“Never Before Seen” Footage!

It’s no secret that Louis left behind countless resources that we can easily access, contributing to the preservation of his legacy. The Louis Armstrong House Museum Archives boasts over 700 of his personal tape recordings, that he created in the den of his modest home. We have thousands of photographs that can be readily obtained with the click of a button. There is even a complete discography of Louis entitled, “All of Me”, by author Jos Willems. There are innumerable tapes and videos of Louis performing over the coarse of his five decade long career.

Despite all of these assets, there is one thing that has remained elusive until now! There is only one known film of Louis Armstrong recording in the studio. We have teamed up with The Museum of the City of New York, and will publicly debut a 33 minute long film of Louis recording his 1959 album entitled, “Satchmo Plays King Oliver.” The film had an initial launch in 2015, however it was never introduced to the public until now.

The film is a must see! Louis is featured with the familiar favorites in his All Stars Band. The band consists of: Trummy Young (trombone), Peanuts Hucko (clarinet), Billie Kyle (piano),  Mort Herbert (bass), and Danny Barcelona (drums). “Satchmo Plays King Oliver” was recorded in the fall of 1959 at Radio Recorders Studio in Los Angeles, California. The beginning of the film depicts Louis and his band playing two takes of “I Ain’t Got Nobody.” It even features a number called “High Society Calypso” (my personal favorite) which was not presented on the finalized version of the album. The latter portion of the film shows Louis and the band recording “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll.”

The screening of the film will be shown right in time for International Jazz Day 2018. This event will take place April 30, 2018 at The Museum of the City of New York from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. It is a fantastic affair for all jazz lovers!