Satchmo SummerFest
Satchmo SummerFest
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Satchmo SummerFest is a four-day extravaganza of food, fun, and, of course, music in New Orleans, Louisiana. The festival commemorates the birth date of native son and jazz icon Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
Historical Background
Louis Armstrong was born in 1901 into an impoverished family in an area known as "The Battlefield" in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned the nickname "satchel mouth," later abbreviated to "Satchmo," because of his big-mouthed grin. For having fired a gun into the air one New Year's Eve, he was confined to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys - a serendipitous occurrence, because it was there that he received training in singing, percussions, the bugle, and coronet. Upon his release in his early teens, he worked various menial jobs during the day and frequented music venues at night, playing coronet when the opportunity presented itself. By 1919, Armstrong was employed as a horn player in the Kid Ory Band, and his professional career began.
To detail Armstrong's individual accomplishments would be daunting. His legacy includes a body of work that consists of numerous recordings - of which countless are considered to be classics - television and film credits, autobiographies, and magazine articles. Armstrong popularized "hot solos" and ushered in both the eras of the sounds of big band and swing. Satchmo's special style inspired youths to believe that a trumpet could be considered cool. It was said his vocalizations prompted other singers to try to catch colds in order to imitate his special sound. Armstrong was one of the first to sing "scat," improvising somewhat nonsensical musical sounds in harmony with melodies that other singers such as Ella Fitzgerald went on to make famous. With all of his contributions to jazz, there are many who wonder whether the genre would be anything even remotely close to what it is today had it not been for Louis Armstrong.
Jazz is a musical style created in America, but its roots come from Americans of African heritage. The music has a basis in a host of predecessors: spirituals, field shouts, sorrow songs, blues, and ragtime. It originated in African-American communities near the turn of the 20th century. Initially, it was slow to catch on, in part, because even the term "jazz" had associations implying loose morals.
However, by the early decades of the 20th century, the syncopated rhythms and harmonic tempos prevailed, and jazz became a widespread form of popular music throughout the United States and Europe. Since then, jazz styles and forms have continued to evolve throughout the years. Among its various metamorphoses have been New Orleans/Dixieland jazz, swing, bop/bebop, progressive/cool jazz, neo-bop/hard-bop, third stream, mainstream modern, Latin-jazz, jazz-rock, avant-garde/free jazz and more. While the popularity of jazz has waxed and waned over the decades, jazz is still considered to be uniquely American music, and Louis Armstrong was (and in many senses remains) America's representative - or "Ambassador Satchmo," as he was called - to the world for this musical art form.
Creation of the Festival
French Quarters Festivals, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that has been hosting the Satchmo SummerFest since its inception in 2001. The first event was meant to be just a one-time occurrence, in honor of Louis Armstrong's 100th birthday. Surprised at its success, the organizers decided to build upon the first year's agenda and schedule additional activities. Before long, it became an annual festival, bringing together many facets of Armstrong's life: the music he made famous, the food he loved to eat and advertised (going as far as closing much of his personal correspondence with "Red Beans & Ricely Yours"), his commitment to children, and his devotion to his city, its unique culture, and people.
Observance
A vast majority of Satchmo SummerFest events are held at the Louisiana State Museum's Old U.S. Mint. SummerFest is family oriented, with many events geared specifically for the younger set. There are multiple concerts with performers from all around the world, including entertainers who once shared the stage with Satchmo. In addition, seminars are held to ensure that the festival is a balance of education and entertainment.
Food is another major focus. On the menu at "Red Beans & Rice Alley" are such favorites as smoked pork chops on a stick, stuffed peppers with crawfish dressing, red beans ice cream, and Creole cream cheesecake. Local restaurants may feature "Satchmo Specials" named after his recordings. For example, Sweet Georgia Brown inspired a chef to offer a shortcake with fresh peaches, raspberries, and whipped crème.
There is also a "Satchmo Club Crawl/Strut" in which several music clubs, eateries, and businesses across the city participate. This ticketed event usually benefits a local musicoriented charity. Since no New Orleans event would be complete without it, the Satchmo SummerFest, after its annual Jazz Mass, has a traditional "second-line parade," replete with umbrellas and sashes, for any and all to join in on and les bon temps rouler ("let the good times roll") in a jazzy, New Orleans style.
Contacts and Web Sites
French Quarter Festivals, Inc. 400 N. Peter, Ste. #205 New Orleans, LA 70130 504-522-5730 or 800-673-5725; fax: 504-522-5711 or New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau 2020 St. Charles Ave. New Orleans, LA 70130 800-672-6124
Louis Armstrong Archives Queens College 65-30 Kissena Blvd. Flushing, NY 11367-1597
Louis Armstrong House 34-56 107th St. Corona, NY 11368 718-997-3670; fax: 718-997-3677
Further Reading
Brothers, Thomas. Louis Armstrong's New Orleans. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. Burns, Ken C., and Geoffery C. Ward. Jazz: A History of America's Music. New York: Knopf, 2002. Gourse, Leslie. Louis' Children: American Jazz Singers. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001. Jasen, David A., and Gene Jones. Black Bottom Stomp: Eight Masters of Ragtime and Early Jazz. New York: Routledge, 2002. Meckna, Michael. Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Wonndrich, David. Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843-1924. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2003.
Writings by Louis Armstrong
Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans . New York: Prentice-Hall, 1954. Swing That Music . Introduction by Rudy Vallee. New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1936.
Satchmo SummerFest
At the center of the festival is jazz music performed on three stages devoted, respectively, to traditional jazz, contemporary jazz, and brass bands. Participants also honor Armstrong with an annual exhibit of art on a Satchmo theme, with awards for outstanding entries. There are speakers' seminars on the history of music, jazz exhibits, a children's stage, and a jazz-themed Catholic mass. Also featured is a "Satchmo Strut" through New Orleans' live music district, and plenty of New-Orleans-style food, including a red-beans-and-rice luncheon.
French Quarter Festivals, Inc.
400 N. Peters St., Ste. 205
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-522-5730 or 800-673-5725; fax: 504-522-5711
www.fqfi.org
AAH-2007, p. 393