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Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong's New Orleans
"The best book ever produced about Louis Armstrong by anyone other than the man himself."―Terry Teachout, Commentary In 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
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
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
28 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 10, 2013
This is not a biography of Louis Armstrong though it more than touches upon his 'career'. By describing the music scene of New Orleans during the late 19th and early 20th century the author provides a theory on the development of 'jazz' and Armstrong's music. Several musicians were part of the music scene in which Armstrong grew up. Many are named in this work but there are others such as Sanctified Church congregations with their style of singing, of the funeral bands, of the dance bands, of the 'rags-bottles and bones men,' who gave Armstrong a 'grounding' in music. An easy enjoyable read.
December 24, 2008
Invaluable look at turn-of-the-century New Orleans and teh world that lead to jazz. Great analysis of the Creole/American-black worlds and their interplays, schisms, and synergies with one another.
January 23, 2021
This was an extremely well written book packed with information on the origins of New Orleans blues and jazz. It is not a bio of Armstrong but rather the story of how the music of New Orleans impacted him. Excellently written but might be a little over the heads up people with no music background.
April 18, 2015
Using Armstrong as the thread, Mr. Brothers weaves the story of how Jazz developed in New Orleans. The slaves displaced by their very freedom traveled away from the farms into the cities. They brought with them the field hollers of their fathers (and grandfathers) as well as the musical raucous religious tradition that was as boisterous as the white men's religion was solemn. Together with the suffering that comes with being black in the Antebellum south, those two traits helped form The Blues. Yet alongside the Blues rose Jazz, where being able to read was actually considered an impediment. Proving that even persecution isn't strait forward, I also learned about how the Creole culture came into play. Those mixed race folks could sometimes pass off as white, which opened up the better paying gigs.
The sociological aspects of the story were fascinating. (It even mentions how pimping was a favorite past time for early Jazz innovators, Louis was no exception). However, the musicology parts of the book were lost on me. That, and the fact that he reiterated the points in my first paragraph time and time again, forces me to only give it 2 stars. It's a fairly good, but ultimately unsatisfactory read for folks that aren't adept in music, like me.
The sociological aspects of the story were fascinating. (It even mentions how pimping was a favorite past time for early Jazz innovators, Louis was no exception). However, the musicology parts of the book were lost on me. That, and the fact that he reiterated the points in my first paragraph time and time again, forces me to only give it 2 stars. It's a fairly good, but ultimately unsatisfactory read for folks that aren't adept in music, like me.
August 15, 2023
I was beautifully surprised by this book. This is less a biography of Louis Armstrong and more a history of New Orleans focused on the years of Armstrong's childhood and the lead up to his departure in his early 20s. This history supports a particular account of what jazz is, and why/how it developed as it did in New Orleans. The academic qualities of the book are fantastic - well structured, deeply researched, and compelling arguments - but it is also a very entertaining and colorful read.
February 21, 2026
A look into the setting that set up one of the greatest Jazz musicians, that even dives into the genre’s origins as well - since both musician and category came up together
At times pedantic and lost in musical or socioeconomic jargon, Brothers still managed to lead us through New Orleans at the turn of the century pinpointing the historical factors that led to the genesis and emergence of both Jazz and Louis Armstrong.
At times pedantic and lost in musical or socioeconomic jargon, Brothers still managed to lead us through New Orleans at the turn of the century pinpointing the historical factors that led to the genesis and emergence of both Jazz and Louis Armstrong.
August 11, 2012
A probing book that makes strong arguments that a) Armstrong excelled and innovated because of, not in spite of, the environment in which he grew to manhood; and b) Armstrong's music, and jazz in general, became what it was in its early years not simply as a result of New Orleans' gumbo of influences, but as a result of musicians' conscious choices not to abandon the traditions, tricks, and values of underclass black America that reached back to slavery and provided armor, and arms, against Jim Crow. The chapters are roughly divided into said elements that fed into Armstrong's growth. At times, Brothers write glowingly--when he balances his research, description, musical acumen, and speculative thinking; at others, his academicism bogs the book down. Overall, I am very happy I read it, however.
