This documentary following Louis Armstrong across four continents on his 1955 international tour entices the modern viewer as an insight into the great jazz maestro's artistry and views on this genre of music. There are also uncomfortable episodes of near-racial stereotyping at times amidst the overblown hyperbole of the narration of broadcaster Edward Murrow. One can clearly discern the latter's former background as war correspondent in the style of his description of Armstrong's success as he toured across Europe - comparing his 'victories' to those of Hannibal in crossing the Swiss Alps - and declaring that America's old-fashioned weapon was 'a blue note in a minor key'.
The film also allows us a glimpse of Armstrong's redoubtable 'All Stars', amongst whom we also witness the glorious backing vocals provided by the glorious Velma Middleton. Tragically, she would suffer a stroke four years later whilst touring with Armstrong in Sierra Leone, and Satchmo and the tour management would be criticised for not having transferred her to a country with better medical facilities ahead of her death a week later. Though the great Jack Teagarden and Barney Bigard had by this point departed, we can still relish the talent of trombonist 'Trummy' Young, the double bass of Arvie Shaw, the drums of Barrett Deems, and clarinetist, Edmond Hall.
The accuracy of the biographical detail on Armstrong can waver, especially with the claim that he had been an orphan in New Orleans when he had first picked up the trumpet. However, there are fascinating insights, such as his idolisation of his mentor 'King' Joe Oliver as being the only musician with time to teach younger musicians the art of playing jazz. In one touching scene, Armstrong reads from his own autobiography of how Oliver's invitation for him to join his band and tour in Chicago had transformed his life. In addition, in an impromptu interview in Paris at the edge of the stage where Armstrong had recently performed, the artist relates to Murrow how he had come by the moniker 'Satchmo'. When in London in 1932, he was greeted as such by the magazine editor of 'Melody Maker', Percy Brooks, as an abbreviation of 'Satchel Mouth', a physical reference to his 'embouchure' while playing his instrument.
One aspect which is so great to absorb is his pure love of music, as we can witness by his and his band's impromptu jamming with local musicians at airports in Switzerland and the Gold Coast, as well as with a Parisian disciple of his at a Left-Bank club. There are especially great scenes of jubilant recorded in the Gold Coast where Satchmo is greeted like a returning monarch to the land where he believes his ancestors were taken from. Having been entertained by the local tribe, Louis and his All Stars take to the floor, inviting anyone to come forward and dance - this leads to a wonderful sequence where both Louis' wife, Lucille Wilson, and Velma Middleton groove along with tribal elders.
Armstrong would face criticism for his willingness to play to segregated audiences and to serve as an 'ambassador' for the United States when people of his colour were not generally accepted. He was also criticised for not taking a strong enough stand on the civil rights movement. Yet, within a year of this documentary being made he would call President Eisenhower 'gutless' and 'two-faced' over his unpreparedness to act over school desegregation in Little Rock Arkansas. As a protest, he would cancel a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department, declaring: 'The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell.'
In terms of the music on show, one wishes that this documentary had captured some more full excerpts of live performances of some of Armstrong's more familiar discography. Yet, if this feature has one lasting legacy, it is in its recording of the perfect marriage achieved by Louis Armstrong and the All Stars with Leonard Bernstein's New York Philarmonic Orchestra at the Guggenheim Concerts on July 14th 1956. The number was 'St Louis Blues', and its 83 year-old blind composer, WC Handy, invited to attend by Armstrong, can be seen crying in the audience. Armstrong had just two years earlier recorded an album of Handy's music, considered by many to be among the best of his whole career. The latter, himself regarded as the 'Father of the Blues', had toured America at the turn of the century collecting blues standards, but wrote this highly influential piece himself in just one night in 1914.
Ironically, it would be Bernstein and not Murrow who would provide the most eloquent summary of Armstrong's talent. After receiving Armstrong's gratitude for playing alongside him with his orchestra, Bernstein stated: 'Every time this man puts his trumpet to his lips, even to practice three notes, he does it with his whole soul. This is a dedicated soul, and we are honoured.'
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