Louis Armstrong's New Orleans

Starred review from January 16, 2006
In this many-sided chronicle of Armstrong's early life, Brothers (Louis Armstrong: In His Own Words
) paints 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. "Armstrong lived a childhood of poverty, on the margins of society, and this position put him right in the middle of the vernacular traditions that were fueling the new music of which he would eventually become one of the world's greatest masters," Brothers writes. As he shows in his erudite narrative, "Little Louis" was influenced by a number of local factors: the heterophonic singing in his mother's Sanctified church; the blues music of "rags-bottles-and-bones" men who played on three-foot-long tin horns; the sights he witnessed peeking into Funky Butt Hall, where "chicks would get way down, shake everything"; and the ubiquitous marching bands that provided music for parties, dances, parades and, famously, funerals. Brothers's contention that Armstrong was immersed in this vernacular music comes across more strongly than it does in other biographies. Armstrong's music, Brothers says, was "shaped by the complex social forces surrounding him," ranging from Jim Crow oppression to Creole separation. The integration of biography, musical history and cultural study make this a rich, satisfying and thought-provoking read. 16 pages of illus.

March 1, 2006
Brothers (music, Duke Univ.; "Louis Armstrong, In His Own Words: Selected Writings" examines the social context of trumpeter Louis Armstrong and early New Orleans jazz. The influence of outdoor parades and park concerts, the Sanctified Church, itinerant street musicians, and the influx of former slaves into the Crescent City from 1880 to 1910 all come into play, as does the importance of the decidedly male basis of jazz and the national ragtime craze. Throughout, Brothers interweaves the personal history of Armstrong, including his stay in the Colored Waifs Home for Boys and his work on riverboats with jazz pianist and bandleader Fate Marable. Describing New Orleans as a focal point of racial and social diversity, the author concludes that Armstrong succeeded as a musician by coupling the African traits of polyrhythms, call and response, and blues improvisation with the Eurocentric harmonies and melodies of the Creoles into an innovative style -jazz -that could be accepted by whites, well-heeled Creoles, and lower-class African Americans alike. This well-researched and -written study helps explain the genesis and popularity of both a seminal genre and a seminal musician. Recommended for music fans and social history scholars." -Dave Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2006
As its title indicates, Brothers' book is more about Armstrong's context than his life, more a focused microhistory than a biography. It is motivated by the perennial question, how did Armstrong become the central figure in the most significant musical development in American history? Certainly, he had an initial strong attraction to music and a good ear, but Brothers shows how he was in the right place at the right time. Fin-de-siecle New Orleans had a musical culture of great depth, thanks to its white French and Spanish heritages; a pool of artisan-class musicians trained in European technique in the Creoles of color; and an influx of African-based musical forms and practices contributed by the newest, ex-slave contingent of the populace. Jim Crow was pressing the Creoles, forcing associations with previously disdained darker blacks that proved particularly helpful to budding musicians looking for gigs and, should they realize its advantages in terms of greater earning power, technical finishing. If that structure of opportunity is Brothers' central theme, it is also just the main channel in this river of a book. Tributaries to it include the distinctives of black sanctified worship, the possibilities of black children's street life, ragtime and the blues as separate resources for nascent jazz, and masculine roles in Armstrong's New Orleans. Place this book at the core of jazz and American culture collections, and don't expect it to be displaced--ever.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)