Ricky Riccardi - Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong

Armstrong solos in front of his big band at the Apollo Theater in February 1942.

Photo by Charles Peterson, Courtesy of Don Peterson

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Ricky Riccardi 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Riccardi, Ricky, 1980 author.

Title: Heart full of rhythm : the big band years of Louis Armstrong / Ricky Riccardi.

Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020008383 (print) | LCCN 2020008384 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190914110 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190914134 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Armstrong, Louis, 19011971Criticism and interpretation. |

JazzNew York (State)New York19311940History and criticism. |

JazzNew York (State)New York19411950History and criticism. |

Apollo Theater (New York, N.Y. : 125th Street)

Classification: LCC ML419.A75 R46 2020 (print) | LCC ML419.A75 (ebook) |

DDC 781.65092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008383

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008384

For my ladies: Margaret, Ella, Melody, and Lily.

You know how we survived? Through humor and manipulationsubterfuge. Most comedians were actually being themselves, reflecting that manipulation. They werent acting. Louis Armstrong was criticized for Tomming, for instance, but thats the way Pops was off the stage. He was the most entirely natural man I ever met in my life. What you saw onstage was him; he acted the same way in the joints after the show was over. Anyone who calls Pops a Tom has to be among the dumbest individuals alive. Its pathetic that people dont really understand that. I resent all the criticism of those comics, because the critics dont take into consideration the era in which they grew up.

Honi Coles, 1979

Man, it makes no difference to me who thinks Im God and who doesnt. All I want to do is blow my horn the way I think is best. I want a public, not a pedestal!

Louis Armstrong, 1941

The Apollo Theater in Harlem is synonymous with some of the greatest names in African American entertainment such as James Brown, Redd Foxx, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Michael Jacksonand Louis Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong? A man seemingly vilified by the black press and who lost his black fan base over the years because of his out-of-date stage persona? A hero at the Apollo? And in the black press? The way Armstrongs story is often told, this might be difficult to fathom but its all true.

Figure P.1 The marquee for Louis Armstrongs debut at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in August 1935, the first of many such record-breaking engagements at the mecca of black entertainment.

Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House Museum

Upon his return to the United States in January 1935 after 18 months in Europe, Armstrongs first stop was the brand-new Apollo. Lip troubles prevented him from playing that evening, but his appearance shook up the theater, causing management to put up a placard stating: Coming ShortlyLouis Armstrong.

On August 30, 1935, Armstrong finally graced the Apollo stage. There was much apprehension before his appearance. It was his first New York engagement in nearly two years. He hadnt recorded in America since April 1933. He spent much of the first half of 1935 physically unable to play his trumpet. What kind of shape would he be in? Could he still hit his famed high notes? Should he retire? The black press whipped itself into a frenzy in previewing his return to Harlem. Armstrong himself knew this was a defining moment and took a snapshot of the marquee, keeping it for his personal collection.

Harlem turned out in full force for the comeback, which brought in over $10,000 for the week, shattering the theaters box-office record. Armstrong opened with Aint Misbehavin, the song that had made him a star on Broadway, immediately proving that he was back and, in the words of Abel Green in Variety, better than ever.

The love affair with Armstrong at the Apollo was only just beginning and showed no signs of letting up in ensuing years. When he returned in March 1936, Armstrong not only broke his own box-office record but, according to the Pittsburgh Courier, special police reserves were called out to handle

Variety agreed when it reviewed Armstrongs 1940 Apollo run, writing, The showmanship is still there, however, in large doses, his gravel-throated vocals, etc., helping immensely. The impact of Armstrongs showmanship on the Apollo audience was most vividly captured by black writer Peter Suskind in the New Journal and Guide in 1942:

Louis takes a deep breath, shuts his eyes tight and everybodys tense and ready. The drama in the situation pleases the master. In fact, it tickles him pink. He suddenly relaxes completely, destroying the mood and throws himself, his horn and his white handkerchief about in utter abandon. He roars in pleasure and the sweat pours on his shirt. He alternately wipes his horn and his forehead. The audience, in the meantime, is hilarious. Louis shouts back and forth to those in front and to those in the wings. What he says is meaningless, but the manner in which he says it is priceless. All this, and the worlds greatest trumpeter has yet to blow a solo note.

When Armstrong finally picked up the trumpet, Suskind assumed the results would be anticlimactic. To the contrary, the wonder of it is that he is able to take them further and further up to a peak of hysteria and literally set them in the aisles, he wrote.

The pattern continued throughout the 1940s, even with the burgeoning sound of bebop and the explosive popularity of romantic singers like Frank Sinatra and Billy Eckstine. Armstrong played to a standing-room-only crowd in April 1945, Variety noting that Armstrong provided some of the heftiest applause fodder heard at this house in some time.

Two years later, changing winds in the band business and pressure from many in the jazz world led Armstrong to disband his orchestra and form a small group with a traditional trumpet-trombone-clarinet setup. It was the end of an era, an era that needed a proper send-off; only one venue was deemed appropriate. Indeed, it is rumored about that no stone was left unturned and many out-of-town dates were cancelled so that Armstrong and