In an unprecedented collaboration, the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York City and the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans have partnered on the exhibit: Satchmo: His Life in New Orleans to tell the story of Louis Armstrong's complex relationship with his hometown. The exhibit will coincide with the 100th anniversary of his first professional gig at Henry Ponce's in New Orleans in 1915.
According to Armstrong's autobiography, the young cornetist was offered the job by his friend "Cocaine" Buddy Martin, who asked, "You play the cornet don't you?" Armstrong responded, "Yes, I play the cornet, Buddy. But I don't know if I am good enough to play in a regular band." Martin assured him, "All you have to do is put on long pants at night, play the blues for the whores that hustle all night until 'fo' day in the morning." That was good enough for Armstrong, who fronted a trio of cornet, piano and drums and ended up playing the blues nightly for the next six months in 1915 (while hauling loads of coal from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. during the daytime). Armstrong's career as a professional musician was underway.
The 100th anniversary of this historic engagement will be celebrated in this new exhibit, opening in New
Orleans at the Old U.S. Mint on July 29, 2015 as part of the annual Satchmo Summerfest presented by Chevron and will remain on exhibit through January 2017.
Louis Armstrong led an almost impossible-to-believe life, especially during his younger days. Satchmo: His Life in New
Orleans will celebrate all of his early influences, including his mother Mayann, who raised young Armstrong by herself; the Russian-Jewish Karnofsky family, who instilled in Armstrong lessons about "singing from the heart"; his first music instructor at the Colored Waif's Home, Peter Davis, who made Armstrong the leader of the institution's brass band after only six months; and cornet legend Joe "King" Oliver, who became Armstrong's mentor and biggest influence.
From the time he was born in 1901 until the time Armstrong headed to
Chicago to join Oliver-and change the world of music forever-in 1922, he never stopped absorbing key lessons about music, food, people, race and work. Although Armstrong traveled the world and eventually made New York City his home, rarely a day went by where he didn't spend a part of it talking about his hometown. He published an entire autobiography on the subject, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans, wrote letters about it, discussed it in interviews and recorded his thoughts on private reel-to-reel tapes and in unpublished manuscripts. As he told Life magazine in 1966, "Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine-I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans."
The exhibit will showcase over 70 different artifacts, including Armstrong's first cornet from the Colored Waif's Home, which will sit side-by-side with the last Selmer trumpet he brought for his final visit home in 1968. Most of the materials on display are from the research collections of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, with the great majority never having been previously exhibited in New Orleans. Armstrong's great love of New
Orleans cooking, and especially red beans and rice, will also feature prominently.
Armstrong's voice will play a major role throughout, telling his story in rare excerpts from his private tapes, video excerpts from television interviews and dozens of pages from different manuscripts he compiled over the years, including an unpublished telling of an encounter he had with a racist radio announcer at the Suburban
Gardens during his first return trip home in 1931. An entire four-page letter will be reproduced with Armstrong telling the story of when he was named "King of the Zulus" in 1949, a boyhood dream come true that ended up hurting his standing with African-Americans around the United States at the time. Armstrong's difficult relationship with the city's race relations will also be addressed through the exhibit, featuring of Armstrong lamenting how he could no longer bring his integrated band of All Stars to his hometown because of segregationist laws. Armstrong's triumphant 1965 homecoming after a ten-year absence will bring theSatchmo: His Life in New
Orleans to a close.
Visitors to the exhibition will discover the complexities of Louis's relationship with New
Orleans and understand his deep love for the
Big|Brave Easy. Satchmo: His Life in New
Orleans will be open at the Old US Mint on July 29, 2015 and run through 2017. The Old U.S. Mint has free admission and is open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00 am - 4:430 pm and is closed Mondays and state holidays.
"We are thrilled to partner with our friends in New
Orleans at the Louisiana State Museum and Satchmo Summerfest to present this engaging exhibition. Visitors will be moved by the story this exhibition tells and we hope that when they find their way to New York City, they visit us at Louis's house, perfectly preserved today as a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark," noted Michael Cogswell, Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
"The Louisiana State Museum is extremely happy to be a partner in presenting Satchmo: His Life in New Orleans," said Mark A. Tullos, Jr., Director of the Louisiana State Museum. "We also congratulate the Louis Armstrong House Museum for its work in preserving and promoting the immense cultural contributions of Louis Armstrong, one of the great artists of the twentieth century. There is no better time or place than Satchmo Summerfest presented by Chevron for everyone to see this remarkable exhibit."
Satchmo SummerFest producer Marci Schramm added, "As we celebrate Satchmo SummerFest's 15th anniversary, we also mark 15 years of collaboration with amazing partners like the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Louisiana State Museum. We all share a passion for Louis - every minute of the event is a true, heartfelt tribute to him. This new exhibit is an example of how we keep this
Festival exciting and fresh year after year."
The Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York City tells the story of the meteoric rise of one of the greatest musicians of our time through guided house tours. Since its opening in 2003, more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world have been introduced to the wonderful world of Louis Armstrong. The museum's programs feature historic house tours, jazz concerts, and a wide variety of educational programs.
The Louis Armstrong House Museum owns the largest publicly held collection in the world of a jazz musician including: over 17,000 photographs; 700 reel-to-reel tapes; 500 hand decorated tape boxes; 240 leaves of autobiographical manuscripts; 4 linear feet of correspondence; 30 linear feet of personal papers; 85 linear feet of LP recordings and 78s; 55 canisters of 16 mm film; 120 paintings; posters and works on paper; 250 artifacts; 860 musical scores on sheet music; 5 gold plated trumpets and 14 trumpet mouthpieces; and objects d'art, paintings, and furnishings of the Louis Armstrong House. The Louis Armstrong House Museum is a National Historic Landmark and a New York City Landmark. For more information, go to
LouisArmstrongHouse.org.
Thanks to the vision and funding of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, the Louis Armstrong House Museum welcomes visitors, six days per week, 52 weeks per year. The museum is a cultural center of Queens
College of the City University of New York in New York City.
Founded in 1906, Louisiana State Museum is a system of National Historic Landmarks and architecturally significant structures housing a half-million artifacts that showcase the state's history and culture.
Five museums call New Orleans' historic French Quarter home-the Cabildo, the Presbytère, 1850 House, Madame John's Legacy and the Old U.S. Mint. Museums outside of New Orleans include Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge; Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches; Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum in Patterson; and E.D. White Historic Site in Thibodaux.
Louisiana State Museum's mission focuses on collecting, preserving and interpreting buildings, documents and artifacts that reveal Louisiana's history and culture and presenting those items using both traditional and innovative technology to educate, enlighten and provide enjoyment for Louisianians and visitors. LouisianaStateMuseum.org
Satchmo SummerFest is produced by French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (www.fqfi.org), the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, which also produces French Quarter Festival in April and Christmas New Orleans Style in December. French Quarter Festivals, Inc. celebrates the 15th anniversary of Satchmo SummerFest, in 2015. The 2015 Festival will also include a special session commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and New Orleans 'musical first responders' who worked tirelessly to save the music, musicians, and the culture of New Orleans.
Pictured: Gift of Peter Gold; Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House Museum The earliest surviving photograph of Armstrong, this 1913 image depicts him as the confident leader of the Waif's Home Brass Band, a memory he always treasured.
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