May 25, 2015
This book was incredible. It only spans about 20 years (between when Armstrong was born and when he left New Orleans for Chicago in 1922) but brings together the socio/political/economic/historical/cultural/just-about-everything-else factors in play in New Orleans during that time. It is approached through the lens of how these elements influenced Armstrong's development as a musician and the evolution of Jazz as a genre. If you have every wanted to really nerd out about early Jazz, I recommend it. I predict that I will be berating people who have no interest in jazz with amazing facts from this book for years.
November 24, 2014
Fantastic guide to the cultural forces at work in the formation of jazz; excellent early biography of New Orleans; and a sorta piece of retroactive social justice, in being explicit about the very real racism and disenfranchisement surrounding early jazz.
August 18, 2009
A history of New Orleans told through the perspective of Louis Armstrong's life. Really interesting analysis of the aesthetic choices that went into Louis' style.
April 15, 2013
what a place and time to be a musician and how did he overcome all of his disadvantages? incredible.
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January 15, 2023Took me over a year, but I finally finished this wonderful book.
Many people think that early jazz came out of a "gumbo" of African-American, Creole, and white influences. The book argues that that is not at all the case. Whites had next to nothing to do with the formation of jazz, and the Creoles very little. Creole "musicianers" were schooled in Eurocentric music theory, and most of the early black musicians, Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, Kid Ory, Joe Oliver, others, couldn't read music.
Until Armstrong started playing on the riverboats, he couldn't read music either. He may have learned a bit on the boats, as he was playing for white audiences, who expected more fixed (i.e., notated) musical forms. Still, there is some question how well Armstrong was ever able to read music, and he denigrated its influence on his ability to improvise.
The roots of jazz are in West African culture, brought to the slave plantations, and then into New Orleans in the first wave of immigration after the Civil War.
The blues certainly had an influence, but the plantation bands did not use wind instruments, which became over time the primary instrumentation in New Orleans. Armstrong learned on the streets, where music was a vital part of African-American culture. He learned from the refuse pickers, the
"rag, bottle, and bones" men who paraded through the neighborhood, blowing a long narrow dime-store horn to announce their presence. One in particular, one Larenzo, was a major influence on Armstrong, and there is a wonderful photograph of him in the book.
And then for a number of years Armstrong attended a "Sanctified" (think Pentecostal) church with his mother, where music and especially collective singing were essential.
At the Colored Home for Waifs, where Armstrong spent a year-and-a-half or so, he learned the technique of playing the cornet, taught by one of the masters who tutored the young boys.
And then, of course, there was the fantastic variety of Black music on the streets, the advertising wagons, the parades and funerals, the weekend picnics at Lake Ponchartrain, the dance halls, even the clubs and dance halls of Storyville, the famous red light district, where Blacks were not even allowed to go until sometime after the turn of the century, 1905, 1907. But Armstrong, probably a the threat of his life, would sneak in at night to listen to the bands, which were Creole bands, playing for whites.
I do wish I had taken a class in music theory. A lot of the terminology in the book was opaque to me. Yet the book is so rich with knowledge and detail that I don't think the jist is lost.
Highly recommend (this is a scholarly work, written by a professor at Duke, much researched, with sources and footnotes at the end).
A fascinating study in a time a place and an art being born, and the genesis of the man who was, arguably, at the center of its creation.
Many people think that early jazz came out of a "gumbo" of African-American, Creole, and white influences. The book argues that that is not at all the case. Whites had next to nothing to do with the formation of jazz, and the Creoles very little. Creole "musicianers" were schooled in Eurocentric music theory, and most of the early black musicians, Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, Kid Ory, Joe Oliver, others, couldn't read music.
Until Armstrong started playing on the riverboats, he couldn't read music either. He may have learned a bit on the boats, as he was playing for white audiences, who expected more fixed (i.e., notated) musical forms. Still, there is some question how well Armstrong was ever able to read music, and he denigrated its influence on his ability to improvise.
