Louis Armstrong Dead at....69

It does not end with Louis Armstrong's death on July 6, 1971

2011-10-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

August 2, 2011 is the beginning of the end of my year with Louis Armstrong. Maybe I chose this date to begin the end because it is my anniversary, accompanied by rumblings of a small hope that sometime, likely on a lake, there’d be a conversation. Death intervened; a long relationship ended, now closed. A sultry day in early August—I’m tuned to Lil Hardin Armstrong, second

Stormy Stoptime Photos

2011-07-29T16:17:00.002-04:00

Saratoga Springs, Stoptime Louis Armstrong Festival July 6, 2011 Photo Round Up (unless otherwise indicated, all photos Copyright: Andrzej "Andre" Pilarczyk. Contact: Pilarphotog@yahoo.com) Zankel Music Center, Ladd Hall, Skidmore College Stoptime first event— Hal Miller talks about Louis Armstrong's music with clips from his live performances and films Spring Street Gallery, 110

Stormy Weather

2011-07-19T22:00:00.001-04:00

July 6 was always going to be a walk on the sunny side of the street. The weather WOULD be good; I just felt it. Not that I’m the eternal or even sometimes optimist when it comes to weather. Addicted to the sun, a gray day can seriously affect my mood. That’s why I banked on sunshine for Stoptime. Congress Park right after the 4th of July, what could be sunnier? Those working with me pointed out

"The Handkerchief Notes"

2011-07-03T07:15:00.001-04:00

Three days to Stoptime: www.stoptimesaratoga.com A few days after writing the “Handkerchiefs” post on February 11, John and I drove to Florida and back in nine days, a trip all about driving and the weather. Sort of a vacation, more about visiting John’s dad, very spry at 93. He spends almost every day working on parts of small airplanes in his

Stewart’s Shops Support Stoptime

2011-06-30T11:59:00.003-04:00

Stoptime: www.stoptimesaratoga.com Thanks to Stewart’s Shops and especially to Tom Mailey for honoring Stoptime with a Flavor Special June 27 through July 6. On Flavor Boards in 47 Stewart’s Shops in and around Saratoga Springs, Flavor Strips with Stoptime’s logo and FIREWORKS announce the perfect flavor for the Louis Armstrong Festival. If you’d like to hear

We Have All the Time in the World

2011-06-27T21:15:00.001-04:00

Nine days to Stoptime: www.stoptimesaratoga.com I’m as excited about hearing Louis Armstrong’s music playing at the Congress Park Carousel throughout Stoptime on July 6 as I am about all the events. Twenty-one Louis Armstrong favorites will play for one hour and repeat twice between 5 and 8 PM. I chose songs to please children AND their parents. The mix covers his lifetime of recordings. Early

AM101: Learning Municipal Ropes

2011-06-21T07:16:00.000-04:00

Fifteen days to Stoptime: www.stoptimesaratoga.com I began a post titled “How Did I turn into Joe Glaser?” in early April. I was stewing about staging Stoptime. How did I get myself into this—spending days calling people I did not know, trying to convince them to perform in or publicize Stoptime, asking them to push it to the top of their To Do list, waiting for call backs

Triple Play Plus the Fathers

2011-06-15T07:03:00.001-04:00

Everyone present kept the buzz going all weekend. You had to be there. The “there”— Zankel Music Center, Skidmore College, Friday, June 10. The concert—Triple Play (Chris Brubeck (bass trombone, piano, guitar), Joel Brown (acoustic guitar) and Peter Madcat Ruth (harmonica). The large new music hall was packed to the gills, a home town crowd, there to hear Joel Brown, for many years, much beloved

Fireworks

2011-06-08T09:10:00.006-04:00

Fireworks are in the Air! Listen to Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five play Spencer Williams’s “Fireworks.” Note that snappy lift off with breaks! Louis Armstrong and The Hot Five recorded “Fireworks” on June 27, 1928—Armstrong’s only recording of this song (summer in Chicago hot! hot!). This session of the Hot Five was actually the Hot Six: Louis Armstrong (Trumpet), Fred Robinson, (Trombone

