© Rankin for the Recording Academy

Ricky Riccardi is the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and author of three acclaimed biographies of the trumpeter, the most recent being Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong. He has won two GRAMMY Awards for “Best Album Notes,” has lectured around the world, and teaches Armstrong courses at Queens College and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Schedule

10:00 am to 10:45 am
State Library, First Floor Seminar Center
Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong
Ricky Riccardi with moderator Gwen Thompkins

11:00 am to 11:45 am
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong

The revelatory origin story of one of America's most beloved musicians, Louis Armstrong

How did Louis Armstrong become Louis Armstrong?

In Stomp Off, Let's Go, author and Armstrong expert Ricky Riccardi tells the enthralling story of the iconic trumpeter's meteoric rise to fame. Beginning with Armstrong's youth in New Orleans, Riccardi transports readers through Armstrong's musical and personal development, including his initial trip to Chicago to join Joe "King" Oliver's band, his first to New York to meet Fletcher Henderson, and his eventual return to Chicago, where he changed the course of music with the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings.

While this period of Armstrong's life is perhaps more familiar than others, Riccardi enriches extant narratives with recently unearthed archival materials, including a rare draft of pianist, composer, and Armstrong's second wife Lillian "Lil" Hardin Armstrong's autobiography. Riccardi similarly tackles the perceived notion of Armstrong as a "sell-out" during his later years, highlighting the many ways in which Armstrong's musical style and personal values in fact remained steady throughout his career. By foregrounding the voices of Armstrong and his contemporaries, Stomp Off, Let's Go offers a more intimate exploration of Armstrong's personal and professional relationships, in turn providing essential insights into how Armstrong evolved into one of America's most beloved icons.