Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2003.197.08 |
Title |
[Reel-to-reel tape recorded by Louis Armstrong] |
Object Type |
Tape |
Collection |
Satchmo Collection |
Description |
Scope: Jinx Falkenburg interview with Louis and Lucille Armstrong backstage at the Roxy Theater in New York in April 1957. Recordings of sound recordings. Louis's arrival in Lebanon in 1959. Originally cataloged in ”Tape Catalog #2, Part 1” (see Manuscripts, 1987.2.23). Tape box decorated with clipping from Newsweek (2/23/1959) and a German newspaper collage. Contents (as on compact disc reference copy): Disc 1, Tracks 1-8: Jinx Falkenburg interview with Louis and Lucille Armstrong backstage at the Roxy Theater in New York in April 1957. Track 1: Louis talks about playing solos in the bit in the 1920s and them going over so well, they asked him to go on stage and play; after going to New York in 1929, Louis became a single, just traveling with his horn; mentions playing at the Cotton Club in California with Lionel Hampton; importance of rehearsing with them beforehand and how it sounded like they had been together for six months when they started; Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker would make a beeline to the Cotton Club to see Louis every night; Louis talks about broadcasting from the Cotton Club in Culver City; mentions Mildred Bailey; Falkenberg reads a quote from Bing about Louis explaining "cats" and using jazz jargon; Louis replies that Bing sure knows how to tell jokes; Louis talks about working for two weeks with Gary Crosby in Chicago and he can "wail" ("You'd think the walls were coming down"); Louis mentions he's currently playing an ice show at the Roxy Theater in New York [April 1957]; Louis mentions playing with blocks of ice and how Billy Kyle still sweated; makes joke about "cool jazz"; Track 2: Falkenberg asks if it's extra special playing the enormous Roxy but Louis responds that when he plays his horn, he closes his eyes and it doesn't matter where he is ("But I always blow the horn the same, even at home"); Louis talks about warming up at home ("eulogize the chops"); Louis says he doesn't have a set show and what he plays "gets results"; whether it's the first show or the last show, "it's all good"; Falkenberg asks if Louis ever gets tired and doesn't feel like doing a show; "No, I don't get that tired," Louis responds and talks about giving three converts in Barcelona, Spain and how the musicians complained after the fact and Louis responded that it was already over so it didn't matter anymore; Louis talks about how enthusiastic the audiences were in Spain, throwing their hats and coats; Louis talks about Velma Middleton coming out onstage and getting hit in the face with a coat (in the background, Lucille can be heard telling Louis that he's been requested to sponsor a day at Disneyland; mostly unintelligible); Louis talks about playing "all this hot music" in Germany but the biggest reception went to "La Vie En Rose"; Louis says he hasn't been to Russia yet but mentions fans coming over from the Hot Club to see Louis on his last European tour, taking the chance to see "our Louie"; Louis says he'd go to Russia if Uncle Sam wants it; talks about how he almost went during his last tour; Lucille, also part of the interview, talks about how she wasn't sure if it was real when Louis received a telegram to go over there; Louis talks about scenes being cut out of movies (mentions Stepin Fetchit); announcer says time is running out; Louis stops the tape and restarts it from another part of the tape; Jinx Falkenberg introduces the Princeton Tiger Tones; Track 3: "The Song Is Ended" (The Princeton Tiger Tones, based on Louis's recording with the Mills Brothers); Track 4: Louis thanks singers; Falkenberg asks how Louis feels after a full day of shows at the Roxy; "Feel good, another day's work," Louis responds; Louis mentions as soon as they leave, they're going to a party with some "old cronies" to have a few B&B's; Falkenberg asks about Louis dedicating a number to Princess Margaret in May 1956; Louis recreates the introduction he gave that night; Track 5: "Mahogany Hall Stomp" (Louis Armstrong and His All Stars, Symphony Hall concert) (incomplete); Track 6: Falkenberg asks how Princess Margaret reacted; Louis said she "dug it" and had to play three encores; says "she's one of the cats"; mentions some of the members of Royal Family came over when Louis played the Olympia in Paris; they invited him to a big party, but Louis said he had plans to go to a "grease joint" in Montmarte for some pig's feet and red beans and rice; the Royal Family asked if they could go and Louis talks about their reaction to the food (someone wanted an extra bowl of beans); they returned the favor when Louis was in London and asked him to a dinner in which they insisted red beans were served; Louis tells the story about the first time he went to London and dedicated a song to King George, saying "This one's for you, Rex" and playing "You Rascal You"; Louis says that anybody coming to see him is one of the cats and knows what to expect so he treats them that way; Louis drops slang like "hip to the tip" and "dig what I'm laying on them," causing much laughter; Falkenberg asks about Louis and Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah eating together and discussing "yogurt and molasses" during Louis's Gold Coast tour; Louis talks about performing out there in front 100,000 people, packed so close together "if you had to walk, you could take a walk [on their heads] and never fall"; Louis says that when Velma jumped in the air, he thought the fans were going to rush the stage; talks about the reaction of the African fans; mentions the day nine tribes came out for Louis and how one of the Kings saw him and said, "Satchmo!"; Louis mentions that Lucille just went for celebration of the independence of Ghana, bringing along a copy of Edward R. Murrow's "Satchmo the Great" to screen; Track 7: Falkenberg calls Lucille over and asks about this African trip; Lucille calls it a "happy surprise"; says her and Louis really fell in love with the Gold Coast during their 1956 visit; they promised Nkrumah they'd come back for their independence but Louis was busy so Lucille had to go; she mentions the film, then titled "The Saga of Satchmo" and says they were very pleased with the film; Louis mentions the concert at Lewisohn Stadium with Leonard Bernstein and other footage from Switzerland, England and Africa; mentions he got a private preview screening of it and since then, it got "four stars"; Falkenberg calls it very interesting; Louis talks about the greeting from all the African musicians playing "All for You Louis" and how he joined in with Trummy Young; talks about the day they played "Royal Garden Blues" outdoors and kept wailing until an old man, "about 110 years old," came out and started to dance and how Lucille came out and joined him; Lucille talks about how she taught the Prime Minister to waltz; Lucille says she went out there with "her secretary" and stayed at the Ambassador Hotel; she arrived on March 4, 1957, dead tired, but had to go to all the events; continues about how Nkrumah didn't want to dance and all he knew was the hi-life; Louis talks about his diet chart and how he brought 2,000 packages of Swiss Kriss to Africa; after he gave them out, there was a "stampede" to the bathroom; Falkenberg asks if he gave them out as a gag but Lucille said it's very important to Louis; Louis tells Falkenberg to give his address to get a diet chart; Louis says he doesn't own the company or any stocks related to Swiss Kriss; Louis talks about the film "High Society" and the first number he sang in the bus, "High Society Calypso"; Louis said one day, after too much rehearsing, he asked if he could give a concert; for an hour, he and the All Stars played a private concert for Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and the rest of the cast and crew; Louis said it relaxed everybody because there was too much rehearsal; Louis tells a story about playing with Erskine Tate at the Vendome Orchestra and how sometimes they'd have to rehearse something like the "William Tell Overture" and they would rehearse it so much, by the evening, he couldn't play; Track 8: Falkenberg asks about Grace Kelly; Armstrong says that her acting was the realest thing she had seen since Raymond Massey in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois"; in one scene, she was angry at Crosby and her acting was so real, Louis and his musicians were scared; Louis tells a joke about Massey getting carried away playing Lincoln and going to Harlem to "free the Cotton Club girls"; Kelly was engaged to the Prince of Monaco, whom Armstrong says he met before he met Kelly; Louis talks about how priests feel relaxed around him and ask to open their collars; mentions one priest in Hawaii who owned two records, the opera "Carmen" and Louis's "Muskrat Ramble," giving Louis "Carmen"; Louis mentions that he used to play such music for silent movies; Louis tells during the silent film "Moby Dick" and getting so wrapped up in the film, he forgot his part; Louis talks about how it used to be in the old days, playing overtures and hot numbers; interview ends abruptly with announcer cutting in to say good night; Tracks 9-17: African recordings with spoken introductions to each song by Jack Oglesby. Disc 2, Tracks 1-4: Unidentified opera recording. Track 5: Voice of America broadcast of Louis's arrival in Beirut, Lebanon in 1959, including an interview of Louis (Louis reads Arabic); Track 6: Continuation of opera. |
Notes |
The material on this tape is from the 1950s but the tape itself was cataloged and the box was decorated in 1970-1971. |
Tape Information |
Reel 6 according to ”Tape Catalog #2, Part 1” (see Manuscripts, 1987.2.23). |
People |
Armstrong, Lucille Wilson Bailey, Mildred Barris, Harry Crosby, Bing Crosby, Gary Falkenberg, Jinx Fetchit, Stepin Hampton, Lionel Kelly, Grace Kyle, Billy Margaret, Princess, Countess of Snowdon, Massey, Raymond Middleton, Velma Murrow, Edward R. Oglesby, Jack Rinker, Al Tate, Erskine Young, Trummy |
Search Terms |
Accra, Ghana Africa Cotton Club (nightclub) Diets England France Ghana Hawaii High Society (motion picture) Louis Armstrong and His All Stars Mills Brothers Opera Paris Satchmo the Great (motion picture) Soviet Union Spain Swiss Kriss Switzerland Vendome Theater |
Year Range from |
1969 |
Year Range to |
1971 |
Creator |
Louis Armstrong |
Caption |
2003.197.8 Front |
Accession number |
2003.197 |