April is Jazz Appreciation Month
April 1, 2017 • 12:00AM to 12:00AM
Visitors to the Louis Armstrong House Museum will get a rare treat this April to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month. The museum will give all visitors a rare print of Louis’s first arrival in Africa in 1956, a tour immortalized in Edward R. Murrow’s film, Satchmo the Great (while supplies last). City University of New York (CUNY) students will enjoy free admission all month long and New York City public school children and their families will enjoy free admission during Spring Break, April 23 – April 30.
This rare photo from the museum’s Ernie Anderson Collection depicts a major moment in Louis Armstrong’s career: his arrival in the Gold Coast of Africa (soon to become the independent nation of Ghana) in May 1956. Armstrong had never been to Africa before and when he arrived, his airplane was met by a mob of spectators, including thirteen trumpeters playing a traditional African song, “Sly Mongoose,” retitled “All for You, Louis” for the occasion. The photo depicts the moment Armstrong pulled out his horn to play along, a momentous meeting of the two cultures. It was saved by Armstrong’s longtime publicist Ernie Anderson and was acquired by the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2012. The photo has never been exhibited or published until now for Jazz Appreciation Month 2016. It stands a special reminder of Armstrong’s power as America’s “Ambassador of Goodwill,” an appropriate message for Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day.
Admission to the Louis Armstrong House Museum is $10.00, $7.00 for seniors, students and children and free for LAHM members and children under 4. Groups with reservations enjoy a discount on admission. In celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month, all CUNY students with valid ID enjoy free admission for April 2016 (2 guests per ID) and all New York City public school children and their families can enjoy free admission during Spring Break, April 23 – April 30, 2016.
The Louis Armstrong House Museum tells the story of the meteoric rise of one of the greatest musicians of our time. All of its furnishings are original and have been preserved, giving visitors the feeling that Louis and Lucille just stepped out for a minute. Thanks to Louis’s home-recorded private tapes that are exclusive to the museum, visitors can hear Louis at home playing his trumpet, telling jokes, eating dinner, and more! It’s an intimate visit as if you can sit down and have a cup of coffee with Satchmo himself. The museum owns the largest publicly held collection in the world devoted to a jazz musician. It’s a National Historic Landmark, a NYC Landmark. It’s a Wonderful World at the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
The museum’s current exhibit – Hotter Than That: 90 Years of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five celebrates these landmark recordings that were the first records ever to be issued under Armstrong’s own name. It represents the ground breaking recorded legacy of Louis Armstrong and this immortal group, whose music will continue to influence future generations. As Armstrong himself said of his Hot Five recordings in 1970, “Ain’t nothing like it since, and can’t nobody play nothing like it now. My oldest record, can’t nobody touch it.”
Ricky Riccardi director of research collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum noted, “Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five recordings are the most important recordings in jazz history, bar none. Everything stems from them and from Louis specifically. We hope this exhibit pays proper tribute to this landmark group but most of all, we hope it will make visitors further explore their music.”
Planning Your Visit
The Louis Armstrong House Museum is located at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. The museum is open Tuesday – Friday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturday/Sunday from 12:00 noon – 5:00 pm. No reservations are necessary for individuals but groups of 8 or more should call 718.478.8274 or here to make a reservation. Parking is available within the neighborhood and the museum is accessible by subway via the 7 Train.
