louis armstrong tour

How to Tour Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans

Jazz is synonymous with the Big Easy, and there’s no bigger name in the history of the genre than Satchmo

Nina Fedrizzi

It would be difficult to find a better embodiment of the American dream than Louis Armstrong, who was born in 1901 to a single mother in the rough, poverty-stricken Back O’ Town neighborhood near what is today the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Though he sang on street corners and taught himself the cornet, there was little to suggest that a boy with scant education or formal musical training would become one of the defining musicians of his age.

“The key to Armstrong’s success is the discipline he brought to bear,” says Bruce Boyd Raeburn, curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. “Armstrong was a hard worker and was extremely curious as a child. He did the work necessary and paid attention to everything going on around him.”

What was going on, in many of the neighborhoods where Armstrong found himself, was jazz. Back O’ Town, Storyville and other areas were musical melting pots in the early 1900s, where blues and ragtime mixed with the city’s prevalent opera and chamber music traditions. Musicians such as Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden and Joe “King” Oliver, who later became Armstrong’s mentor, were helping to define the new genre, making names for themselves in the smoky din of New Orleans’ dance halls, saloons and honky tonks.

Armstrong’s own musical education was anything but conventional. His most basic instruction came while he was incarcerated for 18 months (for firing a gun into the air) at the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys. The young cornet player would later hone his craft on the Mississippi River, playing aboard the paddle steamer Sidney . “It was a safe way to test greener pastures elsewhere, but with a round trip ticket, because he could always come back to New Orleans,” says Raeburn.

When Armstrong did leave the city in 1922 to join Joe Oliver’s band in Chicago, it would mostly be for good. The entertainer would spend much of the Prohibition era back and forth between Chicago and New York during one of his most productive periods, as a sideman and later as the leader of his Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. Armstrong, who would soon become known to his audiences as “Satchmo” and “Pops,” would find that the world beyond New Orleans would not tire of his infectious smile, gravelly voice and remarkable ability to convey a landslide of emotion in the singular note of a trumpet—a talent evident on tracks such as “West End Blues” and “Potato Head Blues.”

Sadly, Armstrong’s birthplace was demolished decades ago, as was the Colored Waif’s Home where he learned to play. And though the city has made strides to commemorate him—with its airport, a downtown park and an annual “Satchmo” summer festival—the struggle to preserve New Orleans’ early jazz sites continues. Those in the know, however, can still pick up the trail of the Crescent City’s greatest musical treasure at these five spots—and of course, hear some swingin’ good jazz along the way.

Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square

A modest brown sign commemorates Congo Square, a spot in Louis Armstrong Park now paved and lined with trees around its perimeter, where, from the mid-1700s to the 1840s, local slaves would congregate to play music on Sunday evenings. The pastime helped to preserve African rhythms and music traditions that would work their way into jazz, less than a century later. Located just steps from the French Quarter, the 32-acre Louis Armstrong Park was founded in 1980 in honor of NOLA’s favorite son, and contains Perseverance Hall—a Masonic lodge and later a dance hall where jazz musicians, early on, played for black and white audiences alike—and a larger-than-life, bronze statue of Armstrong by sculptor Elizabeth Catlett.

New Orleans Jazz History Tour by John McCusker

  As a child, Armstrong worked a series of odd jobs, from hawking newspapers and cleaning graves to picking vegetables from the trash and selling them to neighborhood restaurants. At the young age of four or five, he went to work for a local Jewish family, the Karnofskys, selling junk from the family’s wagon by day and buckets of coal by night to prostitutes.

“After a day’s work in the Hot Sun… that evening we would finish up—unhitch the  horse  and wagon… have a good Jewish meal—relax for the night Route through the Red Light District selling Stone Coal a  Nickel  a Water Bucket,” Armstrong writes in  Louis Armstrong in His Own Words.

John McCusker, a veteran  Times-Picayune  photojournalist and the author of  Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz , offers history tours with stops at the Karnofsky family’s tailor shop and other key sites, including the former Iroquois Theater, where Armstrong once won a talent competition in “white face,” and the Eagle Saloon, a popular watering hole where Armstrong likely drank and listened to other Back O’ Town artists.   

* Tours can be arranged through the contact form on McCusker’s Web site ( www.johnmccuskermedia.com ) and by phone: (504) 232-5421. $30 per person.

The Little Gem Saloon

  The recently reopened Little Gem Saloon is one of the few success stories among the small cluster of dilapidated jazz relics on the 400 block of South Rampart Street. When it opened in 1903, the Little Gem was as a hangout for early jazz legends such as Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton. And it was outside its doors, on New Year’s Eve in 1912, that Armstrong celebrated by firing a pistol into the air—an event that led to his arrest and confinement in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys. Today, the Little Gem Saloon’s early 1900s-inspired interior and daily live music harkens back to the club’s heyday, and its Sunday jazz brunch features a historic Creole menu by Chef Robert Bruce, with dishes such as oxtail soup, pickled oysters and molasses pie.

Steamboat Natchez Dinner Jazz Cruise

At 17, Armstrong accepted a job with John Streckfus and his bandleader Fate C. Marable aboard the  Sidney , a New Orleans paddle wheeler, performing along the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers. Armstrong’s time on the riverboats was his first exposure to musical literacy, and the by-ear musician—who until that point would memorize his parts—was forced to sight-read. It was also the place where he fine-tuned the improvisational techniques that would become his signature. NOLA travelers can get a feel for Armstrong’s time on the river on the last of the city’s authentic paddle wheels, the  Steamboat Natchez  riverboat, which offers nightly dinner jazz tours, featuring the Grammy-nominated Dukes of Dixieland, on its 15-mile roundtrip route on the Mississippi.