"12 O'Clock News": "And the Jolt" Sprung everything

2011-05-31T23:23:00.002-04:00

Moulin RougeLas Vegas, Nevada Aug. 2 nd 1955 Dear Mr. Glaser” Am sorry that I have to write this letter with a pen, but, on arriving at the air port in Las Vegas yesterday, My typewriter fell from on top of all, that luggage that was on the truck, And the “Jolt” Sprung’ everything. Tch, Tch, isn’t it A Drag? And I wanted so badly to swing a lot of Type

Waiting at Idlewild, John Updike Hears Louis Armstong

2011-05-22T15:57:00.004-04:00

Listen to "Flight to Limbo" “Flight to Limbo” by John Updike. This poem first appeared in Poetry Magazine in the January 1997 issue and is under copyright. The lines “Louis Armstrong sang in some upper corner,a trickle of ignored joy” arrive in the middle of John Updike’s “Flight to Limbo.” Armstrong’s voice familiar, the phrase itself familiar, perhaps “Hello Dolly, This is Louis, Dolly.” The

The Flood Blues

2011-05-16T10:08:00.005-04:00

It’s raining in upstate New York, supposed to continue for days. Rivers and lakes remain high, but flooding is over. This corner of the world is a safe haven compared to the Louisiana river corridor. Up and down the Mississippi people are rounding up their animals, leaving, and watching their houses float away. It has happened many times. The story of most famous flood, The Great Flood, April 21,

The House Finch Waits to Flee Like a Bird

2011-05-10T13:43:00.014-04:00

I first sighted the house finch yesterday afternoon. From inside the window at my writing table I saw him hopping, then walking slowly about the deck. He did not fly but he did not appear injured. He was quite handsome, sun glinting off his bright red back feathers. After some time a female appeared, a walking in similar circles, accompanying him. They looked back and forth but did not approach

What is Stoptime?

2011-05-03T20:10:00.002-04:00

When about talking Stoptime with friends and strangers, the first question people ask is “Why Louis Armstrong?” The second is “What is stoptime?” It’s time that I spend a little time defining this common jazz term. But first here is Stoptime’s “Hotter than That” logo designed by Patrick O’Rourke. It heads the News Release sent out to all the local and regional publications, radio and TV stations

Hal Miller - a collector of sorts

2011-04-26T14:12:00.007-04:00

I first heard Hal Miller's name last November, soon after I opened the book of Louis Armstrong. Given my dearth of jazz knowledge, I needed ear and eye knowledge to complement my book learning. The first musician I turned to told me to talk with Hal Miller. “Miller knows most all there is to know about jazz history. He’s built an enormous collection of DVDs slowly

Willie Armstrong

2011-04-09T13:47:00.003-04:00

Louis Armstrong’s father, Willie Armstrong, worked in a turpentine factory. He married or did not marry Mayann, Louis’s mother. He left the family soon after Louis’s sister, Mama Lucy, was born. He died in 1933. From these bare facts Louis embroidered a short, bitter text. He told the story of his childhood and wrote it over and over. In his eyes his father was of little consequence. Louis

Learn to be your own teacher—Lee Shaw

2011-04-02T07:48:00.008-04:00

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Sometimes I'm Up, Sometimes I'm Down

2011-03-28T07:38:00.007-04:00

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"A Great Day in Harlem"

2011-03-22T22:52:00.001-04:00

Spring Right Around the Corner

2011-03-17T17:31:00.003-04:00

Louis at the Typewriter

2011-03-12T16:08:00.002-05:00

Louis's Vegetable Garden—original varietals with a few covers

2011-03-08T21:31:00.002-05:00

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"Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train"

2011-03-07T09:15:00.039-05:00

“Hobo, You Can’t Ride the Train” shuffles up while I walk in a stiff wind. Though I like to imagine I’ve worked my way through all the songs Armstrong recorded, I’m probably not even close. Actually, this is good, an opportunity to think and write about a song not endlessly picked apart in readings on jazz history or the Louis Armstrong story. Hobo conjures the Depression, evoking the deprivation

