Pops died on this date in 1971

[slide_advantage_redoux]

An email from a friend pointed out that tuesday was the anniversary of the death of Louis Armstrong. He passed away on July 4

May the memories of him never pass.

Edited July 6, 2006 by slide_advantage_redoux

[jazzbo]

Actually it was July 6, 1971 that he passed away. . .35 years ago.

May the memories of Pops never diminish!

[Harold_Z]

Actually it was July 6, 1971 that he passed away. . .35 years ago.

May the memories of Pops never diminish!

I'll second that!

[catesta]

In the next few days I will lay a flower at his grave from all of us here at the org board.

[jazzbo]

THANKS Chris!

[bertrand]

He was a giant.

Bertrand.

[Rooster_Ties]

Lord, I didn't realize that "Satchmo" was on his grave-marker. Yikes!!

Did anyone here ever meet the man??

How far "in the know" did one have to be to refer to him as Pops? Was that pretty much exclusively a musician thing? And how far back did the "Pops" vs. "Satchmo" thing go? (Or rather, when did the "insider's" nickname "Pops" come into play?)

[Chuck Nessa]

IIRC, I heard the news driving back from Mpls/St Paul to Madison. We'd gone there to witness a performance conducted by another "personal idol" Jascha Horenstein. We were to have dinner with him after the concert. JH had a violent heart attack on stage in the middle of the concert. The drive back the next day was really depressing.

[Harold_Z]

Did anyone here ever meet the man??

I had "fan" contact when I was a teenager. I saw him live several times and got his autogrpah each time. usually on a program or an 8X10. He was always friendly and warm. When I was in high school I played trumpet and was in marching band and took lessons (never worked out in the long run - I became a bass player). I told Louis I played trumpet. He smiled and said in that marvelous voice "Keep blowin' Pops". HE called everyone pops. AND he was Pops. Nothin'[ but good vibes from my contacts with him.

[Harold_Z]

Just to add to my post above - I was fortunate enought see Louis with Trummy Young, Barney Bigard, Billy Kyle, Arvell Shaw and Danny Barcellona. The female vocalists were on varying occasions either Jewel Brown or Laverne Baker.

My God. What wonderful memories.

Many years later I had the good fortune to work opposite Arvell at Jimmy Weston's on 53rd St in NYC. He was either with Dorothy Donegan or Hazel Scott. Both worked there frequently and I really can't be sure, but I think it was Dorothy. Arvell was a nice cat too. Rudy Collins, another nice cat, was the regular drummer (different guys subbed. Sometimes Ray Mosca or Roy Haynes, for example).

Edited July 7, 2006 by Harold_Z

[John L]

35 years already. Wow!

I really regret having never seen Pops. But his records do me just fine.

[Kalo]

Wow. I was ten years old at the time, and not yet a jazz fan, but I remember hearing about it.

Arguably the greatest musician of the 20th century.

[flat5]

I was walking in the Tenderloin district (San Francisco) with Benny Harris, trying to keep him from drinking :-)

We're doing ok until we see a newpaper vending machine. On the front page we read that Louis Armstrong has died. Benny starts crying. He knew Louis.

Then we ran into Michael Kopec, a very sentimental trumpet player.

At that point I gave up hope of keeping Benny dry that day.