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Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia.

Article Excerpt
Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia. By Michael Meckna. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. [x, 432 p. ISBN: 0-313-30137-9. $65.] Illustrations, discography, chronology, filmography, bibliography, index.

Though music encyclopedias are somewhat commonplace, those devoted to individual musicians are less so; rarer still is one whose subject is a single jazz musician. In this regard, Michael Meckna's Satchmo is a first, an encyclopedia devoted entirely to legendary jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong (1901-1971). Nearly 35 years have passed since his death, but Armstrong and his legacy are still very much alive and with us. A performer and musician whose life and accomplishments left an indelible stamp on the twentieth century's musical landscape, Armstrong's influence and popularity--already the stuff of legend--show no signs of waning at the onset of the twenty-first century.

For many Armstrong is revered as the quintessential jazz musician, an icon, the very embodiment of the art form itself--jazz journalist and historian Dan Morgenstern refers to him as "King Louis" (Ole Brask, Jazz People [New York: Da Capo Press, 1993]). Armstrong's life, his musicianship, and his impact on jazz and beyond continue to be the subject of numerous films, books, essays, and research. Notwithstanding this formidable canon, Meckna has now undertaken the daunting task of distilling a good portion...

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