Old U.S. Mint, Louisiana State Museum

Built in 1835, this Greek Revival structure just blocks from the river is the only mint to have produced both American and Confederate coinage. Though it retired from printing in 1909, the Old Mint now serves as part of the state museum, featuring live jazz twice a week in its state-of-the-art performance hall and a world-famous jazz collection that includes Louis Armstrong's first cornet, his iconic handkerchief (he always used a hankie to wipe the sweat from his brow when he performed) and hundreds of letters and recordings. When Armstrong returned to New Orleans for a visit in 1965, he identified the museum’s cornet as his own after recognizing the grooves in the mouthpiece, which he filed himself in order to improve the fit on his lips.

Five Essential Louis Armstrong Tunes to Listen to Before You Go

Selected by Joann Stevens, program manager of the Smithsonian Institution's Jazz Appreciation Month

Dipper Mouth Blues  – This early composition by Louis Armstrong and his mentor, the legendary New Orleans cornet player Joseph “King” Oliver, was a featured piece of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. 

West End Blues  -  This King Oliver composition was popularized by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five.  The 1928 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.     

Weatherbird   Rag  - This improvisational conversation between Armstrong and pianist Earl Hines has been called the most celebrated duet recording in the history of jazz.

Satchmo at the National Press Club: Red Beans and – Rice-ly Yours  -  Five months before his death, Armstrong transformed a National Press Club awards ceremony into a music celebration.  This Smithsonian Folkways Records recording, produced with The National Press Club and The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, captures history.  

What a Wonderful World  – Armstrong made this tune by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss a global anthem of unity and optimism that joined Grammy Hall of Fame favorites in 1999.  

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That's My Home

Louis Armstrong House Museum Virtual Exhibits

“Dig Us”: 60 Years of Louis Armstrong at the Sphinx

Louis Armstrong remains one of the most photographed figures of the 20th century. But one single image seems to stand above the rest: Louis and the Great Sphinx of Giza.

The image pops all up all the time on the internet, including a beautiful colorized version by Jordan Lloyd of Dynamichrome . But image raises more questions than it answers: how did it happen? Who took the photo? What was Louis Armstrong doing in Egypt?

Those are just some of the questions we hope to answer in today’s virtual exhibit, 60 years to day that this iconic photo was shot. And in true “That’s My Home” fashion, we’ll be sharing artifacts and even an entire scrapbook that were saved by Louis and Lucille and discovered in their Corona, Queens residence.

Armstrong’s trip to Egypt took place at the tail end of a State Department sponsored tour of Africa that began in October 1960. Early on in the tour, Armstrong’s mere presence in Leopoldville stopped a Civil War, a story we covered in a previous virtual exhibit . After a grueling November with nonstop tours, Armstrong headed to Paris where he spent the entire month of December filming Paris Blues .

Then it was back to Africa where the strain of the tour really began to affect Armstrong’s band. Trombonist Trummy Young appeared one night with what Armstrong called a “fictitious” doctor’s note stipulating he needed a break. When Armstrong’s manager Joe Glaser threatened to replace him permanently, Young returned to the bandstand without taking his break. Clarinetist Barney Bigard took matters into his own hands one night and simply didn’t show up to a concert.

On January 14, a story ran in the Baltimore Afro-American “Satchmo tired by tour, sent to bed.” It stated the Armstrong “was suffering from ‘intense fatigue'” and that his doctor, Alexander Schiff, “advised him to call off a press conference scheduled for the weekend.” However, no such break from performing ever came to fruition and Armstrong continued performing through Senegal, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Ethiopia.

It was in Sierra Leone on January 16 that vocalist Velma Middleton suffered a paralyzing stroke. The band had to continue their tour and Velma was left behind, tragically passing away on February 10. Armstrong was devastated by the death of his longtime friend and got heavy criticism for leaving her but he defended himself by saying “the show must go on” and had obligations to perform in places he never had visited and would never visit again–including Egypt.

Armstrong spent five days performing in Khartourm, Sudan before departing on January 27 for Egypt. Here’s a photo of Louis and Lucille that Lucille titled “Lovebirds on the Nile.”

Upon entering Cairo on the 27th, the Armstrong’s immediately had to visit American Express for a currency exchange. Here’s Louis’s receipt:

Armstrong would perform once concert in Cairo on the evening of January 28, but had to spend part of that day at a reception given by the American Embassy at 11:30 a.m. Here’s the Armstrong’s invitation, sent from G. Frederick Reinhardt, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt (United Arab Republic), 1960–61.

The invitation was in an envelope with the name Kamal el-Mallakh on the back. el-Mallakh was a renowned Egyptian archeologist best known for discovering the King Khufu Solar Ship near the Great Sphinx of Giza in 1954 (read more about him on his Wikipedia page and in his New York Times obituary ). He would become a key figure in showing the Armstrongs around the wonders of Egypt. Here is a photo of el-Mallakh found in the Armstrong’s personal collection:

And here, in what we assume is el-Mallakh’s handwriting, is a note with Louis and Lucille’s name in hieroglyphics. It also mentions Al Ahram , the Egyptian newspaper that el-Mallakh wrote for and letter became Associate Editor of; anyone have access to their digital archives? There might be even more to this story buried there!

