Jon Pult
Jon Pult (Satchmo SummerFest Symposium
Master of Ceremonies) moved from San Francisco
to New Orleans in 1990. He has written extensively
on jazz as well as serving as a producer and
host of jazz concerts, including the popular
“Nickel-A-Dance” series on Frenchmen
Street. With San Francisco chef Mitchell
Rosenthal, he is the co-author of Cooking My
Way Back Home, a New York Times Notable book for 2011. As an ukuleleist he
has been twice featured, with his “Genial Orleanians,” at the New York
UkeFest. Jon teaches writing at Dillard University in New Orleans.
Robert O’Meally
Dr. Bruce Boyd Raeburn
Robert G. O’Meally is a Zora Neale Hurston
Professor at Columbia University and is director
of Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies. His books
include Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie
Holiday, The Craft of Ralph Ellison, and Romare
Bearden: A Black Odyssey. He has edited or coedited many volumes, including The Jazz Cadence
of American Culture, History and Memory in
African American Culture, and The Norton Anthology of African American
Literature. Several of his music projects have won awards; his co-produced
Smithsonian box set, The Jazz Singers, was nominated for a Grammy. In
recent years, O’Meally has served as art curator for Jazz at Lincoln Center,
and has curated many other exhibitions, including one that traveled for the
Smithsonian Institution and others presented in New York, Paris, and Istanbul.
His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and
many other places, including Les Cahiers du Musée National D’Art Moderne.
O’Meally is an amateur saxophonist whose sons say dad plays “for his own
amazement!”
fqfi.org/satchmo
Bruce Raeburn is Director of Special Collections
and Curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane
University. Recently, thanks to grants from the
Grammy Foundation and Music Rising, the Archive
has created a database to make its core oral
history collection available online. Periodically,
Raeburn teaches a jazz historiography seminar
at Tulane as part of the Musical Cultures of the
Gulf South curriculum created by Music Rising. He is a specialist on the
history of New Orleans jazz and jazz historiography and has published widely
on those topics, including New Orleans Style and the Writing of American
Jazz History (2009). Raeburn has also worked as a drummer in New Orleans
for the past forty-six years, performing and recording with Clark Vreeland,
James Booker, Earl King, the Pfister Sisters, and many others.
6
knowlouisiana.org
Ricky Riccardi
Marci Schramm
Ricky Riccardi, Director of Research Collections
for the Louis Armstrong House Museum, has
lectured at the Institute of Jazz Studies, National
Jazz Museum in Harlem, Monterey Jazz Festival,
Brubeck Festival, and other venues around the
world. This is his ninth appearance at Satchmo
SummerFest. Riccardi studied the life and music
of Louis Armstrong in both college and graduate
school and turned that research into What a Wonderful World: The Magic of
Louis Armstrong’s Later Years, a critically-acclaimed book about the legendary
trumpeter’s much overlooked later years, published by Pantheon Books in
2011 and as a paperback by Vintage Books in 2012. He has co-produced
Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All
Stars for Mosaic Records and Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary:
The Complete Performances for Universal, in addition to writing liner notes
for Armstrong releases on Sony, Storyville, Ambassador, and other labels. He
is the author of a popular Armstrong blog (dippermouth.blogspot.com) and
is himself a jazz pianist. Ricky holds a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Jazz
History and Research from Rutgers University. He lives in New Jersey.
Marci Schramm has served as Executive Director
for French Quarter Festivals, Inc. since 2008.
She was previously Executive Director of the
New Orleans Opera and Marketing and Public
Relations Director for opera companies such as
Michigan Opera Theatre (Detroit, MI), Opera
Pacific (Orange County, CA) and the New Orleans
Opera. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
Schramm was a key organizer of ‘A Night for New Orleans’ gala benefit
concert starring Plàcido Domingo. The concert took place at the New Orleans
Arena and gained national attention as the first major cultural event for the
city following the storm. Schramm is a veteran at producing large-scale
events, including a Three Tenors concert at Detroit’s historic Tiger Stadium
and Andrea Bocelli’s North American opera debut in 2000. She also helped
organize a $100-million campaign to restore an abandoned theater for new
use as the home of Michigan Opera Theatre. In 2015 New Orleans City
Business honored Schramm in its ‘Driving Forces’ issue honoring 35 “Driving
Forces” of the New Orleans business scene and their achievements since
Hurricane Katrina. She was also honored as a CityBusiness ‘Woman of the
Year’ in 2011.
Catherine Russell
Scott Wenzel
Vocalist Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker,
born into musical royalty. Her father, the late
Luis Russell, was a legendary pianist/composer/
bandleader and Louis Armstrong’s long-time
musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray,
performed with International Sweethearts of
Rhythm, Mary Lou Williams and Ruth Brown.
After graduating with honors from the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts, Catherine embarked upon musical adventures
with Carrie Smith, Steely Dan, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon,
Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Levon Helm, and Rosanne Cash, among
others. She has released several albums and been a guest on Late Night with
Conan O’Brien, Tavis Smiley Show, and NPR’s Fresh Air, and others. She has
won several awards including a prestigious German Record Critics’ award
and a 2012 Grammy Award as a featured artist on the soundtrack album for
the HBO-TV series, Boardwalk Empire. With universal acclaim, Catherine
Russell has performed on four continents. Her repertoire features selections
from the 1920s through the present, vital interpretations that burst with soul
and humor. With an off-the-beaten-path song selection, sparkling acoustic
swing, and a stunning vocal approach, Catherine Russell has joined the
ranks of the greatest interpreters and performers of American Popular Song.
Scott Wenzel is a record producer for Mosaic
Records, which specializes in reissues on both
LP and CD. To date, some of his projects have
included The Classic Capitol Jazz Sessions, The
Complete HRS Sessions, The Complete Columbia
Recordings of Mildred Bailey, Classic Columbia
and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Sessions,
The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Recordings
1935-1946, The Complete Brunswick, Parlophone and Vocalion Bunny Berigan
Sessions among many others. He is also a Grammy Award nominee in the
“Best Historical Issue” category for the production of three sets: The Complete
OKeh & Brunswick Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Trumbauer and Jack Teagarden
Sessions 1924-1936; The Complete Columbia Recordings of Woody Herman
and his Orchestra & Woodchoppers 1945-1947 and The Classic Columbia,
OKeh and Vocalion Recordings of Lester Young with Count Basie (1936-1940).
He has been nominated for a number of Jazz Journalist Association awards
and has won in the “Best Historical Boxed Set” category. He was one of the
consultants on the PBS documentary, Jazz-A Film by Ken Burns, and has
written liner notes for various CDs. Wenzel also leads a 16-piece swing band
that performs in the Westchester (NY) area and has had the honor of having
sidemen who were a part of the Big Band scene during the ‘40s, including
Eddie Bert, Aaron Sachs, Milt Kabak, and Johnny Amoroso.
Matt Sakakeeny
Matt Sakakeeny is Associate Professor of Music
at Tulane University. Matt has written extensively
on New Orleans’ cultural politics; his book, Roll
With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans,
is a firsthand account of the precarious lives of
brass band musicians in New Orleans. Keywords
in Sound, co-edited with David Novak, is a
critical reference work for the field of sound
studies. Matt has published in journals such as Ethnomusicology, Black Music
Research Journal, Contemporary Political Theory, and Current Musicology,
and filed reports for public radio’s All Things Considered, Marketplace, and
WWOZ’s Street Talk. He is also leader of the popular New Orleans band Los
Po-Boy-Citos.
fqfi.org/satchmo
would like to acknowledge and thank the
Satchmo Symposium Planning Committee
Dr. Connie Atkinson
Fred Kasten
Jon Pult
7
knowlouisiana.org
Louis Armstrong never
forgot the employers who
nurtured him as a boy
Music history by Bruce Raeburn
from Summer 2008 issue of Louisiana Cultural Vistas
L
ook at any picture of Louis Armstrong
relaxing with an open shirt collar and
you are very likely to see a Star of David
hanging around his neck. Where did that come
from? It’s an expression of his lifelong gratitude
and devotion to the kindnesses shown to him
by the Karnofsky family when he was a sevenyear-old boy in New Orleans.
