Ricky Riccardi

So to me, this is Louis Armstrong's life up to 1928 in three minutes.

I mean, to me, they're all gems. But the big takeaway is that what you see is what you got. You know, the Armstrong who had the time of his life and always said he was there in the cause of happiness on stage. He's that guy offstage. He is laughing the loudest and telling the dirtiest jokes. And he's, you know, so accessible with his friends and with his family and everything.

I mean, to me, they're all gems. But the big takeaway is that what you see is what you got. You know, the Armstrong who had the time of his life and always said he was there in the cause of happiness on stage. He's that guy offstage. He is laughing the loudest and telling the dirtiest jokes. And he's, you know, so accessible with his friends and with his family and everything.

I mean, to me, they're all gems. But the big takeaway is that what you see is what you got. You know, the Armstrong who had the time of his life and always said he was there in the cause of happiness on stage. He's that guy offstage. He is laughing the loudest and telling the dirtiest jokes. And he's, you know, so accessible with his friends and with his family and everything.

with fans, you know, he had an open door policy and he would sometimes tape record those conversations and, you know, just so sweet, so genuine, so earnest. But at the same time, the tapes also showcase him as a human being. You hear him cursing, you hear him angry, you hear him upset about racism and about the way he was being treated.

with fans, you know, he had an open door policy and he would sometimes tape record those conversations and, you know, just so sweet, so genuine, so earnest. But at the same time, the tapes also showcase him as a human being. You hear him cursing, you hear him angry, you hear him upset about racism and about the way he was being treated.

with fans, you know, he had an open door policy and he would sometimes tape record those conversations and, you know, just so sweet, so genuine, so earnest. But at the same time, the tapes also showcase him as a human being. You hear him cursing, you hear him angry, you hear him upset about racism and about the way he was being treated.

And I think that's kind of the big takeaway, the big discovery for me. And I tried getting that into all three books. is that sometime Armstrong is painted as kind of a man-child, like that smiling, eye-rolling persona. People think, well, that's all he was.

And I think that's kind of the big takeaway, the big discovery for me. And I tried getting that into all three books. is that sometime Armstrong is painted as kind of a man-child, like that smiling, eye-rolling persona. People think, well, that's all he was.

And I think that's kind of the big takeaway, the big discovery for me. And I tried getting that into all three books. is that sometime Armstrong is painted as kind of a man-child, like that smiling, eye-rolling persona. People think, well, that's all he was.

He didn't really know how to navigate the world, and he needed a white manager like Joe Glazer, and he just wanted to make fans happy and smile, and he just was totally kind of ignorant about the situation.

He didn't really know how to navigate the world, and he needed a white manager like Joe Glazer, and he just wanted to make fans happy and smile, and he just was totally kind of ignorant about the situation.

He didn't really know how to navigate the world, and he needed a white manager like Joe Glazer, and he just wanted to make fans happy and smile, and he just was totally kind of ignorant about the situation.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that started early and kind of haunted him for years. And it actually clung to him to the first maybe 10, 20 years after he died. That was a big part of many of the writings about Armstrong. And all of that changed when his archives became available. You know, his archives went to Queens College in 1991.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that started early and kind of haunted him for years. And it actually clung to him to the first maybe 10, 20 years after he died. That was a big part of many of the writings about Armstrong. And all of that changed when his archives became available. You know, his archives went to Queens College in 1991.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that started early and kind of haunted him for years. And it actually clung to him to the first maybe 10, 20 years after he died. That was a big part of many of the writings about Armstrong. And all of that changed when his archives became available. You know, his archives went to Queens College in 1991.

the first writers, beginning with Gary Giddens and then all through the 90s and, you know, Winter Marsalis, of course, and the Jazz Lincoln Center tributes and the Ken Burns documentary.

the first writers, beginning with Gary Giddens and then all through the 90s and, you know, Winter Marsalis, of course, and the Jazz Lincoln Center tributes and the Ken Burns documentary.

the first writers, beginning with Gary Giddens and then all through the 90s and, you know, Winter Marsalis, of course, and the Jazz Lincoln Center tributes and the Ken Burns documentary.

All of a sudden, once people had access to these tapes and to these journals and to these scrapbooks and his unpublished writings, it was like, oh my goodness, you know, this guy, he was aware, he knew the story and he was street smart. And I think that this book, you know, kind of doing it in backwards fashion the way I did, you realize that what he learned on those streets in New Orleans was