Come January 28, Louis and Lucille wined and dined (and smoked) at Ambassador’s Reinhardt’s Reception and were then whisked by el-Mallakh and a small contingent to the location of the Great Sphinx of Giza, where the photos were taken that are now considered iconic. At some point in the day, Armstrong stopped off at an orphanage to play for the children of Cairo. After that, Louis had to get ready for his concert before departing Egypt the next morning for Nice, France, officially ending his grueling State Department tour.

Sometime after January 28–potentially before he even left Egypt if they were quick–Armstrong was presented with a gift: a scrapbook containing photos from his day in Cairo. We assume it was a gift, as the captions identify all those present (and are not in Louis’s style, which we’ll see at the end of this post).

Without further ado, though, we would like to share the entire contents of this incredible artifact, with short commentary throughout. The small sticker on the front is no longer affixed properly but unfolded, it reads, “CAIRO UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC – JANUARY 28, 1961.”

And here are the opening pages of the reception:

This next caption is interesting because it documents Armstrong not wanting to get political and discuss the situation with Patrice Lumumba in the Congo.

If you ever wanted to see a photograph of Louis Armstrong smoking a hookah, look no further than this next photo:

With that, we finally arrive at the photos with Great Sphinx, obviously taken at another point in the day as Lucille has changed her outfit. Here’s the first photo:

Kamal el-Mallakh appears in this next photo and signs it alongside the caption, making me think he might the one who presented this album to the Armstrongs.

The original caption for the following photo is no longer affixed but it remains quite a powerful image: Armstrong in the center of a sea of joyous children at an orphanage in Cairo. It’s no surprise that this was a featured image in Meridian’s traveling exhibit “ Jam Session : America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World” several years ago.

In case anyone is wondering, no, the home movie footage Lucille is shooting in the following photograph has never turned up–such a shame!

And finally, after all of that, the final image in the book, the one we’re celebrating today:

All that’s left of the scrapbook is the back cover, where Kamal el-Mallakh’s name is written one more time, but now there is another name, “Dr. R. El Mallakh, Colorado – Boulder Colorodo University, U.S.A.” Sure enough, a little Googling leads to the discovery of Ragaei W. El Mallakh , born in Cairo, Egypt on March 5, 1925 and a, Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1956 until his death in 1987.  Was this a note for Louis or Lucille to look up Kamal’s brother if they were near Boulder? Also, it’s worth noting that Ragaei El Mallakh was the founding director of ICEED, the International Research Center for Energy and Economic Development. Upon his passing, he was succeeded by Dr. Dorothea El Mallakh, who is the Executive Director of ICEED to this day; do the current members of the El Mallakh (or el-Mallakh) family know of their historic connection to Louis Armstrong?

When we first started putting together this virtual exhibit, the main goal was just to share the above scrapbook but we continued doing some digging in our Archives and found some bonus gems to share. First off, there’s the question of who exactly took these photos? Multiple photo outlets from the Associated Press to Getty claim ownership to this photo but no one credits a photographer, nor are any of the prints in this album stamped with any names (nor are the various other prints we have of the main Sphinx photo in our other collections). It appears the mystery might be solved in this little handwritten note: “Artin DerBalian c/o American Embassy, Garden Embassy, Cairo, U.A.E.” But in the left corner is another note clearly in Lucille’s handwriting: “Shot photo of us at Sphinx.” That seems good enough for us–thank you, Artin DerBalian for these immortal photos!

Louis and Lucille’s personal collection also includes other photographs from the Sphinx, none featuring Louis but there’s some wonderful shots of Lucille, plus another couple of glimpses of Kamal el-Mallakh and the rest of their party.

The wire services must have had a photographer present, too, as this photo of Louis on the camel appeared in the newspapers back home, but if you look closely, it’s not the same one as in the scrapbook so the provenance of it isn’t exactly known (could have been one of DerBalian’s alternate shots, too).

Finally, we close with Louis, back home again after this historic, but exhausting tour. Armed with a bunch of newspaper clippings, he set about creating a scrapbook of his own, offering his own captions in pen (this is the same scrapbook with some of the Congo clippings featured in our aforementioned virtual exhibit). Here’s Louis and Lucille eating what Louis simply calls “GOOD FOOD.”

And we end where we began: with the Sphinx photo. Don’t miss Armstrong’s clever play on the old cigarette slogan “I’d walk a mile for a Camel,” changing it to “A CAMEL WALKS A MILE FOR SATCHMO.”

Of the Sphinx photo, Louis simply wrote, “DIG US.” 60 years later, we’re still digging.

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Published by ricky riccardi.

I am Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum. View more posts

4 thoughts on “ “Dig Us”: 60 Years of Louis Armstrong at the Sphinx ”

Wow! Incredible! I loved Louis and his music and humor so much going back to my high school days in the ’50’s…..my boyfriend was part of a DixieLand Jazz Band in Ithaca, New York and played lots of his music! Such great memories of better days in so many ways. Many years ago I bought a signed photo of Satchmo which lives on the wall by my piano.

Thank you. What an incredible experience touring so many countries in Africa. Absolutely fabulous I’m sure but exhausting work, changing cities every & countries every 2-3 days. Glad to see they were able to enjoy themselves and see the sites and culture of Egypt.

