Ricky Riccardi, who has his dream job as the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum, began his trilogy of definitive Louis Armstrong biographies with a singular purpose. He rightly felt that many critics and some fans have long underrated if not completely downgraded Armstrong’s recordings and performances of his later years, whether “later” was in the 1950s and ‘60s or even everything after 1928. As many of us know, Louis Armstrong did some of his finest playing in the 1950s when he was very much in his prime and Riccardi in his superb book What A Wonderful World: The Magic Of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years traces Satch’s remarkable career of 1947-71. This was logically followed up by his second book, Heart Full Of Rhythm: The Big Band Years Of Louis Armstrong which covers his busy 1929-46 period. And now we have Stomp Off, Let’s Go which is about the great trumpeter-singer-entertainer’s life and career from his birth until the beginning of 1929. While the books were written and released in reverse order, there is very little duplication between the three and each exists as its own very complete story while complementing each other.
Most biographies of Louis Armstrong rush through his early days since he did not record until 1923. In contrast, Stomp Off, Let’s Go does not have Armstrong leaving for Chicago and King Oliver’s band until page 188. Nearly all of the material during the first half of the book is new and quite fascinating. Drawn from Satch’s own reminiscences (whether in private tapes, recently discovered manuscripts and letters, or plenty of little-known interviews) and those of everyone from boyhood friends and associates and fellow musicians to his sister Beatrice “Mama Lucy” Armstrong, and (for the 1923-28 period) from the unfinished memoirs of Lil Hardin Armstrong.
Even with all of this information, the book would not be half as successful were it not for the expert editing (there are no slow moments in the narrative), Riccardi’s talent as a storyteller, and his ability at knowing what is important. After discussing Armstrong’s last gig and final days, he zeroes in on the question of when Satch was actually born, making a very credible case for his birthdate being July 4, 1901 as opposed to July 4, 1900 or Aug. 4, 1901. The latter was listed on his baptism record but since the baby baptized before him was given the wrong birthdate (two months later than it actually was), and since Armstrong’s mother always told him that it was July 4, it is more likely that only the 1900 year was wrong.
Throughout this continually fascinating book, Riccardi gives plenty of sources for all of the stories and unearthed facts, often also including short biographies of the other participants in Armstrong’s life. One learns the truth about the lives of his mother and sister, his relationship with his father (who he actually lived with for a short time after leaving the Waif’s Home), his often-dangerous life in New Orleans which also contained some joys, Armstrong’s occasional problems with the law, whether he actually saw Buddy Bolden play, and the physically difficult work that he engaged in from the time he was a child, being his family’s breadwinner by the time he was ten. Many who have written through the years about early jazz have romanticized New Orleans’ red light district Storyville, sometimes even saying that it was the birthplace of jazz. But in this book one learns that Storyville actually did not allow live bands (other than pianists) in the district until 1910. Readers will learn details about the vocal quartet in which Armstrong sang for pennies in the streets, the influence that Bunk Johnson had on him (although Bunk would later exaggerate everything), and King Oliver’s slow development as a cornetist. There is so much that can be learned from this book including what life was really like for Louis Armstrong at the Waif’s Home (it was not idyllic at first), his early musical jobs in New Orleans, the importance of Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and Fate Marable in his life, and his dangerous first marriage. It was not until 1920 that the greatness of Louis Armstrong’s musical talents were becoming obvious having accelerating quite a bit during his period on the steamboats with Marable.
The second half of the book, while containing some familiar episodes, is fleshed out with new anecdotes and details. Armstrong was happy for a time to play second cornet under his idol King Oliver but, after marrying Lil Hardin and gradually realizing that he was capable of more, he was persuaded by his wife to quit in 1924 even though no specific job was lined up. It did not take long for him to find work as a featured soloist with other bands in Chicago. His impact on New York musicians when he was a member of Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra during 1924-25 has often been written about but less known was the resentment of some of the musicians towards the “country boy” getting so much attention, and his feelings about not being featured as a singer and entertainer by Henderson or Oliver. The beginnings of his on-and-off relationship with Sidney Bechet (who had an understandable gripe towards Armstrong not paying him for shoes) and Riccardi’s description of their two recorded versions of “Cake Walking Babies From Home” gets it completely right. And his tales about Armstrong and Oliver playing in rival clubs across the street from each other in 1927 (with Jimmie Noone performing next door to Oliver) are what dreams are made of.
Riccardi does an expert job of summing up Armstrong’s most significant recordings of 1923-28 and he gives a lot of details about what went on behind the scenes including the strategy of the executives at the Okeh label. I could only find one error in the entire book and none in Riccardi’s first two works (although in the first book he greatly underrated the significance in the 1944 Esquire All-American concert in the evolution of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars). On page 311 of Stomp Off, Let’s Go it says that on his Hot Seven recordings of 1927 “the trombone role would be split between John Thomas and Honore Dutrey.” Actually Thomas was on all of those recordings. Dutrey was just on “Chicago Breakdown” by Louis Armstrong’s Stompers, an unrelated 10-piece group. And this book would have benefitted from the inclusion of a complete discography, but that can be found elsewhere.
Stomp Off, Let’s Go essentially ends with Armstrong’s triumphant return to New York in 1929 (which was related in memorable fashion in the second book). The Epilogue tells what happened to the key characters in the book during later years and discusses Armstrong’s relationship with New Orleans, his disgust with its continual racism, and his love for its place in his early life.
Needless to say, Stomp Off, Let’s Go, which is available from www.amazon.com and www.oup.com, is essential along with Riccardi’s first two books. Whether you are an expert on Louis Armstrong or wondering what the fuss is about, it is guaranteed that you will enjoy Ricky Riccardi’s delightful, colorful, very informative and superb trilogy.
Stomp Off, Let’s Go – The Early Years of Louis Armstrong
by Ricky Riccardi
Oxford University Press; 466 pages
academic.oup.com
Online ISBN: 9780197614518
Print ISBN: 9780197614488
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
