Michael Cogswell, founding Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum died on April 20th at 66 years old. The cause was complications from bladder cancer. He was born in Buffalo New York, but spent much of his childhood in rural Virginia.
He started playing saxophone in high school and quickly became good enough to leave college to pursue an 18 year professional career in jazz and rock bands. When he did returned to school he studied music in Virginia, then at the University of North Texas where he created a "Jazz History" degree for himself and followed it up with a Masters of Library Science from Queens College.
Though he had been interested in Free Jazz, even writing a thesis on Ornette Coleman, and his playing career had been varied, when the opportunity arose to archive Louis Armstrong materials he immersed himself completely in his subject. He described the experience of coming to recognize the true significance of Louis Armstrong as being “like Saul on the road to Damascus.”
His life's work was to be joining a great archive held by Queens College with the uniquely wonderful Louis Armstrong House and sharing the many gifts left by Louis Armstrong with New York City and the world.
A year after they were married in 1942, Louis Armstrong and his fourth wife Lucille moved into 34-56 107th Street, Corona in the New York City borough of Queens and lived there
