Louis Armstrong's career resurgence revealed in new book

A new book has been published, telling the story of the rise of Louis Armstrong and particularly focusing on the big band years of the 1930s and 1940s.

Using new research, Ricky Riccardi's book - Heart Full Of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong - looks at Louis Armstrong’s big band years and his transformation from a little-known trumpeter in Chicago to an internationally renowned pop star.

The new book follows the recent news that Louis Armstrong's 1948 Selma trumpet was being auctioned by Christie's, with it being expected to go for anywhere between $60,000 and $80,000.

Often overlooked and dismissed, Armstrong’s mid-career was the period that he first recorded and releases some of his most identifiable hits— like 'Jeepers Creepers, 'When You’re Smiling,' and 'When the Saints Go Marching In'. The book tells the story of how Armstrong met white popular music head-on with his undeniably and unapologetically Black sound, and how "Satchmo", in turn, was catapulted into becoming a multi-media superstar and the first “King of Pop.”

However as Riccardi shows, this pivotal era wasn't without its problems, from racist performance reviews and being held up at gunpoint by gangsters to struggling with an overworked embouchure and getting arrested for marijuana possession.

When is HEART FULL OF RHYTHM: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong released?

Ricky Riccardi's HEART FULL OF RHYTHM: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong is out now through Oxford University Press and is available as a hardback and Ebook.

Who was Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong?

Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential and charismatic artists of the 20th century. He is career lasted over five decades, which meant running with changing musical styles from the early trad-jazz of the 1920s to the 1960s. You can learn more about his life here.

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