INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

IUPUI TO CELEBRATE BIRTH OF JAZZ GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG

INDIANAPOLIS - When Louis Armstrong made his very first record in Richmond, Ind. with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, he was told to stand at the opposite end of the room from the band. According to band members, that was the only way to balance the music, because Armstrong's playing drowned out the other musicians.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of this great jazz musician, the IUPUI University Library will host a celebration of his life and music. On July 12 from 5:30-7:30 p.m., the University Library, 755 W. Michigan St., will host "A Tribute to Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong! New Orleans, Chicago, Harlem and the World" in the Lilly Auditorium on the lower level.

Armstrong always believed he was born on July 4, but according to his birth certificate, found after his death, he was actually born on August 4, 1901.

"Louis Satchmo Armstrong was a dynamic human being, composer, entertainer and musician," said event director Marie Turner-Wright of University Library. "A great jazz city like Indianapolis would be remiss not to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Armstrong's birth."

Armstrong has several Indiana ties including recording often during the early 1920s at the Gennett studio in Richmond and performing throughout his career at Indianapolis venues such as the Madame Walker Theater, Clowes Hall, and the Indiana Roof Ballroom. At the "The Roof," employees listed performers during the 1930s on a door, rating them with a number of stars. Armstrong's name is listed for performances on May 17 and 18, 1934, and the employees ranked his performance three out of four stars.

IUPUI music professor Marty Hodapp, who teaches a class on Louis Armstrong, remembers seeing the musician during his last appearance in the city when he performed at Clowes Hall in 1964. "I got him to autograph a photo," said Hodapp, who was an undergraduate at the time. "It's the only autograph I've ever gotten."

Hodapp relays many stories of Armstrong's recording sessions with the King Oliver band at the Gennett studio, which was a popular recording studio for jazz artists during the early 1920s. He says that the studio is by a train track and the session had to stop every time a train would go by.

Also, the Ku Klux Klan was so prominent in Richmond during the time, according to Hodapp, that Armstrong and the other black musicians were not allowed to stay overnight and were forced to take the train out every evening.

The University Library tribute will feature many such stories about Armstrong's life told by Turner-Wright, interspersed with live music by the Vickie Daniel's Ensemble whose members include David Young, Mingo Jones, Clifford Ratcliff, Lawrence Clark and Marvin Chandler. Daniel's ensemble will cover the musical transitions in Armstrong's life, his musical triumphs on Broadway, and his globetrotting years through Europe, Africa and back to Harlem. Turner-Wright's stories will describe his beginnings in New Orleans and his "Hot Five" and "Hot Seven" bands.

Turner-Wright received a $2000 grant to produce the tribute from the American Library Association's "Live @ the Library" project featuring the theme "Other People's Stories: The Art of Biography." The grant is funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The Armstrong tribute is free with guest parking available in IUPUI's North Street Garage. For more information, please call Turner-Wright at (317) 274-4586.

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