STOMP OFF, LET'S GO

How a young Louis became the first King of Pop.

Riccardi, director of research collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum and author of two books on the great jazz trumpeter, explores Armstrong’s formative years. With the assistance of new primary sources, he takes on numerous rumors and biographical discrepancies about Armstrong and others in his life. Written in an easygoing, detail-laden, conversational style and relying extensively on Armstrong’s own writings, Riccardi portrays a boy from New Orleans “abandoned by his father, working two jobs, going to school, no shoes on his feet, sometimes with nothing to eat, living in a single-room flat, smack in the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow South.” It was at an orphanage (his parents, still alive, were separated) that the 12-year-old fell in love with music and learned to play the cornet. After hauling coal all day, he played in honky-tonks, eventually putting a band together and getting paid. In 1917 he found a steady gig in a band and began using his signature white handkerchief. He also pimped a little, got stabbed, got arrested, and was gifted a good cornet. Riccardi captures Armstrong’s youthful excitement after joining Kid Ory’s band. He loved playing with the Marable band before crowds on excursion boats and with King Oliver and His Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, playing alongside pianist Lillian Hardin, his future wife. Armstrong would make his first recordings with them in 1923. Riccardi nicely chronicles Armstrong’s rise to stardom as he becomes an exceptional trumpet player, joining one great band after another while mastering his “garbling up and scatting,” blending jive and polishing his witty, outgoing personality. He also provides insightful information about how the music itself and bands were evolving over these years.

Riccardi leaves no stone unturned in this expansive biography that jazz fans will enjoy.