Armstrong

Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong (1900-71), born in poverty and brought up in an orphanage, dominated one of the key art forms of the 20th century: jazz. He earned the awestruck admiration of a global audience, crossing the boundaries of geography, politics and race. His inimitable voice, the poetry of his trumpet and his mastery of improvisation made him 'Mr Jazz'. David Bradbury's new biography brings New Orleans, the 'Crescent City on the Mississippi' which shaped 'Little Louis', to life. The story winds its way through Chicago, the gangster town of the Prohibition era where he became a member of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in 1922; to the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York; and to 1946, when he starred in his first movie. Bradbury's book is wonderfully alive and musically authoritative.