Satchmo SummerFest Presents Seminars at the Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint
Monday, July 23rd, 2012Fascinating seminars discuss the life, legacy, and music of Louis Armstrong
The premiere American Jazz Festival dedicated to the life, legacy, and music of New Orleans’ native son, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, will take place August 3 – 5 at the Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint. An impressive array of speakers will present seminars, discussions, music, and movies about the history of New Orleans Jazz and the life and music of Louis Armstrong. Enlightening presentations, discussions, and performances will be given by Richard Havers co-producer of Satchmo – a comprehensive box set of Louis Armstrong recordings, Ricky Riccardi author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years, Jason Harrelson of Harrelson Trumpets, and many more.
Satchmo SummerFest Keynote Speaker, Michael Cogswell, will open the seminar presentations with a Keynote Address. Cogswell’s presentation will explore the perceptions of Louis Armstrong through the 20th and 21st centuries. The address will also include rare and unique images and recordings from the Museum’s collections and offer insight on how Armstrong became the icon he is today.
Cogswell is the Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York City and author of Louis Armstrong: The Offset Story of Satchmo (Collectors Press, 2003). In 1991, Queens College hired Cogswell to arrange and catalog the vast collections of Louis Armstrong’s home-recorded tapes, scrapbooks, photographs, manuscripts, trumpets, and other personal items. The Louis Armstrong Archives has grown to include six collections and houses the world’s largest archive for a single jazz musician. In 1995, Cogswell administered the nine-year, two million dollar project to open the Louis Armstrong House Museum, a national historic landmark and a New York City landmark, as a historic house museum. The Louis Armstrong House opened to the public in 2003 and is a popular destination for tourists, school groups, musicians, and jazz lovers. It is the only national landmark for a jazz musician that is completely authentic and open to the public six days per week, 52 weeks per year.
Michael has made several presentations about Louis Armstrong in cities across the United States and Europe. He has also appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air, ABC-TV’s Nightline, and CBS Sunday Morning.
The Opening Reception and Keynote Address at the Hotel Monteleone will take place August 2 at 5:30 p.m. Reception tickets are $65 per person and are available for sale. Please call the French Quarter Festivals, Inc. office at (504) 522-5730 to purchase tickets.
Seminars at the Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint are scheduled from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, August 3; 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, August 4; and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, August 5. Seminars are free and open to the public. For a complete list of the seminar schedule and speakers see the attached schedule below or visit the website www.satchmosummerfest.com.
Satchmo SummerFest 2012 – Seminar Schedule
2012 Satchmo SummerFest Seminars will take place at The Louisiana State Museum’s Old US Mint
Made possible by Louis Armstrong Education Foundation
Friday, August 3rd
1pm – My Friend Satchmo – Part 1
Jazz educator, historian and Gully Low Jazz Band leader and tuba man David Ostwald interviews NEA Jazz Master Dan Morgenstern about his long friendship with Louis Armstrong – with key points in their conversation enhanced by audio and images supplied by Armstrong House archivist and jazz scholar Ricky Riccardi.
2pm – Satchmo’s Gear
Trumpeter and custom trumpet designer and builder Jason Harrelson of Harrelson Trumpets – talks about the trumpets and mouthpieces used by Louis Armstrong – and how Jason believes they affected Armstrong’s sound. Jason has played the trumpet for years and founded Harrelson Trumpets when he was just twenty years old. He started by modifying student horns and selling them to friends. Harrelson then began to offer custom modifications for a few select customers, and his reputation grew. Jason is known for bringing new technology and exciting designs to his instruments.
3pm – Gleanings from the Groove: The Exciting Music of the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band
Library of Congress archivist and outstanding jazz trombonist David Sager presents a multi-media examination of the seminal role and continued importance of the early recordings of the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band, which featured Louis Armstrong as second cornet, in his first recorded performances.
4pm - Cinematic Satch – with Ricky Riccardi – Louis Armstrong On Television
If ever there was a medium invented for Louis Armstrong, it was television. In his years studying the trumpeter, Ricky Riccardi has amassed a large collection of Armstrong’s television appearances, including rare treasures from Armstrong’s many visits to television talk shows. Join him for this special session as he screens some footage unseen since it was originally broadcast.
Saturday, August 4th
2pm – My Friend Satchmo – Part 2
Louis Armstrong House Museum Director Michael Cogswell interviews Armstrong House Museum board member and businessman Stephen Maitland-Lewis about his long friendship with Louis Armstrong – which began when Stephen was a youngster in the UK.
3pm – Digital Satchmo
Critically acclaimed British music writer and producer Richard Havers – and jazz pianist, archivist and historian Ricky Riccardi – who collaborated on last year’s widely praised ‘Satchmo: Louis Armstrong – Ambassador of Jazz’ 10-cd boxed set retrospective of Louis Armstrong’s recording career – discuss Universal’s forthcoming digital-only set of previously unreleased Armstrong material. The new recordings are being released in honor of the 2012 Satchmo SummerFest.
4pm – String Bands, Hawaii and Satchmo
New Orleans guitarist and banjoist Seva Venet and a five piece string band present an ‘informance’ about the impact of New Orleans string bands – and Hawaiian music – on early jazz and the music of Louis Armstrong.
5pm – Cinematic Satch – with Ricky Riccardi – Louis Armstrong in Europe
In his years as America’s “Ambassador of Goodwill,” Louis Armstrong enjoyed a special relationship with his European fans. Join Ricky Riccardi, author of ‘What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years,’ as he screens rare Armstrong performances from the 1930s through the 1960s, filmed in Denmark, Germany, Amsterdam, England and more.
Sunday, August 5th
1pm – Dipper and the Kid
Jazz historian John McCusker talks about the influence of trombonist Kid Ory on the development of Louis Armstrong in New Orleans, and their relationship, which stretched from 1913 until Satchmo’s death in 1971. John McCusker’s biography of Kid Ory, ‘Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz’ will be published by the University Press of Mississippi on October 2, 2012.
2pm – New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History
Tulane University Director of Special Collections and Hogan Jazz Archive Curator, Bruce Raeburn, talks about his recent book ‘New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History’ with award-winning radio producer and interviewer Fred Kasten.
3pm – Recording Satchmo
Armstrong House Trustee, attorney, and band leader David Ostwald interviews NEA Jazz Master and legendary producer George Avakian about his remarkable recording sessions with Louis Armstrong – with key points in their conversation enhanced by audio and images supplied by jazz archivist and Armstrong scholar Ricky Riccardi.
4pm -Pops in England
British writer and producer Richard Havers shares great anecdotes about Satchmo ‘across the pond’ – touching on Louis Armstrong’s tours of England in the 1930’s and post WWII.
5pm – Cinematic Satch – with Ricky Riccardi – Louis Armstrong On Film
Throughout his long career, Louis Armstrong appeared in over 30 major feature films. Louis Armstrong House Museum Archivist Ricky Riccardi will screen some highlights from Armstrong’s film career, from well-known Hollywood blockbusters like “High Society” and “The Five Pennies” to rarely seen entries such as “Satchmo the Great” and the European film “Saluti e Baci.”
