2022 Louis Armstrong International Continuum Virtual Symposium and Concert Set For Next Week

Columbia University's Center for Jazz Studies, in conjunction with The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (LAEF), presents the 2022 Louis Armstrong International Continuum: Armstrong & Company, a virtual, Symposium and Concert set for June 13 - 19 at 9:00 am (ET). The participants include Sonny Rollins, Gary Giddins, Ned Sublette, Angela Davis, Sonny Rollins, Robin D.G. Kelley, Nichole Rustin-Paschal, Terri Lyne Carrington, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Theo Crocker and more, plus concerts by vocalists Nnenna Freelon and Quiana Lynell and a special award presentation to Ran Blake.

The Continuum is free and open to the public. For more information and to attend, please go to https://jazz.columbia.edu/the-louis-armstrong-international-continuum-2/.

Highlighting this year's Continuum theme, Louis Armstrong and Company, the seven-day event brings together an outstanding group of musicians, authors, scholars, academics and art administrators to examine Armstrong's historic collaborations with some of the world's finest jazz musicians, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. Building on last year's theme, this symposium also examines how Armstrong worked with leaders from various professions and disciplines to uplift the world during trying times.

"Louis Armstrong is a founding father of our music, and his collaborations with some of the brightest stars in jazz allowed them to tap directly into the wellspring of his artistry, which this symposium will explore in depth," said Robert G. O'Meally, the Columbia University Zora Neale Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Director of the Columbia University Center for Jazz Studies, and author of The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, and his latest book, Antagonistic Cooperation: Jazz, Collage and the Shaping of American Culture.

"As Albert Murray once remarked, "Louis Armstrong is the Prometheus of jazz," said Wynton Marsalis, President of LAEF and Artistic and Managing Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. "Like Prometheus, Armstrong shared the full fire of his artistic gifts with his fellow musicians and with the world. He was always ready to show up anytime, anywhere 'in the cause of happiness.'"

Pianist/composer Ran Blake, who taught at the New England Conservatory for five decades, will be awarded the 2022 Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation SATCHMO™ award. Bassist and LAEF Board Secretary David Chevan will conduct an interview.

"We're delighted to celebrate the accomplishments and legacy of Ran Blake," said LAEF Executive Director Jackie Harris. "Like Louis Armstrong, he is a pioneer who has moved the music forward and inspired generations of musicians."

Critically-acclaimed vocalists Nnenna Freelon and Quiana Lynell will conclude the symposium with soul-stirring performances.

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