Thank you so much, Pete, for this flashback of Satchmo. He has always been a favorite of mine but I must admit to my ignorance of his visit to Egypt. He was attracted to the Sphinx as was I during my many visits there. I have a photo of me standing under the chin of Abu al- Hol. If I can find it, I will forward it to you. All things considered, I am doing well. Hope you are thriving too. Taher

I’d walk miles for Satchmo!

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Louis Armstrong

Satchmo blows up the world.

Louis Armstrong served in countless ways as America’s premier Jazz Ambassador, beginning with commercial tours to Europe in the 1930s and continuing throughout his life. In November 1955, just three weeks before the approval of the first government-sponsored jazz tour, Felix Belair, the New York Times correspondent in Stockholm, proclaimed that “America’s secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key . . .” and named Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong as “its most effective ambassador.” Given Louis’ skills at connecting with people of all backgrounds and cultures, Columbia Records producer George Avakian coined the sobriquet “Ambassador Satch.” From 1955 onward, wherever Armstrong traveled on official or unofficial trips, he was received as his country’s musical envoy.

Louis and his All Stars band made their first unofficial ambassadorial trip to the British Gold Coast in 1956, soon to become the newly independent nation of Ghana, where they were sponsored by Edward R. Murrow and CBS. When Armstrong was met by thirteen African bands perched atop trucks and playing and singing All For You, Louis, All For You! , he raised his trumpet and joined in. During this visit, Louis and the band thrilled a crowd of several hundred thousand, and were later serenaded by dancers, musicians, and drummers from every region of the country. One of the dancers resembled Armstrong’s mother, who had died twenty years earlier, leading the musician to declare, “I came from here, way back. At least my people did. Now I know this is my country too.” The U.S. consulate in Accra was thrilled by the band’s visit, and in official communiqués referred to the “outpouring of press and public enthusiasm.”

Negotiations were underway for Armstrong to perform in the USSR in 1957, a triumph for the State Department, but he abruptly cancelled these plans when the Little Rock school desegregation crisis went unresolved by the Eisenhower Administration. Satchmo’s candid remarks made front-page headlines – and underscored the value of the jazz tours to American Cold War diplomacy.

In October of 1960 Armstrong and the All Stars embarked on a three-month State Department tour around the African continent. He performed in twenty-seven cities, powerfully conveying his deep sense of connection to African peoples and their shared aspirations for freedom. In Leopoldville, in the Republic of the Congo, Louis was met by drummers and dancers and carried on a throne. The band subsequently appeared in Elisabethville in Katanga Province, leading Satchmo to comment that he had stopped a civil war when a day-long truce was called so both sides could hear them perform. Armstrong visited schools in West Africa and entertained children at a sanatorium in Cairo. The taxing schedule took its toll on the musicians. Singer Velma Middleton suffered a stroke and did not survive the trip. Armstrong was ordered by a physician to take a break because of fatigue, but instead ended up filming Paris Blues in the capital of France. The irrepressible Jazz Ambassador returned to Africa in January of 1961 for the final leg of the trip, which took the All Stars through Senegal, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, and the United Arab Republic.

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First Preview Date: Oct 16, 2024 Opening Date: Nov 11, 2024 Closing Date: Open ended

Louis Armstrong’s innovative musicianship and incredible charisma as trumpeter and vocalist led him from the early days of jazz in his native New Orleans to five decades of international stardom. A Wonderful World tells the story of Armstrong’s blazing musical career from the perspective of his four wives, who each had a unique impact on his life. It features beloved songs recorded and made popular by Armstrong, including favorites like “What a Wonderful World” and “When You’re Smiling,” among many other favorites. Starring James Monroe Iglehart.

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Book by Aurin Squire. Featuring songs made famous by Louis Armstrong. Co-conceived by Andrew Delaplaine, Christopher Renshaw.

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Starring: James Monroe Iglehart.

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Louis Armstrong Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

Louis armstrong at the national press club, washington, dc, usa.

• Hello, Dolly!
• Rockin' Chair
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• Die Moritat von Mackie Messer ("Mack the Knife")
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• Royal Garden Blues
• It's All Right With Me
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Louis Armstrong at Finsbury Park Astoria, London, England

• What a Wonderful World

Louis Armstrong at The Johnny Cash Show, Nashville, TN, USA

• Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standing on the Corner)

Louis Armstrong at Forum de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

Louis armstrong at newport jazz festival 1970.

• When the Saints Go Marching In

Louis Armstrong at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1970

Louis armstrong at blossom music center, cuyahoga falls, oh, usa, louis armstrong at convention hall, san diego, ca, usa, louis armstrong at latin quarter, detroit, mi, usa.

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• Hello, Dolly! ( 5 )
• When It's Sleepy Time Down South ( 5 )
• When the Saints Go Marching In ( 5 )
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• St. James Infirmary Blues ( 3 )

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88não! 9sundays Bernard Adamus Afterhours Agents of Good Roots Jarkko Ahola Pablo Alborán Shamarr Allen Slam Allen Stu Allen & Mars Hotel Herb Alpert & Lani Hall Amaia American Blackout American Idol Ensemble David Amram Tomas Andersson Wij Andrea Gioe David Archuleta Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars Asleep at the Wheel Joe Atman Nabeel Atraqchi Rachel Avalon Badly Drawn Boy Joan Baez Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen Banda Joule Jean Baptiste The Barbecue Swingers Franka Batelić Jon Batiste Beane Bear Ghost Bebi Dol Ray Benson Beryl Bryden & Milan College Jazz Society Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Bixiga 70 BJ the Chicago Kid Dan Blakeslee Scott Blasey Andrea Bocelli Bon Jovi Bonerama Chris Botti Lillian Boutté Brenda Boykin Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox Ruby Braff Bressie

