The Million Dollar Baby Dolls emerged from the same neighborhood that fostered the creativity of Louis Armstrong. There were many neighborhood groups that celebrated the City's unique holidays including many women’s groups. But the Million Dollar Baby Dolls and those who masked in this tradition provided the most novel Mardi Gras dramatics; in fact because of their endurance, they are one of the first women's street masking traditions in the United States. This presentation offers a look at the tradition during Armstrong's youth and its continuing influence on women's contemporary masking, including a Q&A panel with a few of the city's Baby Dolls.

As collaborators, they left us with only a couple of songs from one recording session plus performances from the film “New Orleans,” yet Louis Armstrong was according to Billie, one of her biggest influences. She said, “Louis just moved me so. It sounded so sad and sweet, all at the same time. It sounded like he was making love to me.” Pops said in return, “Billie Holiday thrilled me above all with her complete naturalness. She had the most unique voice and style I’d ever heard.” Joe Glaser was manager for both Pops and Billie. Film clips, audio clips, and a rare photo, will be used to explore the careers of two great musical stylists.

Louis Armstrong rose from traditions where dance, comedy, novelty, social commentary, and musical expression were intertwined. Armstrong’s artistry will be revisited through his associations with legendary dancers Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Bessie Dudley, and the comedy and singing duo Butterbeans and Susie, leading to a surprising revelation about the relevance of minstrels in contemporary black culture. Illustrations from the Luis Russell archive, plus film and audio clips, help tell the story.

Two early inspirations that Louis Armstrong found of importance during his formative years were comedian Bert Williams and tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Rare recordings, images and film footage will be offered to gain a greater appreciation of these two entertainers that not only influenced Armstrong but countless other performers regardless of their background.

Breaking down film clips of Louis Armstrong. Ricky Riccardi is the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years. He runs the online blog, “The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong,” at dippermouth.blogspot.com and has given lectures on Armstrong at venues around the world, including the Institute of Jazz Studies, the Satchmo Summerfest, the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival. In the fall of 2015, he taught a “Music of Louis Armstrong” graduate course at Queens College, in addition to hosting various listening parties at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has recently co-produced Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary: The Complete Concert for Universal Music and Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars for Mosaic Records. He is also a jazz pianist based out of Toms River, NJ and received his Master’s in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University.

Daryl Sherman and Don Vappie discuss and play recordings of songs written by Satchmo, followed by live performances.

Poets love trauma! And while Armstrong lived through plenty of tragedy, it would be wrong to call him a "tragic artist"--dying young with little recognition, addicted to drugs, etc. However, plenty of hip poets have embraced his artistry for what it was--incalculable, unfailing, exhilarating, genius. Sascha Feinstein presents a jam session of poetry, all centered around Pops.

Between 1933 and 1965 Louis Armstrong made 8 trips to Sweden, with a total of 82 concerts given for the Swedes. His visits were always eventful: in 1933 a radio transmission of an October 28 concert was recorded privately at the Royal Telephone Company, only to emerge decades later as a treasured relic; joyous rioting accompanied his arrivals at the Stockholm airport in 1949 and 1952, along with a vigorous black market of ticket scalping; in 1959 he performed a minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit concert in an airplane hangar in Sundsvall; and in 1965 he became an “honor captain” of the Fire Brigade in Malmö. In this presentation, Björn Bärnheim explains why Sweden so often became Louis’s first stop on European tours and how the Swedes developed an abiding love of all things Armstrong.

An emotional highlight of the 2013 Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans as legendary record producer George Avakian was interviewed by Louis Armstrong historians Ricky Riccardi and David Ostwald about a 9-CD boxed set of live recordings of Armstrong that Avakian produced in the 1950s. Towards the end of the interview, the 94-year-old Avakian listens to audio of a conversation he had with Armstrong in 1956, resulting in a beautiful moment and a record-length standing ovation for the Satchmo Summerfest.

Author Mick Carlon (TRAVELS WITH LOUIS; RIDING ON DUKE’S TRAIN; GIRL SINGER) talks about the effect Louis Armstrong had on a group of non-Nazi youth in 1936 Berlin; about the fervent (and gifted) Armstrong disciple Ruby Braff; and how Louis’ 1930’s Hawaiian recordings cemented a friendship.

It's a very exciting time for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, New York. Thanks to a $2.7 million grant, efforts have been underway to digitize the Museum's monumental Research Collections, the world's largest archives for a single jazz musician. LAHM Director of Research Collections Ricky Riccardi and Research Collections Manager Sarah Rose will be on hand to describe the digitization effort, share some of the discoveries that have come to light during the process and unveil the exciting ways the treasures from the collections will be utilized both on the web and in the Museum's new Education Center, set to open in 2019!

In 2016, the Louis Armstrong House Museum acquired the original typewritten manuscript of Louis’s seminal autobiography, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. Adriana Filstrup, the Museum’s Visitor Services Manager, spent dozens of hours with the manuscript in conjunction with her master’s thesis. In this presentation, Filstrup, as one of the few people who have seen the original version, will illustrate the differences between the archived original manuscript of Louis's autobiography, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans and the final version, in addition to other observations she has made about Louis’s writing style.

What went on in the mind of Louis Armstrong? Of course, it is impossible to know what anyone is truly thinking, but that has not stopped Armstrong’s critics from speculating on his feelings. Was he as happy as he looked, or was his ubiquitous smile hiding the inner thoughts of a brooding, bitter man? Interestingly, for many critics focusing on Armstrong’s singing and stage show, he appears as a fraud, an entertainer wearing the mask of a happy minstrel. But when focusing on his trumpet playing, Armstrong is believed to reveal his authentic self, offering a glimpse behind the mask into the mind of a true artist. In this presentation, I challenge this imposed diagnosis of schizophrenia, first by carefully considering Armstrong’s own reflections on his persona, and second by considering his behaviors within the larger context of Jim Crow and anti-black racism that conditioned his behavior.

The rhythm guitarist, author and raconteur Danny Barker (1909-1994) could read a room like no other writer in jazz. His descriptions of fellow musicians — their talents, proclivities and careers — are sharply focused case studies. Barker’s rendering of bandleaders Joe “King” Oliver, Fletcher Henderson and Jelly Roll Morton at the Rhythm Club in New York City in 1930 is a highlight of his memoir, “A Life in Jazz.” He later worked with Louis Armstrong before returning to New Orleans for good in 1965 and spoke warmly of the jazz trumpeter for the rest of his life. But Barker was the first to concede that there was a limit to his understanding of the man behind the genius. Both musicians were born and raised in New Orleans and each devoted his life to jazz. But their career trajectories were markedly different. In 1971, Barker suggested that it may be impossible for any person to understand Armstrong fully because of the singularity of his talent and life experiences. Journalist Gwen Thompkins, host of public radio’s “Music Inside Out,” will explore the relationship between the two men and what may have prompted Barker in 1971 to say, “You can’t figure Louis,” adding, “There’s more than one Armstrong.”

Breaking down film clips of Louis Armstrong. Ricky Riccardi is the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years. He runs the online blog, “The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong,” at dippermouth.blogspot.com and has given lectures on Armstrong at venues around the world, including the Institute of Jazz Studies, the Satchmo Summerfest, the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival. In the fall of 2015, he taught a “Music of Louis Armstrong” graduate course at Queens College, in addition to hosting various listening parties at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has recently co-produced Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary: The Complete Concert for Universal Music and Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars for Mosaic Records. He is also a jazz pianist based out of Toms River, NJ and received his Master’s in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University.