‘Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues’ Provides Truer, Fuller Picture Of An Entertainment Icon – Contenders Documentary
04.12.2022 - 22:59
/ deadline.com
“My only sin is in my skin.” That rhyme is among the lyrics in the 1929 Fats Waller song “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue,” an eloquent and haunting evocation of the experience of being a Black man in America.
The brilliant jazz artist and entertainer Louis Armstrong recorded a version of that song. More importantly, he lived it.
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Armstrong’s private feelings about the racism and indignities he faced during his life are explored in the Apple Original Films documentary Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, directed by Sacha Jenkins. The film draws from private audio recordings the jazz trumpeter made, including conversations with friends where he spoke openly about his experiences.
“He was a techie, you could say, and he had a reel-to-reel recorder that he took with him everywhere, but also was prominently featured in his fun room at his house,” Jenkins said during an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event. “He taped conversations with himself and his wife, friends, conversations with himself. And it’s very revealing.”
Jenkins added, “Media back then wasn’t what it is today. There [wasn’t] YouTube or these platforms where artists can say whatever they want and do whatever they want. He was pretty forward-thinking in knowing that one day there would be great value to what he thought, and the media [of his time] wasn’t really going to give him the platform to really share what he thought. So, it’s an amazing wealth of material that is the spine, the backbone of the film.”
Through use of those recordings, the documentary dispels the illusion that somehow Armstrong was so cheerful by nature that he didn’t feel wounded by open racism in the