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[traditional] Steve Allen Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five Burt Bacharach Tony Bennett Irving Berlin Philip Braham Hughie Cannon Hoagy Carmichael Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra Bing Crosby Duke Ellington and His Orchestra Erroll Garner George Gershwin Terry Gilkyson Jacques Hélian et son orchestre Jerry Herman Earl Hines Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields John Kander Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra Kid Ory’s Creole Orchestra Knickerbocker Quartet Turner Layton Frank Loesser Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians Jimmy McHugh Domenico Modugno King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band Original Dixieland Jazz Band Cole Porter Jimmie Rodgers Rodgers & Hammerstein Sam H. Stept Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn W.C. Handy Fats Waller Ethel Waters Chick Webb’s Savoy Orchestra Kurt Weill Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra Clarence Williams

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Louis Armstrong was not the first major jazz musician to visit Britain, both Jimmy Dorsey and Bunny Berigan made trips across the Atlantic in 1930. Yet Satchmo was certainly the one with the greatest reputation among musicians and lovers of ‘Hot Music’ to visit Great Britain, although prior to his arrival there was considerable speculation in the British press about how British audiences would take to him.

British record label, Parlophone, who would later sign The Beatles, had already released around 30 of Armstrong’s recordings prior to 1932 so there was little doubt that he would find an eager audience. Satchmo set sail from New York on 9 July 1932 with his wife, Alpha along with his manager Johnny Collins and his wife Mary. They sailed across the Atlantic on board the SS Majestic and arrived in Plymouth on or around 14 July.

Percy Mathison-Brooks, the editor of the Melody Maker, met Louis at Plymouth as soon as the tender transferring him from the Majestic docked. Louis was already nicknamed ‘Satchelmouth’, but when the editor greeted him what Armstrong heard, with Mathison-Brooks’ upper crust British accent, was “Hello Satchmo’. It’s certainly stuck! From Plymouth the party took the boat train to London arriving at Waterloo Station, when Louis arrived he was wearing a “biscuit coloured coat and a white cap.”

Cover To Cover: The Story Of The Great American Songbook

The party was refused rooms in several hotels after it was announced that two of their number were black, but they finally found accommodation at the Howard Hotel just off the Strand, However, they were asked to move after a few days for attracting too many jazz fans who hung around the lobby.

On a practical level, Louis’s first task was to put together a band as he was travelling without any musicians and his run at the Palladium was due to begin on Monday 18 July. British musicians were discussing different solutions to the problem of finding a band for Louis, before it was discovered that a group of Parisian-based, black musicians were on their way to rehearse. This was a plan that had apparently been hatched between Collins and the British agent who had made the booking. According to Louis, “There were several colored French musicians and I had to talk to them through an interpreter.”

Following some rehearsals Louis and ‘His New Rhythm’ as they were billed were competently playing the arrangements over which Louis could solo. His opening number at the Palladium was ‘Them There Eyes’, followed by ‘When You’re Smiling’, ‘Chinatown, my Chinatown’ and ‘You Rascal You’. Not everyone knew how to take him, with a number of reviewers concentrating on how many white handkerchiefs Louis used during the course of his set, while others commented on his “showmanship and good humour”.

The Palladium was not full every night and there were people who walked out on the show, but it’s fair to say that those who loved his music and his records loved his performance. Those who didn’t hated it. Take bandleader Percy Bush, “A disgusting and abortive exhibition likely to nauseate all decent men.” No mention of women, he probably thought no decent woman would want to watch and hear a black man of genius.

After a two week run at the Palladium, including a live transmission on BBC radio, a booking at the notorious Glasgow Empire was arranged – if the audience there didn’t like an artist, they were wont to throw things. The Parisian musicians had to go home which highlights how disorganised this first trip abroad was for Louis. To replace the Black musicians, Billy Mason’s all white, ten piece band was recruited and they played a one-nighter at Nottingham Palais on their way north. In Glasgow, Louis appeared on a variety bill that included a conjuror doing rope tricks along with a magic kettle. His performance once again drew mixed reviews with ‘His antics and his repeated vocal efforts’ failing to be universally popular.

More appearances followed in London; at the Victoria Palace, the Finsbury Park Empire, the Trocadero and the Commodore as well as visits to York, Liverpool and Birmingham. A side trip to Paris took place in October before Louis and Alpha sailed back to New York City where they arrived on 2 November. The man who they called ‘The Ambassador of Jazz’ had started his duties of spreading the word around the world. This was the first of many trips by Louis Armstrong to Britain, and he wound up being taken to heart of the nation.

11 Comments

Danny Mullen

July 13, 2015 at 2:50 pm

I have a one man play on the life of Louis Armstrong. Send me an e-mail and l will follow with trailer and reviews

Neil McNally

July 14, 2019 at 2:49 am

Interested; in drama AND Louis.

July 13, 2015 at 6:30 pm

I saw Louis and his band in Australia in 1957 and 1966. He was the greatest Jazz player of his time and was respected by all jazz musicians including Dizzy and Miles. I would love to see your trailer and reviews Thanks………

July 16, 2015 at 8:09 am

He actually sailed on a White Star Line ship? After the fates of Titanic and Brittanic, I would’ve been scared.

