Details
Synopsis
Louis Armstrong's IN HIS OWN WORDS isn't so much a memoir as a series of vignettes of his life, told in his own inimitable voice (or rather typed in his own idiosyncratic way while he was hospitalized in the late 1960s). He hymns the wonders of laxatives and "gage," his word for marijuana, with equal fervor, has bouts of irascibility at his race, and expounds on his own theories about slavery, taking time to retell a few harrowing tales of lynchings and to contrast the behavior of "white trash" with his own beloved Karnofsky family, who bought him his first horn to drum up trade for their rag and bone business. In distinctive, colorful prose, Armstrong reconstructs his New Orleans childhood and his beginnings as a jazz musician, and recalls lurid anecdotes from later in his career. Although, as editor Thomas Brothers's informative commentary says, the jazz legend's memory for dates and events may frequently be unreliable, his true character shines through in every line, frequently belying his cheerful, grinning public persona to reveal an incisive and acute intelligence.
| Size | | Height: | 9.3 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 7.2 oz |
Industry Reviews
"Brothers, who teaches music at Duke University, is a skillful and sensitive editor, and though some of the pieces he includes have previously seen print, this is the first time they have appeared in authoritative texts in which Armstrong's flavorful orthographic peculiarities are scrupulously preserved. The only things wrong with "Louis Armstrong, In His Own Words" are that it does not contain more letters and is not twice as long. The additional articles listed in the appendix could easily fill a second volume. "
Teachout
"Selected writings of the most influential figure in American music are authoritatively edited by Thomas Brothers in LOUIS ARMSTRONG IN HIS OWN WORDS (Oxford)."
Giddins
"The joy he took in expressing himself on paper is abundantly evident."
New Yorker (12/01/2000)
"The big bands are here; all the great players are here; all the bandleaders, managers, and promoters that Armstrong admired are mentioned. Armstrong tells wonderful stories of how he met each man or woman, and what he thought of their musical accomplishments. He tells where they originated, what experiences they had while they were coming up, and what happened to them later, including which ones drank too much and which ones died too young."
Bloomsbury Review - Mimi MacFarland (01/01/2000)
|
)
)
)
)
)
All rights reserved.
