Louis Armstrong: An American Genius (Paperback)

by James Lincoln Collier (Author)
Key Phrases: correlated chorus, blues accompanist, new hot music, New Orleans, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Destined to become one of the enduring jazz reference works."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"The definitive account of Armstrong's life. Collier is a tough, unblinkered critic."--The Washington Post
"By far the most thoughtful and articulate study to date of a much misunderstood titan of jazz."--The Nation
"A masterful critical biography--sophisticated in its contexts, shrewd yet sympathetic, rich in its supporting cast...and splendidly conscientious in the delicate balance between character and culture."--Kirkus Reviews
"The most comprehensive account yet of the man who all but invented swing."--Newsweek


Product Description

Louis Armstrong. "Satchmo." To millions of fans, he was just a great entertainer. But to jazz aficionados, he was one of the most important musicians of our times--not only a key figure in the history of jazz but a formative influence on all of 20th-century popular music. Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York during the "jazz age", Collier re-creates the saga of an old-fashioned black man making it in a white world. He chronicles Armstrong's rise as a musician, his scrapes with the law, his relationships with four wives, and his frequent feuds with fellow musicians Earl Hines and Zutty Singleton. He also sheds new light on Armstrong's endless need for approval, his streak of jealousy, and perhaps most important, what some consider his betrayal of his gift as he opted for commercial success and stardom. A unique biography, knowledgeable, insightful, and packed with information, it ends with Armstrong's death in 1971 as one of the best-known figures in American entertainment.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 10, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195037278
• ISBN-13: 978-0195037272
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,460,785 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive Satchmo biography, December 10, 2004

By	Wagner F. Sacco (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Collier did a great job! His historiography is as brilliant as ever. It seems to me that the mainstream of Jazz so-called "scholars" don't like Collier because he's got no race bias and because of his impartiality. Actually, Mr. Collier is the best American writer on the subject, as he knows musical theory and is also a fine researcher.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool as, December 2, 2008

By	Edwin J. Morris "Ed Morris" (Gympie, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Whatever else you might want to know about Louis Armstrong, the chances that you'll find anything else as comprehensive and unbiased as this are slim indeed. This is made the more so because of the many other unreliable texts there are available, many of them drawing uncritically on what Armstrong himself said, much of which has been shown to be unreliable. Collier does a fine job of walking the line between serious music critic and biographer.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just someone showing off about how much he read about jazz History, November 2, 2006

By	Segundo Jose Broggi Muro (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was completely disapointed by this book. SInce the begining the author is only taking advantage of the trapped reader to show him how much he knows about the origins of technical jazz. There is really little about Louis and his lif per se. The author rather gives a rough background stating that little is known (he shouldn't have written a book about such a personality if little was known about him)and the few facts that he states he refutes arguing they are not true or completely true. Even refering to Louis autobiography trying to demonstrate that the artist himself was wrong in his own words.

Just a well written account of Jazz origins dressed up as a Louis Armstrong Biography, maybe the only way James Lincoln Collier could sell a copy. Disguising the buyer and cheating on the reader.

Strongly not recomended !!!