“The Greatest Photo Taker”: Remembering Jack Bradley Part 56–The Funeral of Louis Armstrong and CBS Tribute

Today would have been the 91st birthday of Jack Bradley, Louis Armstrong’s close friend and personal photographer for the last decade of his life. Ever since Jack passed away in March 2021, we have slowly and steadily told the story through photos and other artifacts of his relationship with Louis, a series that spans 55 parts–you can see them all here.

Last summer, we hit part 55, chronicling Jack’s final visit to Louis’s home in June 1971. With Louis’s death staring me in the face, I pivoted and spent the rest of 2024 with posts about other subjects, including Louis Armstrong Stadium, the passing of Dan Morgenstern, and a multi-part series on Alpha Smith. But considering that today is the anniversary of Jack’s birth, it seemed like a good time to revive the series and start bringing it to its conclusion.

2021 was also the year we did over 20 posts about Louis Armstrong’s final months, his funeral, the condolence letters Lucille Armstrong received, and more; that entire series can be accessed here. For a more detailed look at Louis’s funeral, you can consult this post, but for today, we’re going to devote our time to how Jack Bradley spent the days after Louis passed away.

Jack saw the news of Louis’s death while in Cape Cod and immediately called Lucille Armstrong and said he was going to drive down immediately to New York. When he arrived, Jack received devastating news: once the politicians, celebrities and VIPs got their invitations to the funeral, there wasn’t room for many of Armstrong’s true friends, such as Bradley. Lucille spoke to him and told him that he was “like a son” to them, but added, “Of course, we’re limited in tickets to the funeral and the politicians and the songwriters must come first. I hope you understand that.” Bradley, who thought he might be a pallbearer, was hurt but ended up having a busy day anyway, as will be discussed later in this post.

First, though, it’s worth sharing audio of a conversation between Bradley and Richard Shaw in 1989, when Shaw was helping Bradley write a book that never came to fruition. Bradley remarks early on that he wasn’t invited to the funeral and Shaw expresses disbelief. Jack also mentions getting calls from musicians, some from New Orleans, who wanted to perform at the funeral, but Lucille shot that idea down, too. He then talks about going to view Louis’s body lying in state at the Park Avenue Armory, mentioning it was the last time he ever experienced the “archaic” ritual of viewing a dead body. Here’s the audio of this segment:

That audio clip ends with Bradley talking about a floral arrangement he had made out of a silver cornet from his own collection. He mentioned that Ebony magazine featured a color photo of it and sure enough, we were able to dig out Bradley’s copy from the Archives–here’s the page in question with Bradley’s floral arrangement in the top right corner:

Bradley wouldn’t dare take a photo of Armstrong’s body lying in state, but he did take a few photos of the lines around the block at the Park Avenue Armory:

In the days leading up to the funeral, CBS television wanted to do something special for Armstrong and blocked out an hour of prime-time space to air a tribute, Louis Armstrong 1900-1971, to be hosted by Walter Cronkite. CBS’s team of researchers sprung into action and quickly landed on Jack Bradley, asking him for photos.

“Oh, that’s great,” Bradley responded. “Are you having music?” Assured they were, Bradley followed up, “May I ask who you’re having?” In 2008, Bradley relayed their answer: “Doc Severinsen, J. J. Johnson, Cannonball Adderley and then it went downhill after that.”

“No, that’s no good,” Bradley told CBS. “These are all great musicians but they had no direct relationship with Louis and if you’re going to do that, I don’t want to sell you any of my pictures.”

Instead of hanging up on him, CBS invited Bradley to come meet with them. For the full story of what happened next, here’s the second part of Bradley’s 1989 conversation with Richard Shaw:

Bradley was invited to the taping of the tribute, which featured a band of Dizzy Gillespie and Bobby Hackett, trombonist Tyree Glenn, tenor saxophonist Budd Johnson, pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines, bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Buddy Rich and Peggy Lee on vocals. Naturally, he brought his camera and snapped a few photos of this all-star assemblage in the studio:

As heard at the end of the above clip, CBS agreed to send Bradley to Louis’s funeral in a chauffeured black limousine. Once he arrived, attendees gawked, expecting a celebrity to emerge, but it was only Jack–and he couldn’t even get in the church. But as he told Shaw, “In a way, I sort of felt good about it because I felt I was with the common people outside–and all the phony people were [inside].”

Once ensconced outside the church, Bradley began snapping photos–here’s a bunch taken outside of Corona Congregational Church:

Bradley did go to the burial at Flushing Cemetery and took one photo there:

He might not have been invited to the funeral, but Bradley was invited to a gathering at Louis and Lucille’s home, where he managed to snap a few photos of Louis’s sister, Beatrice “Mama Lucy” Collins, enjoying a meal on a tray table in the Armstrong’s upstairs guest bedroom:

And while in Corona, Bradley took a photo of part of Armstrong’s 107th street neighborhood where some of the residents flew their American flags at half-staff:

Back home, Bradley watched the CBS tribute that aired the night of the funeral and was satisfied with how it turned out. “All in all, it certainly came off better as far as I was concerned than the original band they had planned,” Bradley said in 2008. “I’m proud of that.” Here’s the video of the broadcast, which has Bradley’s fingerprints all over it, as shared on our YouTube channel from a dub of a copy sent to Lucille Armstrong:

Though he was spending more time in Cape Cod at this period in his life–where he met his once and future bride, Nancy–Jack wasn’t finished with New York City and with jazz just yet. On June 15, 1972, the New York Jazz Museum opened at 125 West 55th Street with Bradley serving as Managing Director; the photos, memorabilia, and artifacts he accumulated since moving to New York in the late 1950s made up the Museum’s core collection. Bradley held no ill will towards Lucille Armstrong for not inviting him to Louis’s funeral and invited her to the opening; here’s the invitation, as saved by Lucille:

In the Jazz Museum’s November 1972 newsletter, Bradley noted, “Mrs. Lucille Armstrong recently made another of her frequent visits to the Museum.” By 1973, Lucille was one of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, attending multiple meetings alongside the likes of Dan Morgenstern, Chris Albertson, George Wein, Milt Hinton, Stanley Dance, Don Schlitten, Rudi Blesh, Phoebe Jacobs, Artie Shaw, and others; she saved the minutes to meetings from July and August 1973.

1973 was also the year of many major tributes to Louis in the New York area, all of which were attended by Bradley. We’ll have those photos and more in our next post, as we’re not done with Jack just yet. Happy Birthday, Jack–we miss you!