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A review by jonfaith
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong by Terry Teachout
2.0
My awareness of jazz came relatively late, the spring and summer before I turned twenty-four. At least that's what I think. I should stress the word awareness, I knew that something called jazz existed, especially as I appreciated other black music i.e. soul and hip-hop at the time but i had no idea of this improvisational music and its rich heritage. I do recall then listening to cds at at the university library. This coincided I believe with my discovery of Ralph Ellison and the marvelous treatment of What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue in his novel Invisible Man. Of course I didn't know the song was written by Fats Waller and had no idea who that was but thanks to Good Morning Vietnam I knew if only vaguely that Louis Armstrong existed. As my tastes quickly developed it was John Coltrane who became my lord and savior. This was followed by the lost apostle Eric Dolphy who I truly revered. After that, my tastes began the sinuous shuffling that continues to this day. Shostakovich, hillbilly, Tom Waits etc.
Somewhere along the way I acquired the revered Hot Five and Seven recordings, a set of sides recorded by Armstrong when he inadvertently changed the world. A little over a week ago I began listening exclusively to these records, almost hypnotically. I wanted to know everything I could about them. The historical coincidence that less than a thousand miles away Ralph Peer was recording the Carter Family struck me as cosmic but that is likely a discussion best served on our front porch with plenty of cold ale at hand. It was with such vigor that I bought this biography Sunday morning--and was quickly disappointed. Teachout does foreground the autobiographical writings (some unpublished during his lifetime) as well as the hundreds of hours of oral history he recorded on his endless life on the road. Thus as Duke Ellington noted, he was born poor, died rich and never hurt anyone along the way. Teachout is very middlebrow in his approach, which might be appropriate given Armstrong's move from jazz revolutionary to shmaltzy entertainer? Teachout spends a fair amount of time examining the charges that Armstrong perpetuated a shuffling passive stereotype while playing segregated venues. The private aspects reveal an angry man who bristled at having his artistry overshadowed and thus preferred to to maintain ensembles of inferior musicians. The biography also revealed the incessant correspondence which became part of Armstrong's itinerant life, his typewriter pecking away night after night in another anonymous hotel room.
Being somewhat bruised by this experience, I likely won't pursue a book specific to the Hot Five and Sevens but still marvel at their majesty.
Somewhere along the way I acquired the revered Hot Five and Seven recordings, a set of sides recorded by Armstrong when he inadvertently changed the world. A little over a week ago I began listening exclusively to these records, almost hypnotically. I wanted to know everything I could about them. The historical coincidence that less than a thousand miles away Ralph Peer was recording the Carter Family struck me as cosmic but that is likely a discussion best served on our front porch with plenty of cold ale at hand. It was with such vigor that I bought this biography Sunday morning--and was quickly disappointed. Teachout does foreground the autobiographical writings (some unpublished during his lifetime) as well as the hundreds of hours of oral history he recorded on his endless life on the road. Thus as Duke Ellington noted, he was born poor, died rich and never hurt anyone along the way. Teachout is very middlebrow in his approach, which might be appropriate given Armstrong's move from jazz revolutionary to shmaltzy entertainer? Teachout spends a fair amount of time examining the charges that Armstrong perpetuated a shuffling passive stereotype while playing segregated venues. The private aspects reveal an angry man who bristled at having his artistry overshadowed and thus preferred to to maintain ensembles of inferior musicians. The biography also revealed the incessant correspondence which became part of Armstrong's itinerant life, his typewriter pecking away night after night in another anonymous hotel room.
Being somewhat bruised by this experience, I likely won't pursue a book specific to the Hot Five and Sevens but still marvel at their majesty.