David Stricklin - Louis Armstrong: The Soundtrack of the American Experience

Louis Armstrong

the soundtrack of
the american experience

David Stricklin

The Library of
African-American Biography

ivan r. dee . chicago

It will be easier to understand this book if the reader can listen to the music described in these pages. Please see the section titled Recordings at the end of the book and explore the great body of work Louis Armstrong created and helped create, often with some of the most talented and innovative artists in the United States.

I make extensive use in these pages of Armstrongs own writings. He was an enthusiastic letter writer and memoirist with a distinctive, often eloquent writing style. From piece to piece in his writing, however, there is considerable variation in punctuation, spelling, and other usage practices. I quote him verbatim; the reader should not be distracted by the inconsistencies. See the Note on Sources at the end of the book for comments on various theories about Armstrongs writing.

Armstrong called himself Louis (spoken like Lewis), not Louie. He claimed that white people and those who did not know him well called him Louie, though in fairness it should be pointed out that his wives and quite a few of his friends often called him that. I am convinced that he called himself Louis, not Louie, except when singing songs that used the word or otherwise performing from a script written by someone else. As a matter of respect for the great artist, I suggest readers pronounce his name the way he did.

I wish to thank my great former professor and doctoral adviser, Bill C. Malone, for inspiration and guidance over many years of talking about music and books about music and musicians. His excellent work on Southern music has inspired countless students for decades and been a source of illumination to many general readers. One of the greatest of Bills achievements is that his writings pass muster in the scholarly community yet remain accessible to the average reader.

Special thanks to Bruce Raeburn for a sensitive reading of the manuscript and for many helpful suggestions.

I would also like to thank the many people with whom I have had the pleasure of playing music over the years, especially Pat Odom, William Daniel, Landa Sloan, Michael Jay, Gary Atchley, Ronnie Norman, Woody Kemp, Larry Barker, Allen Atkinson, Jay Walters, Warren Nelson, Dennis Keys, David Bates, Kathy Johnson, Vernon and Norman Solomon, Ernie Mills, Edward Hopkins, Bob Gregg, Steve Booth, Steve Barnes, Ken Harrell, Dick Chorley, Daryl Powell, Wes Westmoreland and family, Bill and Bobbie Malone, Russell and Nadiene Van Dyke, Mary Howell, Bob and June Lambert, Pat Flory, Charles Chamberlain, Darla R. and Eddie Durham, Barbara Cook, Michael Frisch, Doug Lambert, John Baird, Kenton Adler, Albert Junior Fulks, Danny Dozier, Micky Rigby, Jim Chlebak, Bill Worthen, Tom Fennell, Herb Rule, Mary McGowan, David Austin, and Chris Stewart.

I also want to pay tribute to my musical family: my late grandfather Meeks Stricklin, great uncles John and Will Benton, and aunt Violet Stricklin, who showed me the first guitar and piano chords I ever learned; my late parents, Betty Stricklin, who owned the first Louis Armstrong recording I ever heard, and Al Stricklin, who played music in a famous western swing band but always considered himself a jazz musician; my daughters, Annie Bowyer Stricklin and Sarah Browder Stricklin, who are truly gifted musicians; my wife, Sally Browder, who has not only taught me a great deal about music but also tolerated my often maddeningly eclectic musical tastes for more than three decades; my mother-in-law, Wilma Browder; my sisters-in-law, Gwen Richardson, Jeanine Johnson, and Peggy Collins, along with Gwens husband, Jesse Richardson, and various musical Browder grandchildren and cousins; my cousin Bill Laatsch; my niece Leigh Anne Willis Bedrich, nephews Jerry and Robert Willis, and musical great nephews and nieces; my brother-in-law Jerry R. Willis; and my sisters, Nancy Stricklin Willis and Judy Stricklin. In one way or another, through their playing and singing, they all have taught me much about music and what it means to people. To my sisters, I dedicate
this book.