{"id":5465,"date":"2021-10-05T01:12:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T06:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=5465"},"modified":"2021-10-05T01:12:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T06:12:36","slug":"louis-armstrong-and-the-traces-of-minstrelsy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2021\/10\/05\/louis-armstrong-and-the-traces-of-minstrelsy\/","title":{"rendered":"Louis Armstrong and the Traces of Minstrelsy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louis Armstrong is perhaps one of the most well known and respected jazz musicians\"\" of all time. As a trumpet player and vocalist, he played a large role in the development of jazz, and his music had a lasting impact on the genre. He used his trumpet as an extension of his voice, popularized scatting after forgetting the words to \u201cHeebie Jeebies\u201d in 1926, and developed the individual solo aspect of jazz playing.1<\/a> With his soulful playing and cheerful stage presence, he captivated audiences around the globe.His contemporaries looked up to him for his artistry, although his music-making did not go without criticism from others. Known for his wide grin and cheerful, silly stage persona, as can be seen in this caricature drawn by Makoto Wada3<\/a>, this aspect of Armstrong’s playing was controversial because it evoked traces of minstrelsy in his performance.<\/p>\n

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The 1932 short film, Rhapsody in Black and Blue<\/i>, displays these traces well. Armstrong plays jazz in a dreamland called \u201cjazz mania\u201d while depicting African Americans as “savage” along with other stereotypes. As a response to Armstrong’s stage presence, Miles Davis said of him, \u201cI loved Satchmo, but I couldn\u2019t stand all that grinning he did.\u201d, while others accused him of being an \u201cUncle Tom\u201d.2<\/a><\/p>\n

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