Louis Armstrong: A Self-Portrait

Richard Meryman

1971

In his own words, raw, sensitive, and eloquent, Louis Armstrong speaks his soul in this book. The great man behind the music emerges.

"The Best." –Whitney Balliett

I'm always wondering if it would have been best in my life if I'd stayed like I was in New Orleans, having a ball. I was very much contented just to be around and play with the old-timers. And the money I made–I lived off of it. I wonder if I would have enjoyed that better than all this big mucky–muck traveling all over the world–which is nice, meeting all those people, being high on the horse, all grandiose. All this life I have now–I didn't suggest it.

I would say it was all wished on me. Over the years you find you can't stay no longer where you are, you must go on a little higher now–and that's the way it all come about. I couldn't get away from what's happened to me.

But man I sure had a ball there growing up in New Orleans as a kid. We were poor and everything like that, but music was all around you. Music kept you rolling.

But I still feel I'm just an ordinary human being trying to enjoy the work I live.
–from Louis Armstrong: A Self-Portrait