Louis Armstrong : NPR

Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker played a Tiny Desk Concert together as boygenius. Bob Boilen/NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Bob Boilen/NPR

All Songs Considered

Guest DJ: boygenius

November 19, 2018 • The trio of Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers share the songs they love most and talk about the ways they inspire each other in their new band, boygenius.

Guest DJ: boygenius

Listen · 52:00 52:00

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/668747130/669119080" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

A Mother's Day Mix: Songs That Remind You Of Mom

Rita Saitta / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

All Songs Considered

A Mother's Day Mix: Songs That Remind You Of Mom

May 10, 2017 • This week we share the incredible stories listeners shared about the songs that remind them of their mothers, from Ella Fitzgerald to Shania Twain and The Mamas & The Papas.

Christian McBride's Christmas Jazz Playlist

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis' version of "We Three Kings" goes on Christian McBride's holiday playlist. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Brooks Brothers hide caption

toggle caption

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Brooks Brothers

Jazz Night In America

Christian McBride's Christmas Jazz Playlist

December 17, 2015 • These days, the host of Jazz Night In America looks for old and forgotten gems during the holiday season. He weighs in with surprisingly different and joyous tunes — plus, of course, James Brown.

Christian McBride's Christmas Jazz Playlist

Listen · 8:11 8:11

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/460164566/460166882" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Soothe your young one with our playlist of infant-inspired songs. General Photographic Agency/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

A Playlist For Newborns

July 24, 2015 • We collected your picks for the first song a newborn should hear.

Clockwise from upper left: Bright Eyes, Ed Sheeran, Louis Armstrong, Etta James, Peter Gabriel Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of the artists

All Songs Considered

Love Songs You Love To Love

February 10, 2015 • In honor of Valentine's Day, we asked for your ideal romantic songs. On this week's All Songs Considered, we count down the 10 most popular tunes that make you swoon.

Love Songs You Love To Love

Listen · 54:46 54:46

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/385174863/385243642" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Mary Lou Williams performs at the Cafe Society in New York in 1947. William Gottlieb/The Library of Congress hide caption

toggle caption

William Gottlieb/The Library of Congress

A Blog Supreme

The Women In Charge Of The Band

WFIU

March 29, 2013 • Hear five pioneering examples of women who composed for and directed their own groups.

Music Interviews

'Pops': Louis Armstrong, In His Own Words

December 2, 2009 • Jazz icon Louis Armstrong didn't just leave behind a treasure trove of musical recordings; he also documented hundreds of his private conversations on tape. Those recordings served as the basis for Terry Teachout's new biography of the legendary musician, Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong.

'Pops': Louis Armstrong, In His Own Words

Listen · 29:23 29:23

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121026170/121025406" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Review

Music Reviews

Louis Armstrong, The 'Decca Sessions'

Fresh Air

September 10, 2009 • Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new seven-disc set that chronicles the trumpeter's big band performances. Mosaic restored and remastered each of the 166 tracks from Decca Records' original recordings.

Louis Armstrong, The 'Decca Sessions'

Listen · 8:10 8:10

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112708336/112713451" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

A Thanksgiving Feast For The Ears And Eyes

Pass the Drumsticks: Thanksgiving Jazz

90.5 WESA

November 19, 2007 • Retailers everywhere already have December holiday music playing constantly. Isn't there a soundtrack for the November holiday, too? There is now. Enjoy a cornucopia of jazz that celebrates family, friends and food, featuring Louis Armstrong.

Music News

Revisiting Louis Armstrong in the Context of Civil Rights

November 22, 2006 • Time/Life recently released a retrospective box set of Louis Armstrong. The material may show why Armstrong was not just a giant of jazz music, but a civil rights leader as well.

Revisiting Louis Armstrong in the Context of Civil Rights

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6524506/6524507" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Music Lists

The Spirit of New Orleans Is in Its Music

September 9, 2005 • For many music fans, it has been hard to hear the dramatic stories coming out of New Orleans and not consider the city's rich culture. The city is steeped in music, a heritage that folklorist Nick Spitzer, who evacuated the day before Katrina hit, continues to celebrate on the air.

The Spirit of New Orleans Is in Its Music

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4839549/4839562" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

New Music

Louis Armstrong, Lotte Lenya and 'Mack the Knife'

October 25, 2003 • We listen to the only recording in which Louis Armstrong collaborated with the German torch singer Lotte Lenya. The song is "Mack the Knife."

Louis Armstrong, Lotte Lenya and 'Mack the Knife'

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1478653/1478654" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music News

Louis Armstrong Museum

October 18, 2003 • This week, on an unassuming street in the Corona section of Queens in New York, the Louis Armstrong House opened to the public. Louis Armstrong lived in that house for the last 30 years of his life, and it has been restored to the way it looked when Armstrong last lived there.