The Poor Thing

2011-02-28T12:36:00.002-05:00

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Flee as a Bird

2011-02-25T13:39:00.012-05:00

The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong

2011-02-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

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Handkerchiefs

2011-02-11T09:20:00.004-05:00

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Stop-Time-Stop-Time-Stop-Time

2011-02-10T20:52:00.003-05:00

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Cornet Chop Suey

2011-02-10T20:48:00.001-05:00

Am Red Beans and Ricely Yours, Louis Armstrong

2011-02-05T09:57:00.006-05:00

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Good Morning Viet Nam

2011-02-02T10:38:00.002-05:00

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I want a big butter and eggs man

2011-01-28T09:20:00.005-05:00

A big butter and eggs man is a “small time big shot,” as Laurence Bergreen has it,[i] and the way Louis Armstrong sings it, the lyrics’ plea is even more obvious. Listen to "I want a big butter and eggs man"—it's at the end of this post. “I’m your big butter and egg man, but I’m different honey, I’m from way down South…now listen, baby, I’ll buy you all the pretty things that you think you need,

When You're Smiling

2011-01-25T15:00:00.004-05:00

Introducing StopTime

2011-01-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

I started this blog with a purpose. So far that’s a secret. I need to out myself. I’ve been fumbling around saying what strikes me on the life and output of Louis Armstrong. When it comes to Armstrong, I’m a know-nothing.[i] What’s the point in putting out snippets on Armstrong that strike my fancy? Another Louis Armstrong aficionado is born every day so why blog about it? Better you should

Louis Armstrong: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

2011-01-19T20:38:00.002-05:00

No videos today. I see the ease of embedding YouTube videos in blogs, fun for a while. Let’s consider Louis Armstrong without visual aids. Picture him without pictures. What is your picture of Louis Armstrong? Surely you have one. Can you hear or read his name without seeing his face? Which face do you see? Young Louis holding his trumpet? Ambassador Satch in his morning coat carrying his trumpet

Muskrat Ramble and Beethoven

2011-01-11T11:14:00.002-05:00

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Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

2011-01-08T09:05:00.007-05:00

Louis Armstrong's set at 1958 Newport Jazz Festival

2011-01-05T09:26:00.004-05:00

This video is taken from Bert Stern’s film, Jazz on a Summer Day, shot at 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Watch the whole film! You can download it from Watch Instantly on Netflix—a grand mix of performers, Anita O’Day, Mahalia Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Big Maybelle and Chico Hamilton. The America Cup happened at the same moment and the scenes of the sailboats shot from a helicopter,

Saratoga Arts Center-SPAF Artist Grant

2011-01-04T13:02:00.004-05:00

Saratoga Arts Center awarded me one of two SPAF Artists Grants for 2011. Good news for me and my year with Louis. Since working in and with the community is at the heart of these grants, this opens the way for collaboration and improvisation with a loose band of compatriots. The outcome will likely be a performance, summer times sounds best—maybe Louis's birthday, August 4. Here's the short

Heebie Jeebies-Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five

2011-01-03T21:18:00.003-05:00

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New Year's Eve Arrest

2010-12-30T11:02:00.002-05:00

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Louis's Philosophy

2010-12-20T07:25:00.000-05:00

West End Blues...and other recommendations

2010-12-19T11:53:00.001-05:00

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Louis Armstrong House Museum

2010-12-17T15:09:00.001-05:00

Last summer I visited Louis Armstrong's home in Corona, Queens NY. If you're anywhere in the vicinity I recommend you take the tour. I came away with a much magnified view of Louis and Lucille at home and a box of Swiss Kriss. I haven't tried it yet. If you can't go, do go to this site. It's the best on Louis. Just added is an online catalog, skillions of fabulous photos. Louis Armstrong House

An Invitation to Collaborate

2010-12-17T15:07:00.001-05:00

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October 6, 2010

2010-10-06T21:38:00.001-04:00

Two days with Louis Armstrong. Watched Five Pennies with Louis, Danny Kaye—he's best as Canadian Mountie on a confused horse, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tuesday Weld.....so sappy but Louie saves the day.