I share Pops' birthday

July 16, 2015 at 2:32 pm

IIRC, the White Star Line had merged with Cunard in 1930, and the former White Star fleet was flying Cunard’s colours by the time Pops sailed.

James Pulling

August 20, 2015 at 7:10 am

I saw him on his two visits to Melbourne in the 1960’s. His support artists were Jewell Brown and Trini Lopez. His Band; the Al Stars included Trummy Young, Big Chief Russell Moore,Billy Kyle, Joe Darrenberg Eddie Schu, Arvel Shaw and Danny Barcelona. He played most of his standard numbers and include Hello Dolly, Moon River. Although by now an old man, he was sensational. On his second concert in 1964′ I as a 14 year old sat onstage and held his trumpet for him during the ”breaks’ I an now myself sixty four and have not forgotten for a moment those magic hours that occurred those forty three years ago! Satch, Pops, Dipper; call him by any name , he was the greatest, trumpeter, musician, inovator and human being of all time ..

July 14, 2019 at 2:56 am

Nice story. Thanks. I,and my wife,adored the guy too. Went to his show in Wellington, Aotearoa/NZ, probably 1960s, which may have had the same lineup as in Melbourne? Appearwd to be a perfect gentleman.

sadahiro takahashi

September 20, 2015 at 11:24 pm

It is so interesting to know that Louis had such a trip to Great Britain and performed at various places in 1930’s. The movie “Five pennies” was the first time when I saw him. I was a movie goer and expected to see that movie very much, The unforgettable scene was that he showed up in a spotlight and blew the trumpet with Danny Kay playing a cornet. Since then , he is one of my favorite musician, however, I had never listened to his live music regretfully. I was born in 1946 and now 68 years old going on 69 this coming October.

July 14, 2019 at 2:58 am

Get onto Youtube and watch him live..forever, b4 it’s too late.

William Lynch

July 25, 2016 at 3:11 am

I have heard an account of Louis’ travels to Europe in which Louis, while prompting the band to play “You rascal you”, walked straight up to the mic (with the Monarch in attendance) and said, “this is for you Rex”! Now, this purportedly occurred in France, or possibly England, and it thrilled me to no end during my formative years- I loved this damn story. Okay, so, fast forward to 2016, and age 43 for me, and I have still never been able to confirm the story’s authenticity. I certainly want to keep on believing the tale, but let’s face it, I have my doubts. If you happen to read this article and you happen to be a scholar on the life of Satchmo, please enlighten me about this subject. Until then, I’m going to continue to believe that he had the balls to do it, though I will not be relating this tale at any cocktail parties

“this is for you Rex”!! I thought that it was absolutely perfect…… hilarious, and I believed it throughout my formative years. I will be most disappointing if I find that this story is false but I have never been able to confirm the story so— my hands have been tied in terms of relating the tale. So, if you happen to read this and happen to be a Satchmo buff, please enlighten me. Thank you in advance for the info, that is, if you can confirm it.

Ronnie Newman

January 7, 2022 at 2:28 pm

I recently found this online so it is probably true. Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household. He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother’s life. At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined the home’s brass band. They played at socials, picnics and funerals for a small fee. At 18 he got a job in the Kid Ory Band in New Orleans. Four years later, in 1922, he went to Chicago, where he played second coronet in the Creole Jazz Band. He made his first recordings with that band in 1923. In 1929 Armstrong appeared on Broadway in “Hot Chocolates”, in which he introduced Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’, his first popular song hit. He made a tour of Europe in 1932. During a command performance for King George V, he forgot he had been told that performers were not to refer to members of the royal family while playing for them. Just before picking up his trumpet for a really hot number, he announced: “This one’s for you, Rex.”

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Louis Armstrong Plays Historic Cold War Concerts in East Berlin & Budapest (1965)

in History , Music | March 4th, 2014 1 Comment

In its effort to under­mine the Sovi­et Union’s claims to cul­tur­al suprema­cy dur­ing the Cold War, the CIA found­ed the Con­gress of Cul­tur­al Free­dom  (CCF), which spon­sored lit­er­ary jour­nals , bal­let and mod­ernist musi­cal per­for­mances, and mod­ern art exhi­bi­tions . The CCF also sent jazz musi­cians like Ben­ny Good­man, Dizzy Gille­spie, Dave Brubeck, and Duke Elling­ton to Europe, Latin Amer­i­ca, and Africa. Fore­most among the “Good­will Jazz Ambas­sadors” was Louis Arm­strong.

From 1955 on, Arm­strong trav­eled the world, per­form­ing with his All Stars in sup­port of U.S. inter­ests abroad. Arm­strong and his All Stars began their tours in Europe, where he became known as “ Ambas­sador Satch .” His pop­u­lar­i­ty among sol­diers and civil­ians on both sides of the Berlin wall was leg­endary: “No bound­ary was closed to Louis,” said bassist Arvell Shaw . In a 1955 inter­view , Arm­strong recalled that dur­ing a con­cert in West Berlin fans “slipped over the Iron Cur­tain” to hear him play.

Arm­strong and the All Stars returned to Berlin sev­er­al times in the fol­low­ing years. Ten years after their first Euro­pean tour, they appeared in East Berlin in March of 1965, play­ing two sets, includ­ing pop­u­lar tunes like “Hel­lo, Dol­ly,” “How High the Moon,” and “Mack the Knife.” Jazz his­to­ri­an Ricky Ric­car­di observes that this was “a his­toric tour as it marked the first—and only—time Louis cracked the Iron Cur­tain.” Ric­car­di also calls Armstrong’s ensem­ble “one of the finest edi­tions of Armstrong’s All Stars.” See the full East Berlin per­for­mance at the top of the post.

