The Nation: Louis Armstrong's Last Word (Ethan Iverson)

[Mark Stryker]

Cover story in the latest issue of the Nation.

https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/louis-armstrong-archive/?fbclid=IwAR39LE3RrJpq2a89Bru-6g3m8DExnVyEPuL_6-Qr4ADPNfcxl94od-x1e3w

 

[AllenLowe]

1 hour ago, Mark Stryker said:

Cover story in the latest issue of the Nation.

https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/louis-armstrong-archive/?fbclid=IwAR39LE3RrJpq2a89Bru-6g3m8DExnVyEPuL_6-Qr4ADPNfcxl94od-x1e3w

 

Ethan peruses this site regularly, and then gets mad when I don't defend him. So in case he is watching, let me say I intend to read this article and enjoy it, whether I like it or not.

[AllenLowe]

I have read it, very nice piece. The ONLY thing I would suggest is that, even after all of these years, there is a somewhat misguided sense of Armstrong's importance as a great innovator of melody and rhythm - which  he was; but I think his innovations, especially in the early years  - 1925-1940 - are much more radically modernist, as I have posted before. He was, accidentally or not, exactly in tune with the new modernism of Dada, of Joyce, of new theater like King Ubu. His was a radical restructuring of traditional and recognizable elements, ingenious reordered so that the effect was of something both strange and familiar at the same time -

Edited November 1, 2023 by AllenLowe

[Dub Modal]

I’m not a fan of Iverson’s blog or most of his writing but this was a solid article. Likely credit due to The Nation’s editor. Thanks for the link