ARMSTRONG, Louis [signed].

Description

Hugues Panassié: “Louis Armstrong”

Paris: Éditions du Belvédère (Les Maitres du Jazz), 1947. First printing of the first French edition of  Louis Armstrong by influential French critic, record producer and impresario of traditional jazz, Hugues Panassié (1912—1974). The book has been inscribed and signed by the author and Louis Armstrong on the half title page. Panassié who was the founding president of the Hot Club de France, was an ardent exponent of traditional jazz — strictly Dixieland. He harbored a particular love of style similar to that of Louis Armstrong from the 1930s. Panassié criticized West Coast jazz as inauthentic, partly because most musicians were white and also sounded white. In his book, The Real Jazz, Panassié ranked Benny Goodman as a detestable clarinetist whose sterile intonation was inferior to black players Jimmy Noone and Omer Simeon. Panassié dedicated his book about Louis Armstrong to Mezz Mezzrow, who became Panassié’s lone example of a white musician who played jazz authentically. Panassié famously dismissed bebop as “a form of music distinct from jazz.”

Octavo (8vo), 110 pp. In original cream colored uncoated wrappers printed in black. All edges of the text block are trimmed and unstained. There are a number of neat annotations and underlinings in pencil and blue ballpoint pen, particularly in the discography section. Additional photos available on request.