Reflections from a past Louis Armstrong House Fellow

Stories are told in many different ways, narratives, biographies and even autobiographies. Louis Armstrong left the world with what I would call a tangible autobiography. I believe this set a catalysis for anyone that has encountered what we call the Louis Armstrong Experience. It is the simple moment of understanding that you can be the...

Meditations on Popular Music Exhibitions continued

Note to readers: This blog post is a continuation of one uploaded on August 13, 2021 -- https://louisarmstrongfellowsblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/13/meditations-on-popular-music-exhibitions/. The two blogs posts should be read as one piece, not two stand-alone pieces. The author retains all ownership rights of the prose.The author also retains the right to use any or all the prose in future...

Meditations on Popular Music Exhibitions

In July I explored the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibition New York, New Music: 1980-1986. In route to the museum, I wondered whether its exhibition would be exceptional and offer something in content or layout that would depart from similar popular music exhibitions I had seen previously. The day of my visit...

Let’s Talk: Artist, Archives and Museums

Here’s the update: I, along with my fellow Fellow Maglyn Bertrand, have been working with the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Archives for eleven months now. We’ve almost made a year of what was originally only a ten-month-long fellowship. It has transformed into a catalyst of adventuring and exploring the life and career of one...

Fellowship Reflections

On September 25, 2020, I authored my first blog post for this webpage. In that initial post, I drew attention to the sounds of Armstrong’s den, his personal archive, and the reel-to-reel tape recordings he made in that room. I could not have predicted that my interest in exploring Armstrong’s interactions with audio technology and...

Armstrong as a consumer of twentieth century audio technology

In 1958 an article about Louis Armstrong entitled “He Tapes It All!” appeared in an issue of Hi-Fi at Home, an American magazine publication “targeted at the growing audience for high fidelity home systems.”[1] Unlike other 1950s print media articles written about Armstrong, which portrayed him as a cultural ambassador, icon, and entertainer, “He Tapes...

As Told By Women

Telling Louis Armstrong’s life story featuring the voices of women he encountered during his journey was a goal that Fellow Maglyn Bertrand and I were assigned during the Fall. I believe creating a tour that highlights women’s perspectives has inspired Maglyn and me to draw on and reflect on our own experiences as women. By...

Armstrong’s Fan Club – Part II

In 1957, Armstrong and the All Stars went on a goodwill tour of several South American countries including Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela. After landing at Buenos Aires’ airport, a welcome party consisting of some 5,000 ecstatic Argentines, greeted Armstrong and the All Stars on the tarmac. Two police escorts attempted to help Armstrong...

“Accurate but Incomplete”

“It’s sadly easy to reverse meaning, in fact, to tell a lie, by offering an accurate but incomplete quote,”1 said author Octavia Butler in an Essence article in 2000. After reading this article, I began to think about Louis’ life; how his collections have humanized the man from the legend the world thought they knew...

Armstrong’s Fan Club – Part I

I would like to think that if I had lived during Louis Armstrong’s time and had the opportunity to meet him, I would know how to act and what to say. However, based on my previous interactions with certain contemporary musicians during official and unofficial “meet and greets,” I am not certain I would be...