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Pops: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong (Hardcover)

by Terry Teachout (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 512 pages
  • Publisher: JR Books Ltd (25 Oct 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1906779562
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906779566
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 59,656 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #17 in  Books > Biography > Film, Television & Music > Music > Jazz
    #50 in  Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Jazz

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Product Description

Product Description

Louis Armstrong was the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century and a giant of modern music culture. He knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts, wrote the finest of all jazz autobiographies - without a collaborator - and created collages that have been compared to the art of Romare Bearden. The ranks of his admirers included Johnny Cash, Jackson Pollock and Orson Welles. Offstage he was witty, introspective and unexpectedly complex, a beloved colleague with an explosive temper whose larger-than-life personality was tougher and more sharp-edged than his worshipping fans ever knew. Wall Street Journal arts columnist Terry Teachout has drawn on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous Armstrong biographers, including hundreds of private recordings of backstage and after-hours conversations that Armstrong made throughout the second half of his life, to craft a sweeping biography of the towering figure whom Philip Larkin called 'an artist of Flaubertian purity...more important than Picasso.' 'This will stand as the ultimate biography of Louis Armstrong. Teachout has evaluated his life and work as noone else before him' - George Avakian, producer of Louis Armstrong plays W. C. Handy Terry Teachout writes about literature and the arts for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the National Review, and the Washington Post. He is the author of The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken and The Terry Teachout Reader. He lives in New York City.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Easily sets the new standard for Armstrong biographies, 11 Nov 2009
By Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Louis Armstrong stands as one of the legends of twentieth century music. During five decades as a performer he thrilled audiences with his cornet and trumpet virtuosity, while his gravelly voice made him one of the most popular and recognizable singers of his day. Such a career became the stuff of legend, making it difficult to discern the truth underneath. In this book, Terry Teachout undertakes the difficult task to sift though the legend to discover the man underneath.

In this he is aided by Armstrong, who left behind two autobiographies and numerous audio recordings. From them we learn a man unashamed of his impoverished beginnings in the 'black Storyville' neighborhood of New Orleans. The musical scene of the town's brothels and clubs provided the young Armstrong with both his early musical education and his first employment. Teachout goes on to describe his journey during the 1920s from promising young cornet player into the headlining talent he became by the end of the decade. Teachout rightly gives this period, one that saw some of his most innovative music, considerable attention, but he challenges authors such as Gunther Schuller who dismiss Armstrong's work with the big bands of the 1930s and 1940s. These decades dominate the biography, taking up eight of the book's twelve chapters. The final chapters chronicle the established entertainer who faced the win challenges of his own age and the disdainful attitude of the younger generation of musicians who followed in his giant footsteps.

In examining Armstrong's life, Teachout brings to bear his skills as detective and storyteller. He succeeds in depicting a very human yet enormously gifted performer, a talented musician who was also a superb entertainer. His book easily supersedes earlier biographies of Armstrong in its thoroughness and readability, yet it remains frustratingly incomplete by itself. For while Teachout does an admirable job of describing Armstrong's music, the book really is best enjoyed when accompanied by the songs Teachout describes. Though the author identified thirty songs in an appendix that can be downloaded by the reader, the sheer amount of music he describes warrants more comprehensive collections, such as The Best of Louis Armstrong: The Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings and The Best of Louis Armstrong: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings. It is only when listening to them in conjunction with Teachout's book that the degree of Armstrong's achievement is best understood.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book On A Wonderful Person., 24 Jan 2010
By Trevor K. Honeyball - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I purchased this book after reading the excellent reviews that it had garnered, and it certainly didn't disappoint in anyway!
If you are interested in Louis-and you wouldn't be thinking of purchasing this book if you weren't-please purchase this book.
Peter Ackroyd's book on Charles Dickens became the definitive book on the author, though a book published on Dickens this year is excellent.
Terry Teachout has now given us the definitive book on Louis Armstrong, and he has raised the bar so far with this book that it is highly unlikely to be ever surpassed.
Louis Armstrong was often regarded as an 'Uncle Tom' by many people in the African American community, this book dispels that as a myth.
Louis was a passionate supporter of 'his own peoples' rights in the U.S.A-desegregation etc, but also saw their weaknesses as well as their strengths!
A great book on a really great man, buy it now!
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4.0 out of 5 stars xmas present, 5 Jan 2010
By Mrs. M. C. Sayer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is almost text book like in detail and therefore interesting as new slants on a well known person emerge.
Great to dip in to.
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