Louis Armstrong: Behind the Music
Sir Michael Parkinson profiles one of his heroes - Louis Armstrong - the quintessential jazz trumpeter.
Sir Michael Parkinson profiles one of his heroes - Louis Armstrong - a man famed for his charismatic stage presence and instantly recognisable voice, almost as much as for his trumpet playing. Satchmo's influence extends well beyond jazz music and, by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a major influence on popular music in general.
Away from the trumpet, Louis married four times, raised a severely disabled adopted son, and became obsessed with the health benefits that could be derived from taking laxatives. We also hear how this descendant of slaves, went on to cancel a planned tour of the U.S.S.R. on behalf of the State Department, saying that he couldn't represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people at home.
"What we play is life" he once said, and so the programme covers the whole gamut of Armstrong's music as we try and understand that life, with classis including: What a Wonderful World, Hello Dolly, When The Saints Go Marching In, and We Have All the Time in the World.
The programme features a whole host of new interviews, including broadcaster and musician Digby Fairweather; jazz singer Cleo Laine; Armstrong's road manager (later manager) Oscar Cohen; his former producer at Columbia, George Avakian; band leader Chris Barber; Dan Morgenstern from the US Institute of Jazz Studies; and jazz musician David Ostwald.
The programme also hears from those who heard him play live, takes a tour of The Louis Armstrong House Museum, and hears from today's jazz musicians as they prepare for the regular Armstrong session at the Birdland Jazz club in New York.
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Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00Louis Armstrong
We Have All The Time In The World
- EMI.
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00:02Louis Prima
When You're Smiling
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00:07Louis Armstrong
Alexander's Ragtime Band
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00:12Louis Armstrong
C'est Si Bon
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00:15Louis Armstrong
Hear Me Talkin' To Ya
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00:18Louis Armstrong
When It's Sleepy Time Down South
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00:21Louis Armstrong
Chicago Breakdown
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00:26Oscar Peterson & Louis Armstrong
St Louis Blues
- Satchmo the Great [Columbia].
- Blue Night Records.
- 22.
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00:29Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven
Potato Head Blues
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00:30Louis Armstrong
Ain't Misbehavin'
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00:34Louis Armstrong
Shine
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00:38Louis Armstrong
Tiger Rag
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00:39Louis Armstrong
Panama
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00:40Louis Armstrong
A Kiss To Build A Dream On
- Sleepless In Seattle (Soundtrack-1993.
- Epic.
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00:41Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Dream A Little Dream Of Me
- Decca.
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00:42Louis Armstrong
Mack The Knife
- It's All In The Game.
- Fantastic Voyage.
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00:43Louis Armstrong
BIBBIDI-BOBBIDI-BOO
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00:46Louis Armstrong
Body and Soul
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00:48Louis Armstrong
Hello, Dolly!
- Housewives Choice (Various Artists).
- Music & Memories.
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00:50Louis Armstrong
As Long As You Live You'll Be Dead If You Die
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00:52Louis Armstrong
When The Saints Go Marching In
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00:54Louis Armstrong
What A Wonderful World
- NOW That's What I Call Timeless... The Songs (Various Artists).
- Now.
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00:56Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Can't We Be Friends
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