That same year, Arm­strong and band brought their jazz diplo­ma­cy to Budapest, con­tribut­ing to the long­stand­ing love of Amer­i­can jazz in the Hun­gar­i­an city, which now hosts a Louis Arm­strong Fes­ti­val in the near­by town of Vác (and once had its own “ Satch­mo Jazz Café ”). You can hear a record­ing of the Budapest con­cert in two parts, above and below.

Despite the last­ing impres­sion Arm­strong left all over the world, his tours involved some con­tro­ver­sy. He faced crit­i­cism from African-Amer­i­can press at home when, dur­ing his 1965 East Berlin appear­ance, he “refused to be drawn into a dis­cus­sion of the race prob­lem in the Unit­ed States.” He is quot­ed as say­ing “I’ve got no griev­ances… I have been treat­ed fine in the South.” The cen­sure was per­haps a lit­tle unfair. Accord­ing to Ric­car­di, Arm­strong react­ed angri­ly to the vio­lent abuse of pro­test­ers in Sel­ma ear­li­er that month, mak­ing head­lines with the com­ment “They would beat Jesus if he was black and marched.” Nev­er­the­less, once on the oth­er side of the wall, Arm­strong stayed mum on racial con­flict in the Deep South.

Arm­strong also took a very point­ed stand for civ­il rights a few years ear­li­er. In 1957, furi­ous over Arkansas gov­er­nor Orval Faubus’ use of Nation­al Guard troops to block the inte­gra­tion of Cen­tral High School in Lit­tle Rock, Arm­strong famous­ly can­celed a tour to the Sovi­et Union and only resumed his ambas­sador tours after Eisen­how­er inter­vened. At first, learn­ing of events in Lit­tle Rock, Arm­strong told Lar­ry Lubenow , a 21-year-old jour­nal­ism stu­dent, “it’s get­ting almost so bad a col­ored man hasn’t got any coun­try.” Eisen­how­er, he said, was “two faced” and had “no guts.”

It was in part this protest—and the hyp­o­crit­i­cal U.S. deploy­ment of black per­form­ers abroad as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of rights they were denied at home—that inspired Dave Brubeck and his wife Iola to write a satir­i­cal jazz musi­cal called The Real Ambas­sadors , fea­tur­ing Louis Arm­strong as a per­former and main char­ac­ter of the dra­ma (hear an excerpt above). In the musi­cal “Pops,” Armstrong’s nick­name in the busi­ness, trav­els to a fic­tion­al African coun­try to spread the gospel of Amer­i­can democ­ra­cy, well aware of the irony of his sit­u­a­tion: “though he rep­re­sents the gov­ern­ment, the gov­ern­ment don’t rep­re­sent him.” Arm­strong saw the musical—which had only one live per­for­mance , at the Mon­terey Jazz Fes­ti­val in 1962—as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to address the com­plex racial issues sur­round­ing his role as an ambas­sador for a seg­re­gat­ed nation.

The set­ting of the Brubecks’ musical—where “Pops” the char­ac­ter is made “king or a day”—came from Armstrong’s tours in Africa, par­tic­u­lar­ly his 1956 trip to Ghana as a guest of Kwame Nkrumah . As you can see in the film above—shot by CBS and Edward R. Murrow—Armstrong was indeed treat­ed like a king on his arrival to the new­ly-inde­pen­dent West African coun­try. Audi­ences, includ­ing Prime Min­is­ter Nkrumah, to whom Arm­strong ded­i­cates “Black and Blue,” sit rapt as the All Stars per­form at the Opera House in Accra.

On his flight home after the tour, Arm­strong rubbed elbows with anoth­er world leader, then-vice pres­i­dent Richard Nixon. Nixon, writes KCRW’s Tom Schn­abel , “was a big fan, and chat­ted with Satch­mo through­out the flight back.” Oth­er ver­sions of the sto­ry have Nixon meet­ing Arm­strong at Dulles Air­port, and some say the two met in Paris. In each ver­sion, how­ev­er, Armstrong—who “loved mar­i­jua­na and smoked it everyday”—gets Nixon to unwit­ting­ly car­ry a trum­pet case full of “fine Ghana­ian weed” through cus­toms. The sto­ry may well be apoc­ryphal, but it speaks to Arm­strong’s can­ny, sub­ver­sive role as America’s fore­most “good­will jazz ambas­sador.”

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Louis Arm­strong Plays Trum­pet at the Egypt­ian Pyra­mids; Dizzy Gille­spie Charms a Snake in Pak­istan

Dizzy Gille­spie Runs for US Pres­i­dent, 1964. Promis­es to Make Miles Davis Head of the CIA

How the CIA Secret­ly Fund­ed Abstract Expres­sion­ism Dur­ing the Cold War

Josh Jones  is a writer and musi­cian based in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at  @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Comments (1) |

Related posts:

Comments (1), 1 comment so far.