The roots of jazz are in West African culture, brought to the slave plantations, and then into New Orleans in the first wave of immigration after the Civil War.
The blues certainly had an influence, but the plantation bands did not use wind instruments, which became over time the primary instrumentation in New Orleans. Armstrong learned on the streets, where music was a vital part of African-American culture. He learned from the refuse pickers, the
"rag, bottle, and bones" men who paraded through the neighborhood, blowing a long narrow dime-store horn to announce their presence. One in particular, one Larenzo, was a major influence on Armstrong, and there is a wonderful photograph of him in the book.
And then for a number of years Armstrong attended a "Sanctified" (think Pentecostal) church with his mother, where music and especially collective singing were essential.
At the Colored Home for Waifs, where Armstrong spent a year-and-a-half or so, he learned the technique of playing the cornet, taught by one of the masters who tutored the young boys.
And then, of course, there was the fantastic variety of Black music on the streets, the advertising wagons, the parades and funerals, the weekend picnics at Lake Ponchartrain, the dance halls, even the clubs and dance halls of Storyville, the famous red light district, where Blacks were not even allowed to go until sometime after the turn of the century, 1905, 1907. But Armstrong, probably a the threat of his life, would sneak in at night to listen to the bands, which were Creole bands, playing for whites.
I do wish I had taken a class in music theory. A lot of the terminology in the book was opaque to me. Yet the book is so rich with knowledge and detail that I don't think the jist is lost.
Highly recommend (this is a scholarly work, written by a professor at Duke, much researched, with sources and footnotes at the end).
A fascinating study in a time a place and an art being born, and the genesis of the man who was, arguably, at the center of its creation.
October 18, 2017
This is a very difficult book to rate. For the historical content and the fascinating history of the development of jazz and blues in New Orleans, it is definitely a five-star book. But the writing . . .
Written by an academic, the book at times becomes so dry and lost in technical minutia of music, that it makes an incredible story, well, kind of boring. And making the first 20 years of the 20th Century in New Orleans boring is its own special kind of sin.
The book focuses primarily on the development of music during the formative years of Louis Armstrong from his birth in (or around) 1900, until he left New Orleans for Chicago to join the King Oliver band. The book covers the musical roots of what grew to be American jazz and modern blues -- and eventually rock-n-roll. It explores the evolution of music from the holler and response of the plantation fields, to the free form music of the Sanctified churches of New Orleans, to competition between non-music reading black downtown bands, uptown music-reading Creole bands, and the classically trained white bands. Although it is not a biography of Louis Armstrong or anyone else, it also touches on Armstrong's early years (including his formative one-year stay at the New Orleans Colored Waif's Home), as well as some of the other important music figures during this time such as Buddy Boldon, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton.
This book is part cultural history, part sociology, part music history, and all fascinating. Despite the fact there are parts you just have to slog through because of the writing style, it is well worth the read.
Written by an academic, the book at times becomes so dry and lost in technical minutia of music, that it makes an incredible story, well, kind of boring. And making the first 20 years of the 20th Century in New Orleans boring is its own special kind of sin.
The book focuses primarily on the development of music during the formative years of Louis Armstrong from his birth in (or around) 1900, until he left New Orleans for Chicago to join the King Oliver band. The book covers the musical roots of what grew to be American jazz and modern blues -- and eventually rock-n-roll. It explores the evolution of music from the holler and response of the plantation fields, to the free form music of the Sanctified churches of New Orleans, to competition between non-music reading black downtown bands, uptown music-reading Creole bands, and the classically trained white bands. Although it is not a biography of Louis Armstrong or anyone else, it also touches on Armstrong's early years (including his formative one-year stay at the New Orleans Colored Waif's Home), as well as some of the other important music figures during this time such as Buddy Boldon, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton.
This book is part cultural history, part sociology, part music history, and all fascinating. Despite the fact there are parts you just have to slog through because of the writing style, it is well worth the read.