How Louis encountered “the Jewish Family”
(as he referred to them in writing) should come
as no surprise to anyone familiar with the
“crazy quilt” character of some New Orleans
neighborhoods, in which people of diverse
racial and ethnic backgrounds commingle on
a daily basis, oen living next door to each
other. Such was the case when Louis moved
from Jane Alley, “back o’ town,” to Franklin
and Perdido Streets, in the ird Ward. South
Rampart Street was only a couple of blocks
away, teeming with pawnshops, tailoring
establishments, restaurants, bars, and saloons.
e resident proprietors of the pawnshops, and
many of the tailors, were Jewish — the Finks,
Fertels, and Karnofskys being the most
prominent among them — but the neighborhood
also included a Chinatown.
Running amok on the streets as he was
wont to do, little Louis took it all in, and his
relationship with the Karnofskys (which began
with his first job) was pretty much a foregone
conclusion from the time he moved into the
neighborhood. Among other things, they shared
a similar lifestyle, right down to the basics: for
example, everybody in the neighborhood had
to use privies (yes, outhouses); everyone was
poor in material goods but rich in spirit, and
their fortune was in the streets; and if you were
eating out for a special occasion, you went to a
Chinese restaurant, where they had soul food
(“lead beans and lice” said Louis) along with
the usual Cantonese fare. What Armstrong
admired about his Jewish benefactors was that
they were industrious and stood together in
the face of oppression — which was something
they encountered at every turn, like their black
neighbors. ey were “all in this together,” but
fqfi.org/satchmo
some folks were more together than
others. As Louis said later, “I came
up the hard way, the same as lots of
people, but I always help the other
fellow if there’s anyways possible.”
Aer he made it, he kept a bankroll
that could choke a gator, precisely to
make good on that promise. He
learned that from the Karnofskys.
Louis really did start at the bottom.
His job for the Jewish family was
collecting refuse (bottles and rags
mostly) and delivering coal to the
prostitutes in Storyville. He usually
accompanied Morris or Alex, two of
the Karnofsky sons, on the junk
wagon and played a tinhorn to attract
customers. One day they passed a
pawnshop and Louis saw a burnished
B-flat cornet on sale for five dollars
in the window. Five bucks might as
well have been a million, but Morris
advanced him two dollars and he saved
the rest at 50 cents a week until he could
raise the money to buy the horn. (at’s
something else they taught him, how to save,
which as most of us know, is a hard lesson,
oen learned more than once in a lifetime.)
Morris never let Louis forget that he had talent
and applauded him as he attempted to make
his first horn sing.
“ey could see I had something in my
soul,” Louis said. And the Karnofskys also
made sure that he had something in his stomach.
Louis loved the food he ate at their home. As
he put it: “My first Jewish meal was at the age
of seven. I liked their Jewish food very much.
Every time we would come in late on the little
wagon from buying old rags and bones, when
they would be having supper they would fix a
plate of food for me, saying ‘you’ve worked,
might as well eat here with us. It is too late,
and by the time you get home, it will be way
too late for your supper.’ I was glad because I
fell in love with their food from those days
until now. I still eat their food — matzos. My
wife Lucille keeps them in her breadbox so I
can nibble on them any time that I want to eat
late at night. So tasty — DEElicious.”
Louis worked for the Karnofskys until he
was about twelve, by which time he was “a
little large for the job.” We all know what
happened to him aer that — he became the
first super star of jazz — but what about his
mentors? As Louis tells it “they came into
larger businesses. ey had invested their saved
8
BRUNO POLLAK / BAUHAUS 1932
SATCHMO and the
JEWISH FAMILY
earnings, and before one realized it, they had
New Orleans all sewed up.”
Well, in point of fact, the youngest son,
David, grew up to be a master tailor, and he
kept in touch with his family’s most famous
protégé, oen attending Louis’ performances
in New York. And there’s more. Later generations
of Karnofskys abbreviated the surname to Karno
(which it may have originally been in their
native Russia), and some of them became
powerful nightclub owners in the French
Quarter. Nick Karno had La Strada, e 500
Club, e Famous Door, Court of Two Sisters,
and other prime real estate devoted to music.
So maybe this relationship was more reciprocal
than it’s usually made out to be, because it
seems to me that Louis gave the Karnofskys
something, too — an appreciation for the
creative power of jazz. at’s a gi that keeps
on giving.
