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    Play, Louis, Play!: The True Story of a Boy and His Horn
    Play, Louis, Play!: The True Story of a Boy and His Horn
    Play, Louis, Play!: The True Story of a Boy and His Horn
    Ebook69 pages40 minutes

    Play, Louis, Play!: The True Story of a Boy and His Horn

    By Muriel Harris Weinstein and Frank Morrison

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The childhood of Louis Armstrong was as fascinating as the great musician himself-and this chapter book biography tells it like never before. Play, Louis, Play! is written from the point of view of Louis' closest companion throughout his youth-his horn! In a jazz-inflected, exuberant voice, this unusual narrator tells it all, starting with the small New Orleans hock shop where little Louis bought his first trumpet for five hard-earned dollars.

    As Louis goes from a street quartet to the marching band of the Colored Waif 's Home to the big sounds of New Orleans jazz clubs, author Muriel Harris Weinstein creates a moving portrait of the jazz legend. Includes a detailed author's note, glossary of jazz terms, and bibliography.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateDec 7, 2010
    ISBN9781599907093
    Play, Louis, Play!: The True Story of a Boy and His Horn
    Author

    Muriel Harris Weinstein

    MURIEL HARRIS WEINSTEIN's poems have appeared in The Comstock Review, Nassau Review, Kent State Review, Nexus, and many anthologies. She is the author of the picture book When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Jazz. She lives in New York.

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    • 5/5
      “Play, Louis Play!” is a wonderful biography that explains the childhood of famous musician Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was an incredible musician that used Jazz music to inspire his life. While reading “Play, Louis Play!, I learned a lot about who Louis Armstrong was and how he came to be a great musician. I thought it was important that the author included Armstrong's struggles as a child and how he came to purchase his first instrument. I was shocked to learn that Armstrong purchased his first trumpet from a New Orleans hock shop for five dollars. It is unheard of to purchase a trumpet for five dollars today. I also felt that it was important that the book discussed the Jazz community that Armstrong grew up in. Louis turned to music to help his family survive. Another lesson I was able to learn from this biography is that music can be a means of success, can bring families out of struggles and is an inspiration to any community. The Jazz music is lively and vibrant like Armstrong. Lastly, the illustrations in this text were vivid and bright, capturing Louis Armstrong's love for music through his smile. Overall, I enjoyed reading this biography on Louis Armstrong and feel that the colors, tone and music can be an inspiration to all.

    Book preview

    Play, Louis, Play! - Muriel Harris Weinstein

    References

    C H A P T E R 1

    How Did Louis Discover Music?

    There isn’t a jazzman in New Orleans who hasn’t tapped my brain about Louis Armstrong. They talk to me as if sugar’s sprinkled on their tongue. Hey, you knew Louis like no one else. What’s the pitch, the real story?

    These jazzmen know I know. I ought to. I was Little Louis’ horn, the first horn he ever played. He’d talk to me as if we were brothers, tell me every note in his life. Words poured out like soda pop.

    The first time I saw Louis I was in a run-down, dusty hock-shop window on Perdido, the muddiest street in New Orleans. My body was dented, my life slowly tarnishing away, when I noticed this raggle-taggle kid looking in the window. He showed up each and every morn when the sun cracked open. I bet he was about six years at most, so skinny you knew nothing was sliding into his belly. And there was nothing on his feet. No matter how muddy the streets were, he was barefoot. Well, he’d stop and eye me through the window and sigh. His sigh held so much wanting, I could feel it through the glass.

    Louis liked to pretend that he had a horn and, with his lips curling out, he’d hum and blow as if he were playing a cornet.

    When kids passed by they’d yell, Whatcha doin’? You look like a fish face.

    But Louis never sang a sour note. His answer danced the two-step right out of his mouth. "I’m practicin’. Can’t ya hear it?"

    The kids laughed, specially Little Louis.

    Louis’ smile traveled from one side of his face clear over to the other. Everyone said it was as wide as an open satchel. So they called him Satchelmouth. The nickname stuck. And it wasn’t until later that Satchelmouth was shortened to Satchmo.

    He also answered to Little Louis, Dippermouth, and Gatemouth. There were always kids who said, Hey, that’s a put-down name. Ya won’t catch me usin’ it.

    Louis would laugh and say, A good nickname’s hard to find. And I’m aimin’ to keep all of them. Yeah, he was a cool cat.

    Louis lived with his grandma because his momma, Mayann, worked cleaning houses and sometimes had to sleep over. Louis’ dad, a worker in a turpentine factory, had left the family when Louis was born. Grandma and Louis lived on Jane Alley in the Back O’ Town, the toughest section in New Orleans. It was so tough everyone called it the Battlefield.

    To make a living, Grandma took in washing and ironing. Louis helped by carrying the washboard, handing her clothespins for the clothesline, and sometimes folding pillowcases with her.

    Louis couldn’t wait for Sundays. That day shone as if the sun were wrapped inside it. He’d awake at the crack of dawn and start rushing his grandma to get

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