Now, I know a dif­fer­ent ver­sion of this CIA/Armstrong friend­ship, and I may be wrong, but here it goes; for play­ing these gigs he was always con­sid­ered a com­mu­nist sym­pa­thiz­er, and had CIA con­stant­ly watch­ing him. His birth­day was 4th of July and his dream was to play the nation­al anthem dur­ing the big cel­e­bra­tions. Because he was black and sup­pos­ed­ly a com­mu­nist, he was nev­er allowed to do so. Cor­rect me if I am wrong.

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Imagine Dragons Plan Summer Tour for New Album, ‘Loom’

• By Kory Grow

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Now that Dan Reynolds has shown off his Indiana Jones–like ability to escape boobytrapped ancient ruins — all without the aid of socks — in Imagine Dragons’ “Eyes Closed” video, the group will show that it can tour with its eyes closed as veterans of the road. The Imagine Dragons will kick off an arena tour this summer — tied to the release of their new nine-track album, Loom (out June 28) — and it will run through the fall.

Tickets will go on sale Friday. Various presales begin Tuesday. Full details are on the group’s website . There are also VIP packages including one with “a signed guitar played by a member of Imagine Dragons on stage that night.”

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We are happy to support your curriculum. Tell us about the subjects you would want to explore at the museum and our team will tailor your visit to cover as much as it is available in our archives during your tours! A visit to the Museum meets the New York State and New York City Learning Standards.

The Museum does not have a café, but we recommend to search for local restaurants in the area. Food is not allowed inside the Museum. Bagged lunches may be enjoyed in the garden (if the weather is nice). Extra tables and chairs are available upon request.

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Tenniscore: centre-court chic smashes it this fashion season

As a new movie starring Zendaya puts the tennis on the big screen, the sport that brought us Lacoste and Fred Perry is inspiring today’s style players

W ith a new film, Challengers , opening this weekend, American actor Zendaya has been on a lot of premiere red carpets and chatshow sofas in recent weeks. And from shoes with tennis-ball heels to a party dress patterned with rackets, the former teen idol’s outfits have all been a very chic take on tennis, much like the Luca Guadagnino film itself.

While the rest of us may lack the occasion to wear a plunge-fronted floor-length neon dress decorated with a tennis ball, it will be hard to miss “tenniscore” this year as clothes inspired by, or worn for, the sport become the latest trend.

On secondhand fashion resale app Depop, searches for tennis skirts and polo shirts are up 52% and 53% respectively. Interest in these traditional sports looks will also be bolstered by new glossy Apple TV series Apples Never Fall , based on a Liane Moriarty novel about a tennis family dynasty. Fashion labels including Miu Miu and Celine have also explored tennis style recently.

Though a very current trend, the connection between fashion and tennis is longstanding. In the 1920s, French player Suzanne Lenglen became a fashion plate thanks to wearing Jean Patou designs on court. Tennis stars René Lacoste, Fred Perry and Stan Smith all lent their names to clothing and shoes still in many a modern wardrobe.

A pavé diamond bracelet is known as a tennis bracelet thanks to America’s Chris Evert wearing one in the 1978 US Open. Then there are the competitors who made style statements by challenging the traditional whites – from John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg in the 80s, to Steffi Graff’s and Andre Agassi’s neons in the 90s.

Other notable fashion moments on court include Billie Jean King’s button-through dress worn for the “battle of the sexes” match with Bobby Riggs in 1973 and Serena Williams’ black catsuit with a red band at the 2018 French Open. Stuart Brumfitt, the editor of tennis style magazine Bagel , says that the sport’s sunkissed circuit is key to its elevated fashion status: “You watch the rugby or football through the winter, and it’s pouring with rain. Tennis is always in these amazing locations. There’s a bit of inherent glamour to it.”

The game has also long had a connection to the rich. “It was one of the first sports that wealthy, upper middle-class men and women played together,” says Robert J Lake, author of A Social History of Tennis in Britain . “People tend to look to the rich and famous for new trends.”

Gary Armstrong, editor of sport and fashion magazine CircleZeroEight , says this association with wealth and glamour helped forge the connection with fashion houses. Tennis players were ‘good enough’ to wear high fashion, whereas footballers weren’t,” he says. “There’s probably a higher percentage of tennis players who have endorsement deals with watch and perfume brands. Beauty brands like tennis because it’s not too sweaty.”

The UK’s Emma Raducanu is a Dior ambassador; Jannik Sinner, the highest ranked Italian player in history, works with Gucci, and Carlos Alcaraz, 2023 men’s winner at Wimbeldon, is in adverts for Louis Vuitton.

Though the players are known for their style, tennis’s dress codes remain strict. The French Open banned catsuits after Williams wore hers. Wimbledon’s rule that players should wear mostly white has been in place since the tournament began in 1877. It was tweaked last year to allow coloured undershorts to address female players’ anxiety about playing while they had their period.

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“Agassi didn’t play Wimbledon for three years because they wouldn’t let him wear neons,” says Brumfitt. “He missed major grand slams on this sartorial principle.”

Daniel-Yaw Miller, who writes about sport and fashion for industry title The Business of Fashion , says: “There’s a critical mass of young players on the tour who are bolder and express their personal style on and off the court – Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton as well as Sinner.”

And, Miller says, it’s not just the players who are important for the link between fashion and tennis. Morgan Riddle is an influencer with 257,000 followers on Instagram, who is the partner of American player Taylor Fritz. “She’s become a tennis tastemaker, and she’s now signed her own sponsorship deal with sports brand Wilson.

“She’ll bring 15 other influencers to the tournament. It spreads tennis to different audiences, which is always a good thing,” he says.

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