Music Is My Life: Louis Armstrong, Autobiography, and American Jazz

Contents

Contents introduction “Music is my life, and I live to play” Louis Armstrong’s Jazz Autobiographics / 1 chapter 1 “I have always been a great observer” New Orleans Musicking / 30 chapter 2 “I done forgot the words” Versioning Autobiography / 66 chapter 3 “Diddat Come Outa Mee?” Writing Scat and Typing Swing / 108 chapter 4 “A happy go lucky sort of type of fellow” The Productive Ambiguities of Minstrel Sounding / 145 chapter 5 “He didn’t need black face—to be funny” The Double Resonance of Postcolonial Performance / 183 chapter 6 “My mission is music” Armstrong’s Cultural Politics / 227 conclusion “What do you know about that?” Final Thoughts on “Laughin’ Louie” / 258 notes / 273 suggested listening / 325 suggested further reading / 327 index / 335 ...