Louie Armstrong-A Song Was Born: Biopic review

My introduction to Louis Armstrong came as a curious eight year old surfing through my step-dad's vast CD collection. My step-dad was a Jazz man. He would play his Alto Saxophone around the house before his shows. I would pause my Gameboy, and listen to him rip his fingers along those valves. He was a hell of a saxophonist, but hearing only him play, and not the full ensemble of a band, diminished the genre for me at that time. So I was unprepared for what hit me when I played that 'greatest hits' album. It was sounds so rich and full of flair, music that sprang at me, that bounced off the walls of my soul and left me spellbound. Jazz is the music of improvisation. It's a flash in the night sky. Louie Armstrong caught lightning in a bottle, harnessed that energy, and poured it out through his trumpet.

Having thoroughly immersed myself in Louis Armstrong's music and life throughout the years, there was little I didn't know about Louie before watching the Apple TV produced documentary, Black and Blue. But it was refreshing to see some of the footage and photos that have been archived out from public view. The documentary does spotlight the tragic truth about the business side of Louis' prodigious career, ugly truths about how beguiling white America was towards black artist. Like so many of that time, Louis Armstrong faced two realities, the blunt, in-your-face racism of the Jim Crow south, segregated rest rooms and stark violence, and the much more insidious discrimination and exploitation that occurred in the north. From being accosted by mobsters to being swindled by his own managers, Louis fell victim to predatory contracts and negotiation when all he really cared about was pouring his being into his horn.

And perhaps that's why Louis Armstrong is spoken of far less often than other pioneers, his easy going persona, that is. When racial friction was coming to a peak, Louie gave little social commentary on the times other than his own experiences dealing with racist. And what angered some along with his silence was his ability to come on televised interviews with white host, and to laugh about being called a nigger. While I can understand the gripes he received, to me, that was one of Louie's superpowers, his ability to laugh in the face of what whites sought to use to shame him, he was able to retain that effulgent smile and do what he loved. While others expected Louis to be angry and bitter, he chose to laugh that domineering, deep-seated, raspy, laugh and talk his shit while doing it.

Louis Armstrong may not have been the civil rights leader or advocate that people expected him to be, but he was the voice of black music. He spearheaded the Jazz era and captivated generations of artist with his ability to live in the melodic margins. He played and sung on half notes, what many musicians refer to as quarter notes. He had the sort of control of melodies that he was able to string notes and rhythms in spaces where to other musicians, there was no space, no note to play. He popularized 'scat singing,' which we now refer to as 'ad libing,' and changed Jazz as a whole. For all the negative commentary Armstrong received for his lack of speaking up, In my opinion, he said plenty. A song like 'Black and Blue,' a song I have saved in my favorites, is his 'Strange Fruit,' it's his 'Change Gonna Come.' It's a song ripe with racial identity and poses an dire question yet to be answered:

"What did I do

to be so black and blue?"

Louis Armstrong is a legend. His music lives unchallenged in the annals of time. His unique voice resonates with every true lover of the art form. My step-dad passed in my early twenties, right before I began to study and immerse myself in the music he very much loved. There's many times I wish I could discuss the many great musicians that have came and went, discuss all the shows he performed, times I wish I could hear him pour his heart into his sax, hear his rendition of that reet jungle beat from Basin Street...

The documentary did a great job highlighting the life and legacy of Louis, Pops, Armstrong.