Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong

In the 1930s, Louis Armstrong was sittin’ on top of the world. Fronting big bands such as Carroll Dickerson’s Windy City outfit and Luis Russell’s Big Apple bunch, Pops’ played plenty, recorded hit after hit, and appeared in staged musicals, black and white vaudeville houses, Hollywood movies, and countless radio broadcasts. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, money rolled in steadily for the world-famous Satchmo, but—don’t doubt it—the 1930s were a real scuffle for Pops. Having ably pioneered small-group jazz in the 1920s with his Hot Fives and Sevens, he now found himself the target of critics who moaned and groaned about his fondness for pop tunes and Broadway melodies. They complained that Armstrong was selling out his art in favor of making a grab at the golden ring of popularity. While annoying, such criticism rarely fazed the man who simply went about his business following his instincts both musically and managerially while entertaining millions along the way. What made the scuffle worse were Pops’ dealings with a shady booking agents, bodily threats from stony-faced gangsters, repeated conflicts with prominent big-city club-owners, daily indignities suffered due to systematic racial discrimination, a couple minor marijuana arrests, and—worst yet—a distressing series of health problems. One that threatened his chops was especially worrisome. He p