78s, Photos, Even Sweat

Another fragment of Louis Armstrong’s legacy is back where it belongs. The Armstrong museum and archive in Queens has received a treasure-trove of rare 78-r.p.m. records, bootleg tapes, five personal letters, candid photographs, European posters, news clippings, discographies, even weight-loss tips — 192 cubic feet in all — from the estate of a Swedish man known as the world’s second-largest private collector of Satchmoiana.

Satchmoiana, now there is a word.


There is also a sweat-stained handkerchief that belonged to Armstrong, who was famous for theatrically wiping his brow between the trumpet solos he blew better than almost anyone else. “We’re excited about it because there might be some valuable DNA in it, what with cloning and all,” joked Michael Cogswell, director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona.

One never knows.

The Armstrong Museum's archivist is named Ricky Riccardi; what a hoot.

[Library director] Mr. Cogswell, 58, is a Virginian who played saxophone gigs for a time, did graduate work in both jazz history and library science, and considers his current position his dream job. He shepherded visitors through Armstrong’s house last week, telling them how Armstrong, while on tour, asked his wife to buy them a home, which she did, picking one out in a working-class quarter and paying about $3,500. When Armstrong showed up by taxi from the airport at 3 a.m., he was dazzled by what he thought of as its grandeur, given the stark poverty he had been raised in. “Quit kidding me,” he told the cabdriver. “Take me to the address I gave you.”

Early Chet

One day I decided to look for renditions of "This time the dream's on me" and it was on this compilation. There are 4 CDs to the collection. The first one starts with live pieces, including a couple where Chet played with Bird: the fidelity is poor, but the talent shines through. Discs 2 and 3 have studio pieces. Disc 4 contains a few studio pieces, and a number of live pieces (in which Chet plays with both Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan.

This box set is available for purchase, and is annotated online. For a public library to own it is a gift that, alas, too few will appreciate. Yet it is proof of a wonderful music collection, and the Port Washington Library has that.

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Today's concert at HWPL is by the Long Island Brass Guild.

The Long Island Brass Guild began in the 1970s, adding members and instruments along the way - In the 1990s, a tuba was added and a final trumpet was added in 2005 - today the group boasts 7 members: 3 trumpets, French horn, tenor trombone, bass trombone, and tuba - Their repertoire includes classical brass compositions - from Renaissance to Ragtime - and compositions written for the group.

Tenor trombone? Never heard of it (only of the 'regular' and the valve trombones). So I looked it up. The trombone itself derives from Italian tromba (trumpet) and -one (a suffix meaning "large"), so the name literally means "large trumpet". Trombones and trumpets share the important characteristic of having predominantly cylindrical bores. Therefore, the most frequently encountered trombones—the tenor and bass trombone—are the tenor and bass counterparts of the trumpet.

Instruments related to the trombone include:

• Sackbut -  medieval precursors to trombones

• Buccin - a visually distinctive trombone popularized in military bands in France between 1810–1845 which subsequently faded into obscurity.

• Trumpet - has the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE.

• Bass Trumpet - a type of low trumpet which was first developed during the 1820s in Germany.

• Euphonium - tenor-voiced

• Tuba - largest and lowest pitched brass
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