This book has changed my world. The writing is choppy but delivers the facts. The thing that makes this book special is having access to the collages and scrapbook pages Louis Armstrong created himself! Who would have guessed that besides being a genius musician he was also a crafter?!

I wish I could have known that amazing man. ( )

Reviewed by Mr. Overeem (Language Arts)
The text of this intriguing coffee table book is no revelation; it competently summarizes the details of Armstrong's life. However, the main exhibit--reproductions of the 600+ collages Armstrong created with news clipping and Scotch tape and dabs and smears of color to decorate the boxes of his reel-to-reel tapes--is a window into the mind of a very canny social observer. Certainly, the collages alone overturn the notion the Armstrong was a "natural" (thus, unconscious) genius; his mind was exceptionally engaged with (and amused by) the world around him. A weird and wonderful book. ( )