AMERICAN MASTERS: SATCHMO: THE LIFE OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG (TV)
Summary
One in this documentary series that explores the lives and achievements of America's most celebrated native-born and adopted artists and performers. This profile of musician Louis Armstrong includes comments by friends and fellow musicians, interviews with the artist, and clips from his movies and performances. The program begins with a recording of Armstrong's "All of Me," as trumpeters Wynton Marsalis and Lester Bowie call him the "sound of America" and cite his unique combination of musical skills, singing, and stage manner. Producer George Avakian credits him with playing improvisational jazz that worked well in a musical ensemble; Marsalis says Armstrong created a new, intelligent form of music in the mid-1920s; and clarinetist Joe Muranyi stresses his complicated rhythms. Following a clip of Armstrong's first film appearance in an early short, saxophonist Bud Freeman and Armstrong himself describe the incident that led him to become the first real "scat" singer. Highlights include the following: his childhood in New Orleans, where he learned the trumpet; his first big break with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, as told by Milt Hinton; his work in Fletcher Henderson's band in New York as a blues accompanist; a clip from "Atlantic City," with a recreation of Armstrong's first hit, "Ain't Misbehavin'"; saxophonist Dexter Gordon and trumpeter Zilner Randolph discussing his lifelong use of marijuana, the trouble it got him into in Los Angeles, and the Chicago gangsters who kept him on the run for four years; clips of Armstrong in a Betty Boop cartoon and his live performance in Denmark; the origin of his nickname "Satchmo" in Europe; his association with agent Joe Glaser, who provided film opportunities normally closed to black performers; actor Tony Bennett bemoaning the fact that despite a natural talent for acting, Armstrong was used for such novelty acts as "Skeleton in the Closet"; and a film clip of Armstrong singing "Jeepers Creepers" as the first black performer on network radio. Other highlights include: changes in his music while working with Charlie Teagarden, leading to a rift with "bop" musicians Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie; his influence on Billie Holiday; clips from his television special with Gillespie, and the film "High Society" with Bing Crosby; his role as an unofficial ambassador of goodwill, known as Ambassador Satch; a clip of a performance of his protest song "Black & Blue" in Ghana; the fact that Armstrong was targeted by anti-Communist investigations and, conversely, criticized as an "Uncle Tom"; a clip of Armstrong performing "On the Sunny Side of the Street"; Bennett's recollection that Armstrong passed out laxatives to members of the British royal family after a dinner party; and clips of Armstrong performing his number-one 1964 song "Hello Dolly" on television and in the Barbra Streisand film. Bennett concludes the program by calling Armstrong, who died in 1971, the creator of "America's classical music."
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Rosalind P. Walter, 1999.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: July 31, 1989 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:56926
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Blacks - Music; Music, popular (songs, etc.); Jazz; Trumpet music; She Made It Collection (Susan Lacy); African-American Collection - Music
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1986-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- For "American Masters":
- Susan Lacy … Executive Producer
- Harlene Freezer … Coordinating Producer
- Diane DuFault … Associate Producer
- Jac Venza … Direction (Misc.), Executive Director
- For "Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong":
- Susan Lacy … Executive Producer
- Jerry Durkin … Executive Producer
- Deborah Newman … Executive Producer
- Toby Byron … Producer
- Richard Saylor … Associate Producer
- Gary Giddins … Associate Producer, Director, Writer, Based on the book "Satchmo" by
- Kendrick Simmons … Director
- Jonathan Tunick … Theme Music by
- Hattie Winston … Narrator
- Gary Giddins … Interviewer
- Van Peebles, Melvin … Performer, Louis Armstrong's words read by
- Louis Armstrong
- George Avakian
- Tony Bennett
- Lester Bowie
- Bing Crosby
- Bud Freeman
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Joe Glaser
- Dexter Gordon
- Milt Hinton
- Wynton Marsalis
- Joe Muranyi
- Charlie Parker
- Barbra Streisand
- Charlie Teagarden