Clearance: Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story (shelf-worn, cover taped at top corner)

(shelf-worn, cover taped at top corner)
A collection of photos, transcripts, and writings offer an inside look into the life of the jazz musician known as Satchmo.

This is the "official book" of the Louis Armstrong House and Archives, marking its October 15, 2003, grand opening as a national historic museum. That is to say, it is a souvenir book. But what a souvenir book! One culmination of Cogswell's 12-year labor of ordering and cataloging the great jazzman's belongings, it is loaded with some 300 previously unpublished photographs of the trumpeter and his associates; of the house, inside and out; and of letters, other writings, and the collages of photos and clippings that Armstrong created in his spare time. Cogswell presents these in chapters devoted to Armstrong's career, the house, the archives, and "Discoveries"--that is, things that record forgotten and under-documented aspects of Armstrong's life. Sections within each chapter home in on particular topics, making for an exceptionally browsable book, for which Cogswell's plain writing is pretty much ideal. An invaluable, keenly lovable treasure-trove about a great American, marred only by far too many typos. Ray Olson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Reviews: 

2003 Gold Winner, Book of the Year Award (Performing Arts) -- Foreword Magazine

2003 Independent Publishers Book Award Honorable Mention (Performing Arts) -- Independent Publishers Association

This book offers an unrivaled opportunity to revel in his warmth and charm. Put it on your Christmas List. -- ArtsJournal.com, October 6, 2003