SATCHMO’S PRIVATE TAPES

Trumpeter and singer, Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, U.S.A., on August 4th, not July 4th as some believed. A charismatic performer, he reached worldwide fame helped by a string of Hollywood movies. But that obscured his considerable musical influence, a fact acknowledged by peers and new generations of musicians. His house in Queens, New York, is now a museum displaying memorabilia and curious hobbies, like the hundreds of tapes he recorded of casual conversations with wife and friends. Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Sinatra were among his honorary pallbearers. He’s buried in the Flushing Cemetery, New York.