Jazz Beat

For Jazz Beat, Tom Reney spoke with Louis Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm, The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. In the first of a two-part interview, he and Riccardi discuss Armstrong’s breakthrough in the early 1930s as a popular artist; his first recordings of Broadway show tunes and the key role that Armstrong played in establishing popular song as a core element of the jazz repertoire; and the mixed response that Armstrong received during this period from critics in the U.S. and Europe. Armstrong recordings heard in the podcast include “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” and “Stardust.”