Pops

Terry Teachout modestly describes Pops as a “synthesis” of other scholars’ research (p. 380). It is true that Louis Armstrong's fascinating story, from his impoverished childhood in New Orleans to his incredible achievement as a jazz innovator to his later success as a pop star and movie actor, has been covered in whole or in part by many other works, including James Lincoln Collier's controversial “psychobiography” (p. 374), Louis Armstrong: An American Genius (1983), Gary Giddins's excellent short study Satchmo (1988), and Armstrong's own Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans (1954), about which Teachout argues that “no major jazz musician has produced a better book” (p. 303). While Teachout's account offers few surprises for readers familiar with such studies, it also demonstrates considerable original research, with special attention paid to the massive collection of private tapes—featuring “hours and hours of casual chat”—that Armstrong obsessively amassed during his later life (p. 291). Moreover, Teachout's incisive, engaging prose makes Pops a pleasure to read and a welcome addition to the list of Armstrong biographies

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