Satchmo

August 31, 2015 9:19 PM

When author Stephen Mailtland-Lewis was 12 years old, he wrote a fan letter to Louis Armstrong, and to his surprise, a few weeks later, he received a 4 page response back from the trumpeter. "What happened next will touch you"... For the next 18 years, until his death, Louis kept corresponding with this fan (As he did with very many others).
posted by growabrain (8 comments total)

I have a big giclee print of this photo of Louis Armstrong given pride of place in my living room, because there are few things in the world more awesome than Louis Armstrong, musician; Louis Armstrong, good person; and Louis Armstrong, exuberent embodiment of joy in art and in the artists who make it. Looking at that joy in action always lifts me up a little.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:38 PM on August 31, 2015 [9 favorites]

And I think to myself: what a wonderful guy.
posted by Segundus at 11:17 PM on August 31, 2015 [6 favorites]

As Louis Armstrong once said: Hey hey hey. Smoke weed everyday.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:56 AM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Swiss Kriss. Armstrong never stopped talking about his favourite laxative.
posted by clawsoon at 7:19 AM on September 1, 2015

Eyebrows McGee, you forgot: badass who refused to obey Scarface, and had to live abroad until the IRS caught up with Capone.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:05 AM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

When you go to his house in Queens, which has been remarkably well preserved, the docent pushes a button on the wall, and Armstrong's voice comes on to tell you something about what went down in that room. The more I learn of him, the more I love him. What an amazing, joy-filled human he was.

Heard a story that his wife Lucille wanted to move to Manhattan, and would regularly take him to visit places around Central Park that she wanted to buy. Armstrong would go look, but preferred the blue collar Queens neighborhood around 115th. Also, when he would return from touring, his bus would pull up in front of his house, and all the kids in the neighborhood would come running to help move the luggage and gear, and then he'd buy them all ice cream.
posted by dubwisened at 8:45 AM on September 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

Louis Armstrong belongs on our money, dammit. The ten, say. My favorite American.
posted by Fnarf at 1:06 PM on September 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

He was never "Satchmo."
He is, and always will be, "Pops."

The greatest jazzman of all.
posted by rdone at 2:01 PM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]