Interview: Sharon Preston-Folta of LITTLE SATCHMO at

Little Satchmo, The Story of Louis Armstrong’s Secret Daughter Wins an Emmy!

Sharon Preston-Folta's documentary feature, Little Satchmo, is the heartwarming and heart-wrenching story of her journey as the secret daughter of legendary jazz trumpeter, Louis Armstrong.

Louis Daniel Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo", had an illustrious career that spanned five decades. Due to his unique music styling, charisma, and gritty vocals, he is credited with changing the focus of jazz music from "collective improvisation" to solo performance. With an eye for the ladies, Armstrong had several failed marriages but remained with his fourth wife Lucille Wilson until his death in 1971. During his marriage to Wilson, Armstrong had a long-time affair with Lucille Preston. Together they had a daughter, Sharon, whom Louis lovingly called "Little Satchmo". To protect them and his career, Lucille and Sharon lived in the shadows of his limelight.

The film is director John Alexander's adaptation of Sharon's memoir of the same name and escorts the audience on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as you come to understand the young girl who was tasked with suppressing a very big secret well into adulthood. For fear of losing his career by having a baby out of wedlock with his mistress, Armstrong had to deny Sharon's existence. Little Satchmo draws you into Sharon's intimate point of view, as it weaves in and out of vintage pictures, tape recordings, letters, and videos of Armstrong, complimented by visuals of Sharon adding heartfelt, honest commentary and special remembrances.

Please enjoy my interview with Sharon as BroadwayWorld congratulates her on her Emmy win.

At what point in your life did you decide you wanted to make this documentary?  

Five years after I wrote my memoir, I worked with Lea Umberger when she was the co-director of Et Cultura, a multi-media festival in St. Petersburg and I was an Account Executive at the NPR affiliate in Tampa, WUSF FM FL.  Two years later she called me and said she loved my book, and that it would make a great documentary.  She asked if I would trust her to produce it AND that she had a director in mind for the project. I met our Director, John Alexander, and his wife and Producer, JC Guest in 2019 during the Christmas holidays, then our Music Supervisor Eddie Korvin, and Associate Producer Shawn Rhodes joined the team. We started production in January 2020, worked through the pandemic, and completed the film by March of 2021.  We premiered in Europe, at Greece's Oscar-qualifying Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in June 2021.

How did you start the process?

I've asked our Director, John Alexander, to answer this question.

John: My mantra in both starting and completing the film was to let Sharon's voice be our guide -- period. If anything for me, it was an exercise of restraint to stay out of the way and allow Sharon's powerful words from her memoir to make a seamless and lossless transition into driving the film. So, we edited the text of her memoir together into a voice-over script, where we truly used only Sharon's words and added nothing. It was a process of trust and restraint and a powerful one since it had been Sharon's voice, both literally and figuratively, which until recently had never been given the space to be heard, and now this was its big moment. Everything in the film was derived from Sharon's first-person account -- all the images, sounds, music, rhythm of the shots, and cuts, all came as a direct response to Sharon's words and the beautiful way she spoke them. 

Did you ever think you would be an Emmy winner?

I knew that our documentary was impactful and of the caliber to win awards but it was such a thrill and honor to be awarded the Emmy, especially with the quality of films that were in our category.

Did winning the Emmy open any new doors for you?

We've had more opportunities presented to us for screenings since we've won but we've been very fortunate that interest in the documentary has remained high since we premiered.

What did you think when you were announced?  

I was on vacation with my grandchildren and wasn't at the ceremony so I didn't hear the announcement live.  I found out when John and JC texted a picture of the trophy and said 'Congrats Sharon'!  At that point, I let out a shout of joy and then started texting and sharing that joy with the Little Satchmo team!  

What do you think your father would say?

He would be pleased that our story was told to the world in such a beautiful way.  

What was the hardest part of bringing this story to the screen?

Once we made the decision to move forward with the documentary, everyone went to work.  I think the hardest part was raising the funds.  But even that part wasn't as hard as it could've been because we had a lot of people in our corner supporting us and routing for us to win.  

What was the most rewarding?

It was the biggest thrill of my life to see my life story and what had been the 'family secret' for most of my life, on the big screen at the premiere in Thessaloniki.  It was the first time I had watched the completed film.  During the filming, I only saw one of the first versions to get a sense of the direction of the film and add my thoughts.  I knew I would be pleased with the finished product because of the talent of the team, how well we worked together, and the respect that we maintained for each other.

Is there a new project you are working on that you would like to share with our readers?

We've discussed the possibility of creating a Little Satchmo podcast but that concept is still in the incubator!  Individually, we're all working on various projects in film and broadcasting. Little Satchmo is currently being distributed by PBS International and made its broadcast premieres in Great Britain, New Zealand, Italy, and the Czech Republic so we're still busy with interviews for this project.  

Now that I've retired from a career as a Broadcast Account Executive, I spend more time working with nonprofits that are dear to my heart.  I'm currently the Program Manager for the Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative, working on our upcoming Arts and Racial Justice Discovery Series Round Table. Over the past 3 years, these conversations have brought community leaders and Arts organizations together for important discussions about racial equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Arts.  (www.suncoastblackartscollaborative.org).  

For the past five years, I've been a volunteer programmer at our community radio station WSLR 96.5 LP FM, in Sarasota, FL.  I host and produce a weekly music show called 'Radio Reset', creating a different theme each week based on the genres of music I enjoy.  One week the playlist could be R&B, the next week, Broadway musicals.  I also host a bi-weekly public affairs show called 'TownTalk TampaBay' where I highlight people and issues that I believe are important to persons of African descent and underserved communities. (www.wslr.org).

It's always delightful catching up with Sharon and I would like to encourage our readers to see the film; even read the book. I felt this story added a human touch to a legend we all came to admire. I heard attendees at the Sarasota Film Festival who, after viewing this film, comment on the integrity of the film and the gentle ways these hard truths were revealed. I agree. There were many different directions this film could have taken. It was not light and fluffy. It wasn't an assassination of character. It was one women's journey who built up the courage to come forward and make things right, state her truth, and in doing so, I am sure, will empower many others to embrace their own.

Congratulations Sharon, on your well-deserved Emmy!

To post a comment, you must register and login.