Armstrong commanded stages around the world, but when he was at his home in Queens, he loved recording himself, often alone and sometimes with others at the house. Riccardi describes the significance of the recordings.
“The tapes let you hear those moments where he kind of puts the smile down and just vents,” Riccardi says. Armstrong expressed his feelings in the tape recordings, rather than in public. So, Riccardi acknowledges, the tapes give us a new view of Armstrong.Armstrong’s upbringingHis father abandoned the family when he was born and his mother worked as a prostitute. Armstrong had to quit school and start working. He was arrested for the first time at 9 years old for being a “dangerous and suspicious character,” then again on New Year’s Eve, 1913, for firing a gun into the air in celebration.
“There were other soloists before Armstrong, but most of the time they just kind of paraphrase the melody and there wasn’t much improvisation,” Riccardi says. “When you listen to American pop singing in the ‘20s it’s very corny. It’s very stiff,” Riccardi says. Armstrong then “kind of busts the door down. Everything he does swings."Armstrong may be best known now for his song “What a Wonderful World.” It is one of his last recordings, and it is a song of hope, peace and simple joys. Riccardi says Armstrong viewed the song as an anthem to his neighborhood in Corona, Queens.
“While we can only guess how Bethoveen played the piano or Mozart conducted an orchestra, the sounds of Louis — singing, playing or just plain talking — will live as long as there is anyone to listen,” Cronkite says.