"Stomp Off, Let's Go. The Early Years of Louis Armstrong" by Ricky Riccardi, due out early 2025

[EKE BBB]

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/stomp-off-lets-go-9780197614488?cc=es&lang=en&

The revelatory origin story of one of America's most beloved musicians, Louis Armstrong

How did Louis Armstrong become Louis Armstrong?

In Stomp Off, Let's Go, author and Armstrong expert Ricky Riccardi tells the enthralling story of the iconic trumpeter's meteoric rise to fame. Beginning with Armstrong's youth in New Orleans, Riccardi transports readers through Armstrong's musical and personal development, including his initial trip to Chicago to join Joe "King" Oliver's band, his first to New York to meet Fletcher Henderson, and his eventual return to Chicago, where he changed the course of music with the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings.

While this period of Armstrong's life is perhaps more familiar than others, Riccardi enriches extant narratives with recently unearthed archival materials, including a rare draft of pianist, composer, and Armstrong's second wife Lillian "Lil" Hardin Armstrong's autobiography. Riccardi similarly tackles the perceived notion of Armstrong as a "sell-out" during his later years, highlighting the many ways in which Armstrong's musical style and personal values in fact remained steady throughout his career. By foregrounding the voices of Armstrong and his contemporaries, Stomp Off, Let's Go offers a more intimate exploration of Armstrong's personal and professional relationships, in turn providing essential insights into how Armstrong evolved into one of America's most beloved icons.

 

Table of Contents
Prologue - "They're Going to Write About Me in the History Books"
1. "Just Glad to Be Here!" - 1901-06
2. "Everything Happened in the Brick Row" - 1906-10
3. "Just a Kid Who Could Use a Little Word of Kindness" - 1910-11
4. "Did That Band Swing!" - 1911
5. "Blessed Assurance" - 1911-12
6. "Hooray for Louis Armstrong!" - 1913-14
7. "A Beautiful Soul" - 1914
8. "Man, You Ain't Never Heard So Much Horn Blowin'" - 1914-15
9. "The Memory of the Bullies and Trouble Makers" - 1916
10. "My Fairy God Father" - 1916-17
11. "Just Wasn't My Time to Die, Man" - 1917
12. "Had to Eat" - 1917-18
13. "Nothing But Fuck and Fight" - 1918-19
14. "They Loved Us" - 1919
15. "Descending the Sky Like a God" - 1919-21
16. "Son, You Got a Chance" - 1921-22
17. "I Always Played Pretty Under Him" - 1922
18. "The Hot Miss Lil" - 1922-23
19. "The Little Frog-Mouthed Boy Who Played the Cornet" - 1923-24
20. "Second Trumpet to No One" - 1924
21. "Big Headed Motherfuckers" - 1924-25
22. "I Know I Can Play and I Know I Can Sing" - 1925
23. "Girl, I Think You're Crazy" - 1925-26
24. "I Got the Heebies" - 1926
25. "The Latest Novelty" - 1926
26. "Just Keep on Blowing" - 1927
27. "Awful Glorious Days" - 1927-28
28. "We Had No Idea It Was Gonna Have the Effect That It Did Have" - 1928
29. "Louis Had Changed the Whole World" - 1929
Epilogue - "I Never Did Leave New Orleans"
Index

[Big Beat Steve]

That "rare draft" of Lil Hardin Armstrong's autobiography, isn't that something that Chris Albertson had access to (and/or had been given) after Lil Armstrong's passing?

 

[Chuck Nessa]

1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

That "rare draft" of Lil Hardin Armstrong's autobiography, isn't that something that Chris Albertson had access to (and/or had been given) after Lil Armstrong's passing?

 

Correct.

[EKE BBB]

4 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Correct.

In fact, it was not something Chris had access to, it was a project he was working in and which, for some reason, was discontinued. 

This is an excerpt from an old post from Chris’ blog, back in 2010:

“As anyone who has given my blog a modest going-over knows by now, Lil Hardin Armstrong and I were good friends in the last ten years of her life. We met in September of 1961, when I was in Chicago producing a series of session for Riverside Records' "Living Legends" series, a continuation of a project started in New Orleans nine months earlier. I have posted my recollections and reflections on both trips elsewhere on this blog.

This time I am posting the first of three tape reels containing a very casual audio interview with Lil, done in 1968 as an initial step in our collaboration on her autobiography. As you may know, unforeseen circumstances halted that project and I have already posted a few excerpts from the manuscript here. (…)”

 

[gmonahan]

I guess when it's complete, Riccardi's 3-volume effort, written, interestingly enough, in reverse order, will be pretty well definitive.