The Life of Louis Armstrong by Wendie C. Old

Author:Wendie C. Old [Old, Wendie C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780766061446
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2014-03-11T04:00:00+00:00

a smallish but power-packed figure prowling the stage restlessly, menacingly almost, and growling and gesticulating when he was not playing, singing or talking into the microphone. He addressed his trumpet as though it had life of its own (Speak to ’em, Satchmouth), and controlled the band with faintly alien instructions like “Way down, way down,” “Keep muggin’ . . . lightly, lightly and politely,” and “Swing, swing, swing, you cats.”8

By this time his manager knew to keep twenty to forty fresh handkerchiefs backstage. Armstrong used them not only to keep the sweat out of his eyes and off the trumpet but also to give signals to the band. It was also a great piece of stage action. That flash of white kept the audience’s eyes always on him.

He returned to the United States in November, just after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president. Although Armstrong needed to rest his lip, Collins continued to overbook him. He appeared in Connie’s Hot Chocolates of 1932 for a few weeks. He quit the show after his lip finally split as he played the song “Them There Eyes.”

Armstrong treated his injury with home remedies—from a useful lip balm to others more painful and more dangerous. Friends said the sore was so large and raw it looked as if he had a strawberry on his lip. After a short rest to let his lip begin to heal, Collins booked him on tours throughout the United States and then back to Europe in August. This time he would stay for eighteen months.

Armstrong could no longer work with Collins, who was drinking too much and keeping all of Armstrong’s income. He was not paying Armstrong’s bills or sending money to Lil. Armstrong fired his manager and used English and European promoters to arrange bookings in Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Ten thousand screaming fans greeted him in Denmark.

From April through October 1934, Armstrong took the longest vacation of his life. He rested his sore lip in sunny Paris, France, where there was no prejudice against black people. He returned to the United States in January 1935.

He went to his old friend Joe Glaser, who used to manage the Sunset Cafe in Chicago, for advice about getting a new manager. They both decided Glaser would be the perfect man, and he was. Until his death, Glaser remained Armstrong’s manager. He was unusual in that he was the only white music manager who would travel in the same bus with his African-American client.

An interview in Down Beat magazine in June 1935 quoted the cheerful Armstrong as saying, “My chops is fine, now . . . and I’m dying to swing out again. They gave me a new trumpet over in Europe, and I’ve got a smaller mouthpiece than I had on my old horn. . . . I’m all rested up and dying to get going again.”9

Glaser encouraged Armstrong to emphasize himself as an entertainer, singer, and musician. This brought in more money than a simple musician could earn.

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