Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong by Steven Brower, Hilton Als (Foreword by)

Product Details

The Barnes & Noble Review

For the fortunate few, personal creativity can act like an overflowing river come the thaws of spring. The urge to construct something out of nothing will take whatever forms it must, spilling from one medium to another. An actor might also paint, a photographer make music, an author sculpt. Contacting an additional muse might not reap the same aesthetic benefits as the primary art -- looking forward to Russell Crowe’s next album, are you? -- but at times the extracurricular impulse for self-expression reaps surprising rewards. Louis Armstrong was music incarnate. His revolutionary trumpet playing and vocalizing effectively remade American music, jump-starting jazz improvisation and the interpretation of popular song thereafter. But like those gifted others with fecund imaginations, Armstrong’ s extraordinary talents for sonic invention couldn’t entirely satisfy his artistic urges. A gifted and prolific writer of letters and a colorful memorist, Armstrong also began creating -- purely for himself and friends -- collages on the covers of the many reel-to-reel tapes that made up his voluminous collection of recorded music and conversation. A beautiful book in both presentation and spirit, Satchmo brings together dozens of these imaginative and delightful creations. Interpolating personal and newspaper photos, illustrations, and clipped-out text, Armstrong constructs artless art objects that burst forth with the same joy and humor as his best music making. With a natural eye for adroit composition and playful juxtaposition, he devised what we can now perceive as miniature memoriams to himself and his wife Lucille, his showbiz pals, his friends and fans. The timeworn condition of the box cover art adds an extraordinary poignancy; like everything he did in his grand life, Armstrong drew this art straight from a larger-than-life heart maxed out with love. --Steve Futterman

Synopsis

Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong is a biography in the form of an art book. It tells the story of Armstrong's life through his writings, scrapbooks, and artworks, many of which have never been published before. Armstrong was the single greatest creative artist in the history of jazz and the American popular song. A true American original, he was prolific in coining colorful expressions that entered the lexicon; he wrote long, colorful prose pieces about his experiences; and he made hundreds of collages using marvelous photographs that capture archetypal scenes in the life of a jazz musician. Everything he did was an extension of his artistry.
 Satchmo is a vivid trip through American jazz at mid-century, to the beat of Armstrong's own jazzy words. The book also includes photographs of Armstrong and is framed by a text that describes his significance. It will be enjoyed not only by jazz fans but also by art lovers, who will welcome Armstrong into the pantheon of American visual artists. 
“Interspersed with vivid bursts of Armstrong’s own writings, what emerges is a portrait of such intimacy, it comes closest in the vast Armstrong bibliography to capturing the humble humanity and generosity of spirit of one of the great figures of the 20th century.”—Stuart Nicholson, The Guardian

Biography

Steven Brower is a seasoned writer and designer, and creator of the award-winning book Woody Guthrie Artworks. He currently teaches design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Hilton Als is a staff writer for the New Yorker. He is the author of The Women, and was the recipient of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism in 2002-03.