tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post6709298733116146922..comments2024-03-27T16:02:25.334-05:00Comments on Orange Crate Art: Invisible man: Louis Armstrong and the New York TimesMichael Leddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-27935313767738838032011-08-04T20:07:11.086-05:002011-08-04T20:07:11.086-05:00Oops — I left out the link above. Here’s the item ...Oops — I left out the link above. Here’s <a href="http://mrparallel.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/jazz-a-drug/" rel="nofollow">the item</a> that offers an early appraisal of jazz.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-31234748738498347502010-08-05T16:51:27.714-05:002010-08-05T16:51:27.714-05:00Thanks for reading and commenting, Adair. It’s gre...Thanks for reading and commenting, Adair. It’s great to exchange ideas about these things with you. I think you’ll find the JSP sound very pleasing — lots of punch.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-23114915447154706152010-08-05T14:48:01.363-05:002010-08-05T14:48:01.363-05:00The JSP set is on my want list. Frankly, I love li...The JSP set is on my want list. Frankly, I love listening to my old French lp set of these sessions, on a label called "le jazz hot." The lps preserve the real "attack" of Louie's trumpet, which sometimes gets dulled on the cd versions that I have heard. Thanks so much for your blog; it is a delight to read.Adairnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-56713516307889717212010-08-04T15:21:41.099-05:002010-08-04T15:21:41.099-05:00I’d agree on all points, Adair. The jazz-included ...I’d agree on all points, Adair. The jazz-included version of the Harlem Renaissance that most college literature students receive is highly misleading. Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were both going against a certain grain in their celebration of “folk” materials.<br /><br />Last year, I found <a rel="nofollow">this item</a>, which gives some sense of how one major African-American newspaper was thinking about early jazz.<br /><br />I hope you have your Hot Fives and Sevens in the JSP boxed set — much better sound than CBS Sony. :)Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-5697720817531828202010-08-04T14:02:59.423-05:002010-08-04T14:02:59.423-05:00But here's another degree of invisibility: if ...But here's another degree of invisibility: if you look in some of the great journals of the Harlem Renaissance, such as The Crisis, you will not find much, if anything, on Armstrong or jazz. You WILL find lots on people like Roland Hayes, an African American classical singer. I was surprised by this, since we have come to associate jazz with the Harlem Renaissance. It seems that many black intellectuals of the 20's and 30's (except of course Langston Hughes) were embarrassed by jazz ("the devil's music") and by its lowly origins in brothels. They were afraid that it showed African American culture in a poor light, whereas someone like Hayes was "elevating" the race by mastering white European culture. I think that it was Leroi Jones who pointed out how Howard University, a major institution for African American education, forbade jazz concerts until the 1950's (!), and when they did lift the ban, it was to invite a WHITE jazz orchestra---Stan Kenton! In any case, Louis Armstrong is no longer invisible---or is he? Today, he is ranked alongside Picasso and Stravinsky as one of the major 20th Century innovators. He is institutionalized and canonized---perhaps a more insidious form of invisibility? I only know that life without the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens sessions would be so much poorer...Desert island discs, to be sure!Adairnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-28790474055936168852010-06-11T20:27:05.766-05:002010-06-11T20:27:05.766-05:00Thanks, Addison, for such a thoughtful response to...Thanks, Addison, for such a thoughtful response to my post. The <i>Times</i> articles that you mention (and which I did not know about when writing this post) turn out to go along with the idea of invisibility in an interesting way. The 1929 review doesn't mention Armstrong by name: his performance of "Ain't Misbehavin'" is credited to "an unnamed member of the orchestra." The 1932 piece refers to him (twice) as "Lou Armstrong." Thus neither of these items turned up in a search for Louis Armstrong.<br /><br />I just searched from 1926 to 1935 for <i>armstrong</i> and <i>trumpet</i> and found nothing beyond the 1932 article you've mentioned. I suppose Armstrong might be mentioned by first or last name alone somewhere (e.g., "Bix, Duke, Louis," &c.). But I think my main point still holds: that the <i>Times</i> took no note of Armstrong's accomplishments until well after the fact.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-32664443081027216982010-06-11T19:48:50.766-05:002010-06-11T19:48:50.766-05:00Is it possible that Armstrong's invisibility i...Is it possible that Armstrong's invisibility is a function of the indexing rather than a shortcoming of the Times' coverage? For example, a Google search on "Louis Armstrong" and "New York Times" lead me to James Lincoln Collier's "Louis Armstrong: An American Genius," generously excerpted by Google. "Hot Chocolates" was reviewed on June 21, 1929, and it looks like Armstrong was mentioned. The relevant page isn't included in the preview so I can't be sure. But go to page 251, where Collier quotes a Times correspondent writing from Paris on Sept. 4, 1932, that some of Armstrong's records were until recently procured only with difficulty in the French capital, a citation that didn't turn up in your search. I'm limited to what I can find at my computer, but isn't it likely that there are more (though probably not too many more, to be sure)?Addisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01049845782759507926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-89085768524189939822009-05-05T00:24:00.000-05:002009-05-05T00:24:00.000-05:00Thank you, Michael. Here is a link to ..."waterfro...Thank you, Michael. Here is a link to ..."waterfront" http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=13392Busterhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07079909445051635727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-52417541981637371942009-05-04T23:51:00.000-05:002009-05-04T23:51:00.000-05:00If you search for louis armstrong and the names of...If you search for <I>louis armstrong</I> and the names of the three tunes, you should be able to find them. Searching with <I>denmark</I> yields nothing right now.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-56721293253442819662009-05-04T22:53:00.000-05:002009-05-04T22:53:00.000-05:00Youtube has unfortunately taken down the Louis Arm...Youtube has unfortunately taken down the Louis Armstrong video.<br />I wonder if there is any other place to see it.<br />I always thought that "Ambassador Satch" 1955? was one of the great recordings of all time.Busterhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07079909445051635727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-75462743992259143272008-08-26T11:35:00.000-05:002008-08-26T11:35:00.000-05:00Thanks for reading and commenting, Tex. I'd love t...Thanks for reading and commenting, Tex. I'd love to see the Denmark clips on a DVD, with missing footage restored if it's available (the other solos are missing) and archival materials (photographs, excerpts from letters, and so on). 'Til then, we have YouTube.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-57489943309876443002008-08-26T11:17:00.000-05:002008-08-26T11:17:00.000-05:00Love your site. I find it interesting that Milton ...Love your site. I find it interesting that Milton Berle was in the ad as well. I didn't know he was working back that far. <BR/><BR/>And you have to love youtube. I've always loved the Denmark clips and now you can watch all three of them as much as you want.<BR/><BR/>tex@gannon.eduAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com