____________________________________________
Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Ph.D., is director of the Hogan
Jazz Archive at Tulane University.
French Quarter Festivals, Inc. is thrilled to welcome the
Karnofsky family, who owns Cornet Restaurant, to the
family of Satchmo SummerFest! For 2016, Cornet
Restaurant is the proud sponsor of the Red Beans Ricely
Yours Stage in Jackson Square. Be sure to visit Cornet’s
food booth at the Festival to say ‘hi’ and enjoy their
signature Creole cuisine!
knowlouisiana.org
fqfi.org/satchmo
9
knowlouisiana.org
PHOTO BY JACK BRADLEY, COURTESY OF THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOUSE MUSEUM
N
ovelist and educator Mick Carlon was at work
on his first novel, Travels with Louis, when he
met Jack Bradley, a longtime friend and
personal photographer of Louis Armstrong. Carlon
quickly won Bradley’s respect for “spreading the gospel
of Louis,” and another great friendship was born. On
Sunday, August 7, 2016, the two men will appear at this
year’s Satchmo SummerFest. They will discuss Bradley’s
relationship with Pops and his vast collection of Armstrong
photos, memorabilia, and assorted ephemera, currently
housed at the Louis Armstrong House in Queens. Carlon
talked with Brian Boyles of Louisiana Cultural Vistas
about Bradley, Armstrong, and friendship.
fqfi.org/satchmo
When did Jack Bradley meet Louis Armstrong?
Jack was born on Cape Cod in 1934. There was a father figure in his life, a
man named Bob Hayden. Mr. Hayden first exposed Jack to Louis Armstrong
78s. Jack heard Pops live a couple of times in Hyannis and Boston before he
joined the Merchant Marines. When he came out, he decided to take his
camera and move to New York City in 1958.
To work as a professional photographer?
He wasn’t quite sure but that was one of his talents. Then he met a woman,
Jeann Failows, known by everyone as Roni, and they moved in together. It
just so happened that Roni worked in the Armstrong organization, helping
Louis with his fan mail. Louis was already Jack’s musical idol, and now he
got to meet him face-to-face.
Number one, Jack’s very cool. Number two, he’s very salty and crusty.
And number three, he’s brutally honest. Unlike a lot of other people, he
didn’t want anything from Pops. He didn’t want money. He didn’t want free
merchandise. Just hanging out with Pops was enough.
10
knowlouisiana.org
are having a tough time.” He was sending out money to help so
many people with their rent, their mortgages, their groceries.
Who else is in the Armstrong inner circle at this point?
Joe Glaser, who Jack said was a rough guy to deal with, very profane.
Jack’s kind of profane himself, so I can only imagine what Glaser was
like. Jack talks about Frenchy [the Glazer associate Pierre Tallerie],
and the various members of the All-Stars, as well as Jack’s girlfriend,
Roni.
You’ve become great friends with Jack, interviewed
him many times. What are you still learning about
Louis from Jack?
The question I asked Jack a lot when I was researching my book,
Traveling with Louis, was, How did Pops react to racism?
Jack said when it happened to others, like in the case of Little
Rock [during the 1957 Civil Rights protests], he hit the roof. When
it happened to him, he’d grow sad and shake his head. He’d say,
“That cat just doesn’t understand what life’s about.”
Jack was with Pops in Connecticut, 1961 or 1962. Jack was
driving and Louis had to pee. They pulled into a gas station. Here’s
Louis Armstrong, famous for 35 years. He’s met royalty, the pope,
They meet in 1959 and Pops passes away in 1971. Jack
is around for this later period in Armstrong’s career.
What have you learned from him about Pops’ day-today life?
Being on the road constantly. The times when he was home, even
though Pops enjoyed his den—and Jack spent many an hour in his
den—he was itching to get back on the road again. Jack took this
incredible photo of Louis in 1966 at Louis’ front steps. He’s got a
trumpet case in his hand and this big smile on his
face. I asked Jack, “Where was he going?” and Jack
said, “Going to a gig.”