April 5, 2018
Pretty cool but I feel like I would have gotten a lot more out of this if I had a stronger grounding in musical theory - some of the technical details started to go over my head after a while. Even so, this is an readable and informative book - although, despite the title, this is more about the origins and development of jazz in early 20th Century New Orleans than it is a biography of Louis Armstrong (although the author does cover his early life and career up to the 1920s - including going back to the original manuscript of his autobiography for details that didn't make it through the editorial process). The author addresses the development of jazz from a number of directions: African rhythms and practices, slave work songs, music in the sanctified churches (as opposed to the more structured music of the Catholics and "mainstream" black protestant denominations), parades, funerals, honky tonks and dance halls, bordellos, riverboat bands, advertising wagons, lakeshore parties, "cutting contests", and the stylistic differences between Uptown and Downtown/Creole musicians. I give this 3.5 stars.
October 5, 2021
This is a remarkable work. Having once lived near New Orleans for 40 years, the book took me back to its history; "uptown" African-American sections contrasted with the French Creoles who lived "downtown," on the other side of Canal Street. The "uptown musicians" played by ear the street vernacular music while the "Creoles" read notes and were classically trained. Jazz comes from the street music. Armstrong was raised with blues and jazz, growing up in the the rough and ragged "Uptown." His mother was a prostitute, his father a philanderer. He spent some time in an orphanage, where he learned the cornet and how to read music. Thomas Brothers reveals musical nuances with precise words, allowing the reader to hear the blue notes of the work songs, the heterophony from the "sanctified churches,"and the tin horns of the street parades. Notes rise from the page as Brothers describes the amalgamation of sonic traditions that influenced the rise of jazz in the Jim Crow South. With their music, African-Americans expressed joy and sadness in the face of oppression and poverty. Within the musical idiom lay the opportunity for creativity and individuality.
March 14, 2021
Brothers seems incredibly knowledgeable, and can construct a sentence, but this is the most disorganized book I have read in years. So, so repetitive. Each chapter seems like a journal article, written independently without knowledge of the other chapters. Wastes the readers time by the repeating same incidents, reintroducing the same people, and finding multiple ways to present the same theories again and again with ad nauseam examples to prop them up. I kept reading because I would find some good original material in each chapter, but it was like driving to the supermarket to buy my eggs one at a time. I was so excited about this topic, and would have loved it if it was half the length. Did this book see an editor before publication?
January 20, 2024
I thought this book was great until I got to chapter nine: "Musicians as Men," in which Brothers writes about how jazz is inherently masculine and fraternal, how women were excluded from playing jazz and instead belonged dancing and spectating, and how playing cornet "mimics an erection." As a female jazz trumpet player, this kind of language makes me feel belittled and excluded and I was really disappointed that Brothers chose to write in this way.
January 7, 2018
Prose is a bit plodding and dry. But really interesting once you get past that. It’s not really an armstrong biography although it has lots of biographical elements. Sine info is scant on his life at this time it’s more what life was like in Armstrong’s New Orleans.
July 15, 2020
I didn’t EVER FINISH this book!
Perhaps a person with a background in MUSICOLOGY(like the author)would enjoy it more.
I tried to read”Louis Armstrong,Master of Modernism” and was unable to finish it as well.
Perhaps a person with a background in MUSICOLOGY(like the author)would enjoy it more.
I tried to read”Louis Armstrong,Master of Modernism” and was unable to finish it as well.
March 1, 2013
I only wish this book had come with a CD of sampler of the types of music and sounds that Armstrong grew up hearing in New Orleans. For example, "freak" music (played outside freak shows) and the theme song for "rags-bottles-and-bones" men (whose song alerted people to bring their empties for recycling).
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September 13, 2016Saw this book on a shelf at my Airbnb rental this weekend (in, where else, New Orleans). Didn't have time to read it while I was there but looking forward to checking it out later.
May 8, 2013
Full of detail, but rather disorganized.
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August 9, 2015Heavey going. but interesting.
April 25, 2017
Interesting history of city/times and culture but really have to enjoy music.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews