When Louis Armstrong conquered Chicago

The extract looks great, I'll have to pick up the 3 books he mentions --- I love Armstrong.

One thing that always amazed me about these jazz performers was how much they toured, even at the peak of their popularity. They went everywhere. A couple years ago I sat down with my grandfather when his health was fading and asked him to tell me his life-story, recording it for my father so that he would always have a record of his father's voice. My grandfather grew up in a middle of nowhere Canadian town, but it did have a pavilion in its town park. I just about lost it when my grandpa casually mentioned that he'd seen Armstrong play there 4 times(!) over the years. Nowadays, you'd be lucky if any band or act came to play in that town. But Armstong and his band came.

> After catching up on some sleep, Armstrong took advantage of his new private bath, got dressed, and went out for a long walk, stunned by the beautiful African American neighborhood he found himself in. “The reason why I was so amazed over South Parkway is because, such a street in New Orleans, with all those highpowered homes and apartments, nothing but white folks lived on a street like that... And nothing but the Filthy Rich ones at that,” he wrote. “I just could not get [over] the idea, that it was a little difference between the north and the south (a little differnt [sic] anyway) and the colored people were a little more respected and appreciated.”

This part of Chicago peaked at a population of nearly 80,000 in 1950; it's now around 20,000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas,_Chicago#Bronzeville

Gioia's own books are fantastic too. I highly recommend them all. "West Coast Jazz" is probably my favourite, a fantastic guide and history to so many great players who didn't get their due by dint of being on the "wrong coast". "How to Listen To Jazz" and "History of Jazz" are fantastic, more general starting points.

He and Garry Giddens are my two favourite jazz writers, hands down.

My two favorite Americans are Louis Armstrong and George Washington. Glad to see this on Hacker News!

Armstrong is, among other things, basically the original shit-hot electric-blues/rock guitarist. Wait for his solo after the sung section and Dodds’ clarinet part: https://youtu.be/iZLlJ9crI4s

One of my favorite videos of Louis Armstrong performing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_CnEotIqMKg