The official opening of the Louis Armstrong Visitors Center in early July will provide a deeper dive into the life and art of one of America’s greatest musicians. Located across the street from the Louis Armstrong House Museum on 107th Street in Queens, New York, the $26 million building is now the permanent home for the 60,000-piece Louis Armstrong archives, the world’s largest collection for a jazz musician.
Circles and circular forms dominate the Center’s exhibition gallery, which features historic photographs, display cases of artifacts, interactive stations, and a projector that creates the illusion of a spinning record album where every groove tells a different story about some aspect of Armstrong’s life.
Audio plays a major role in the Center’s exhibits. Each display has its own hi-fidelity soundtrack which visitors can listen to on hand-held devices. The Center also has a 75-seat venue where live performances, lectures, films and educational experiences are presented.
View Armstrong’s Five-decade Career
The current exhibition, “Here to Stay,” takes a look at Armstrong’s five-decade career as an innovative musician, rigorous archivist, consummate collaborator and community builder— entertaining millions from heads of state and royalty to the kids on the stoop of his home in the working-class neighborhood where he and his wife Lucille lived for 28 years
