Louis Armstrong was the founding father of jazz and one of this century\'s towering cultural figures, yet the full story of his Extravagant Life has never been told.
A frequent contributor to Esquire, Newsweek, the New York Times, and other publications, he lives in New York City with his family..
Gleason Music Book Award)
James Agee: A Life; and Capone: The Man and the Era.
He is the author of As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin (winner of the Ralph J.
About the Author: Laurence Bergreen was born in New York City and educated at Harvard University.
Now Laurence Bergreen\'s remarkable book brings to Life the passionate, courageous, and charismatic figure who forever changed the face of American music.
Recognized and beloved wherever he went, he nonetheless managed to remain vigorously himself.
From the bordellos and honky-tonks of Storyville--New Orleans\'s red light district--to the upscale nightclubs in Chicago, New York, and Hollywood, Armstrong\'s stunning playing, gravelly voice, and irrepressible personality captivated audiences and critics alike.
And, of course, he was a dazzling musician.
A believer in marijuana for the head and laxatives for the bowels, he was also a prolific diarist and correspondent, a devoted friend to celebrities from Bing Crosby to Ella Fitzgerald, a perceptive social observer, and, in his later years, an international goodwill ambassador.
He married four times and enjoyed countless romantic involvements in and around his marriages.
Born in 1901 to the sixteen-year-old daughter of a slave, he came of age among the prostitutes, pimps, and rag-and-bone merchants of New Orleans.
Louis Armstrong was the founding father of jazz and one of this century\'s towering cultural figures, yet the full story of his Extravagant Life has never been told
