It was in 1929 that Louis Armstrong became a pop star, breaking through to white audiences. Over the prior five years he'd been recognized by jazz aficionados and fellow musicians as a unique talent with such pioneering recordings as West End Blues, but his records were released and marketed in the "race music" category. It was with the release of Ain't Misbehavin', marketed as popular music, that he begin to reach a larger audience.
That same year, the Broadway musical Hot Chocolates premiered. The musical included Black and Blue, with music by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks and lyrics by Andy Razaf, a song about race and discrimination. Allegedly it was at the insistence of the play's financier, mobster Dutch Schultz, that the song was composed.
Armstrong recorded Black and Blue later that year and it was a standard part of his concerts for many years thereafter. With an Armstrong solo in the intro and his affecting vocal.
I'm in the middle of reading Ricky Riccardi's recent three volume biography of Armstrong. Coming from a truly terrible upbringing in a very rough New Orleans neighborhood it is not only his musical genius that is remarkable but the positive and open attitude he had towards life and humanity.
How will it end? Ain't got a friendMy only sin is in my skinWhat did I do to be so black and blue?
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