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In Louis Armstrong\u2019s study in the Queens home he shared with his fourth wife, Lucille, bookshelves were filled with reel-to-reel recordings he made as a sort of audio diary. Those tapes and his letters \u2014 read by the rapper Nas \u2014 lay the foundation for the director Sacha Jenkins\u2019s documentary \u201cLouis Armstrong\u2019s Black & Blues.\u201d<\/p>\n
By foregrounding the gravel, grace and salty frankness of Armstrong\u2019s voice, and mining an archival mother lode of audio and video interviews and clips, Jenkins delivers a bountiful portrait of one of the 20th century\u2019s superstars \u2014 on Armstrong\u2019s own terms.<\/p>\n
As welcome as this is, the documentary\u2019s most affecting attribute may be a reckoning by several Black male artists with what Armstrong means to them. After all, his broad smile, his cameo roles in Hollywood films, his seeming muteness on racial issues had some critics, many of them younger, discounting him for his complicity, his \u201cUncle Tomming,\u201d as fellow New Orleanian Wynton Marsalis put it early in the film, confessing to how he once felt about Armstrong. With the aid of Marsalis, Miles Davis, the poet Amiri Baraka (via audio clips) and the actor Ossie Davis, Jenkins recontextualizes the man.<\/p>\n
In a tribute from the \u201cWith Ossie & Ruby\u201d television show, Davis shares an epiphany he had when he and Armstrong were on set for \u200cthe 1966 movie \u201cA Man Called Adam.\u201d During a break, he happened on Armstrong lost in a moment of somber repose, one that quickly gave way to his trademark grin. In that swing, Davis discovered a new kinship: \u201cWhat I saw in that look shook me. It was my father, my uncle, myself down through the generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no paucity of expert witnesses who never had doubts about Armstrong\u2019s depth, starting with Lucille Armstrong (whose story about their first house is a keeper). They also include the jazz historian Dan Morgenstern, who wrote the introduction to the centennial edition of Armstrong\u2019s memoir \u201cSatchmo: My Life in New Orleans,\u201d and the composer Leonard Bernstein, who describes the melodies Armstrong plied as \u201clooking for a lost note.\u201d The poetry in that phrase seems to underscore Armstrong\u2019s lineage as a descendant of the African Diaspora.<\/p>\n
Among the film\u2019s ample pleasures is the only known footage of Armstrong in the recording studio. His head tilted back while scatting, he holds a handkerchief to mop his forehead. The film is a trove of Armstrong\u2019s love of music and his labor. And because so many of those who lend their insights are now departed, it has the feel of a mausoleum worthy of a humble yet celebratory \u201cSaints Go Marching In\u201d second line.<\/p>\n
View this article at The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Louis Armstrong\u2019s Black & Blues\u2019 Review: In His Own Words: In Louis Armstrong\u2019s study in the Queens home he shared with his fourth wife, Lucille, bookshelves were filled with reel-to-reel recordings he made as a sort of audio diary. Those tapes and his letters \u2014 read by the rapper Nas \u2014 lay the foundation for
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