Thomas BrothersLouis Armstrong's New Orleans"The best book ever produced about Louis Armstrong by anyone other than the man himself."—Terry Teachout, CommentaryIn the early twentieth century, New Orleans was a place of colliding identities and histories, and Louis Armstrong was a gifted young man of psychological nimbleness. A dark-skinned, impoverished child, he grew up under low expectations, Jim Crow legislation, and vigilante terrorism. Yet he also grew up at the center of African American vernacular traditions from the Deep South, learning the ecstatic music of the Sanctified Church, blues played by street musicians, and the plantation tradition of ragging a tune. Louis Armstrong's New Orleans interweaves a searching account of early twentieth-century New Orleans with a narrative of the first twenty-one years of Armstrong's life. Drawing on a stunning body of first-person accounts, this book tells the rags-to-riches tale of Armstrong's early life and the social and musical forces that shaped him. The city and the musician are both extraordinary, their relationship unique, and their impact on American culture incalculable. 16 pages of illustrations. "A passionate, intimate picture of the teeming musical brew of early 20th-century New Orleans and how it was uniquely suited to nurture both jazz and Armstrong's exceptional musical talents....A rich, satisfying and thought-provoking read."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "Superb history and a rocking good read."—Jason Berry, New York Times Book Review "Place this book at the core of jazz and American culture collections, and don't expect it to be displaced—ever."—Ray Olson, Booklist, starred review Thomas Brothers is the author of Louis Armstrong: In His Own Words and Chromatic Beauty in the Late-Medieval Chanson. A professor of music at Duke University, he lives in Durham, North Carolina. |
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April 2007 / paperback / ISBN 978-0-393-33001-4 2006 / hardcover / ISBN 978-0-393-06109-3 6" x 8" / 400 pages / Music | ||||||
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