Louis Armstrong Museum

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1470620/1470621" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music News

Satchmo's Birthday

August 3, 2001 • Host Cheryl Corley has an appreciation of the jazz legend Louis Armstrong, who's 100th birthday is being celebrated tomorrow in New Orleans. There is actually a great deal of debate over Armstrong's actual date of birth, but his impact on American popular music is indisputable. (3:20

Satchmo's Birthday

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

Music Interviews

Satchmo At 100

August 4, 2001 • Scott talks with Ellis Marsalis who is retiring as the director of the University of New Orleans Jazz Studies Program. He relects on teaching jazz and the music of Louis Armstrong, whose 100th birthday is today.

Satchmo At 100

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

Music News

Director of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives, Michael Cogswell

Fresh Air

August 2, 2001 • Director of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives, Michael Cogswell. August 4th is the 100th anniversary of Armstrong's birth. The archive contains 5000 photographs, 350 pages of autobiographical manuscripts, 270 sets of band part manuscripts, 650 home-made tape recordings and more. Hear excerpts from the tapes.

Director of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives, Michael Cogswell

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

Music Interviews

Louis Armstrong

July 4, 2000 • GUESTS: CLARK TERRY * Jazz musician and bandleader, plays trumpet and flugelhorn DAN MORGENSTERN *Director of the Institute for Jazz Studies, Rutgers University LAURENCE BERGREEN *Author,Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life (Broadway Books, 1997) Louis Armstrong has been called the greatest musician of the century. While some may disagree, one thing is certain: after Louis, no one played or sang popular music the same way. Miles Davis once said that you can't play anything on the trumpet that Louis hadn't played-- even modern music. And while Armstrong may not have been gifted with a classically beautiful singing voice, the way he made a melody his own has inspired popular singers ever since; Frank Sinatra said that Louis Armstrong turned popular song into art. July 4th is the day when Armstrong's birthday is traditionally celebrated, so across the country this Independence Day, Americans will also be celebrating a hundred years of Pops. Join Juan Williams and guests for a look at the life and influence of Louis Armstrong, on the next Talk of the Nation, from NPR News.

Louis Armstrong

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Real Media

Louis Armstrong: 'The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings'

Review

Basic Jazz Record Library

Louis Armstrong: 'The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings'

August 1, 2001 • Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century, exuded joy and exuberance as a trumpet player and singer. He rose from poverty in New Orleans, before achieving worldwide fame. In this 1928 album, a young Satchmo shows the extraordinary inventiveness that put him on the map.

Louis Armstrong: 'The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings'

Listen · 5:11 5:11

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4558350/150768602" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Louis Armstrong: With Love And Grace, A Final 'Hello'

In January 1971, in one of his final performances, Louis Armstrong used "Hello Dolly" to convey the joy of being alive. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

Louis Armstrong: With Love And Grace, A Final 'Hello'

May 15, 2012 • In one of his final performances, Armstrong used "Hello Dolly" to convey the joy of being alive.

Hello Dolly

Audio is no longer available

Review

Basic Jazz Record Library

Louis Armstrong: 'The Best of the Decca Years, Vol. 1'

August 1, 2001 • In 1956, Louis Armstrong was an international star at the height of his popularity. He also was one of the first to sing in "scat" style, essentially trying to sound out the notes instead of the words. Among many treats, The Best of the Decca Years has one of the best scat solos of all time — "Up a Lazy River."

Louis Armstrong: 'The Best of the Decca Years, Vol. 1'

5:05

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4558324/150768073" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Gospel Meets Jazz, With Unpredictable Results

Don Byron released Love, Peace, and Soul with his New Gospel Quintet on Feb. 21. Till Krautkraemer/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Till Krautkraemer/Courtesy of the artist

Review

Music Reviews

Gospel Meets Jazz, With Unpredictable Results

March 12, 2012 • Two recent albums, from Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet and Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, offer contrasting perspectives on the intersection of two quintessentially American music styles.

Gospel Meets Jazz, With Unpredictable Results

Listen · 4:50 4:50

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/147519743/148467398" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong, the great jazz trumpeter and vocalist playing at the Savoy Hotel, London. Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Harrison/Getty Images

The NPR 100

'Hello Dolly'

July 30, 2000 • When Louis Armstrong recorded Hello, Dolly in 1963, he gave it his unique vocal and instrumental treatment. But he had no idea the song would become a success.

'Hello Dolly'

Listen · 7:22 7:22

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1080117/88513578" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">