The man loved to play and he genuinely loved
people. Jack said after a show, Pops would stay hour
upon hour, greeting people in his dressing room,
sometimes just wearing his boxer shorts with a
handkerchief around his head. Signing autographs,
talking to people, seeing old acquaintances, or meeting
new people. Jack said it wasn’t an act. Louis genuinely
loved meeting people. If the fan was a kid, he’d ask
“What grade are you in?” If the kid was a musician,
he’d ask how often they practiced. The New Orleans
trumpeter Jerry Pashin grows emotional when he talks
about how friendly and supportive Pops was to him
when they met in 1964.
How does the Jack Bradley Collection
impact our understanding of Armstrong?
I think a lot of the photos show a hardworking, gigging
musician, and they also show a kind, spiritual man.
There’s a spiritual quality that comes out in Jack’s
photos. He trusted Jack, sometimes didn’t even know
In this 1967 photo, jazz great Louis Armstrong, left, and photographer Jack
Jack was taking his picture because Jack was such an
Bradley are captured in Framingham, Massachusetts. Bradley’s close friendship
insider.
gave him unrestricted access to make thousands of photographs of Armstrong.
Jack once took a photo of him from behind, naked.
Jack was afraid to show it to him, thinking he’d hit the
roof. Louis looked at it—Joe Glaser ripped up another
copy—and he burst out laughing and said, “Print up a
thousand of them.” He loved it. Someone once said, “Nothing human
and he goes off and comes back in no time. Jack says, “That was
was alien to Louis Armstrong.”
quick.” Louis says, “That cat wouldn’t let me use the restroom. He
The thing about Louis Armstrong was, this was a human being
said ‘Mr. Armstrong, I know who you are, I love your music, but I
just as great as he was a musician. Jack says a big stack of envelopes
don’t let no coloreds use my restroom.’” And Jack was ready to go
would go out on the 1st or 2nd of the month. Jack would say, “What’s
engage in fisticuffs with the bastard. Louis said, “Keep driving,
in the envelopes?” At first Louis was a little humble. Then he told
we’ll find a place.” Louis was quiet for a while, then he shook his
Jack, “Some of my friends didn’t make it financially, or their widows
head and said, “That cat doesn’t know what life’s about yet.”
fqfi.org/satchmo
11
COURTESY OF THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOUSE MUSEUM
It really shines through in the collection,
that human quality. It’s a rare thing for a
genius to enjoy that accessibility. How do
you think it reflects in Louis’ music?
Louis’ music never lost its street quality. Even when he
had strings behind him, as in “La Vie en Rose,” when
the vocal kicks in, he brings the New Orleans street
with him. Jack said that Pops saw so much as a kid,
vice and violence, things that 99.9% of children don’t
see, so nothing in humanity surprised him.
knowlouisiana.org
_________________________________________
A veteran public school teacher, Mick Carlon’s
novels—Riding on Duke’s Train; Travels with Louis;
and Girl Singer—are now in the curriculum of more
than 60 schools across the country and in Europe.
Mick lives on Cape Cod with his wife, Lisa, and
their two daughters, Hannah and Sarah. Visit
mickcarlon.com to learn more.
This photo of Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis was taken during the May 25, 1970 recording
session for the album, Louis Armstrong and His Friends. The session celebrated Armstrong’s
upcoming 70th birthday and several notable guests stopped by for the celebration, including
Tony Bennett, Ornette Coleman, Bobby Hackett and many more.
Do you KNOW
Louisiana music?
Subscribe to Louisiana Cultural Vistas today
Louisiana’s premiere magazine of history and culture
www.knowlouisiana.org
An official Satchmo SummerFest partner
fqfi.org/satchmo
12
knowlouisiana.org
PHOTO BY JACK BRADLEY, COURTESY OF THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOUSE MUSEUM
What else stands out about Jack
Bradley?
He’s so brutally honest. He’ll say something
that’ll make your hair turn white, and then
the next moment he’s giving you a hug. He’s
just a great guy.
The highest compliment Jack gives anyone
is, “This person is spreading the gospel of
Louis Armstrong.” Anyone who’s spreading
the gospel is a friend of Jack Bradley’s. What
he’s done to keep the flame burning bright
is remarkable. It’s been an honor knowing
him.
French Market ad
customer to provide
full ad
fqfi.org/satchmo
I
knowlouisiana.org
fqfi.org/satchmo
II
knowlouisiana.org