Louis Armstrong

Hollywood's first all-black film since The Green Pastures tells the vibrant fable of rascally Little Joe, torn between the love of his good wife Petunia and the wiles of good-time bad girl Georgia Brown...and caught in a tug-of-war between emissaries from the Lord and Satan. How can virtue triumph over evil? Well, as Petunia says, 'Sometimes when you fight the devil, you gotta jab him with his own pitchfork.' Debuting movie director Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris, Gigi) and stars Ethel Waters, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington are more than a match for the devil in this musical treasure. With a soundtrack of dazzling standards including Taking a Chance on Love and Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe, Cabin in the Sky is a joyous classic.

Golden Globe nominee Sammy Davis Jr. headlines a star-studded cast including Louis Armstrong, Emmy winner Ossie Davis, Academy Award nominee Cicely Tyson, Mel Torme and Frank Sinatra Jr. in this powerful drama about a jazz musician who 'has it all - love, friendship and fame - but whose tormented past threatens to destroy him and his career.

Louis Armstrong's triumphant return to Europe.

Charles Osgood takes a look back at the man and the musical impact of Louis Amstrong. This week, Washington's National Press Club released an all-but-forgotten 1971 recording, of one of the last performances by the great Satchmo.

In 1971, Louis Armstrong played at the National Press Club in Washington; it may have been the last time he played his trumpet in public. His performance was recorded and CBS News cultural correspondent Wynton Marsalis gives a listen.

A recording of the performance, recorded five months before Armstrong s death, was recently discovered by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. NBC s Brian Williams reports.

Jazz: Season 1: Episode 4 -- In 1929 as the Great Depression begins, New York is now America's jazz capital. On Broadway, Louis Armstrong revolutionizes the art of American popular song. In Harlem, Chick Webb pioneers his own big-band sound and in the city's clubs, pianists Fats Waller and Art Tatum dazzle audiences. But it is Duke Ellington who takes jazz 'beyond category,' composing hit tunes that has critics comparing him to Stravinsky.

Jazz: Season 1: Episode 3 -- In the 1920s, jazz is everywhere, and for the first time soloists and singers take center stage. We meet Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues; Bix Beiderbecke, the first great white jazz star; and Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, for whom jazz offers a chance to escape the ghetto and achieve their dreams. Duke Ellington appears at the Cotton Club and Louis Armstrong performs his masterpiece, 'West End Blues.'

Jazz: Season 1: Episode 10 -- During the Sixties, jazz is in trouble. Though Louis Armstrong briefly outsells the Beatles with 'Hello Dolly,' most jazz musicians are desperate for work and many head for Europe. In the 1970s, jazz loses the exuberant genius of Louis Armstrong and the transcendent artistry of Duke Ellington, Their passing seems to mark the end of the music itself. But in 1976, when Dexter Gordon returns from Europe for a triumphant comeback, jazz has a homecoming, too. A new generation emerges, led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis - schooled in the music's traditions, skilled in the art of improvisation, and aflame with ideas. The musical journey that began in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century continues. As it enters its second century, jazz is still brand new every night, still vibrant, still evolving, and still swinging.

Jazz: Season 1: Episode 2 -- Speakeasies, flappers, and easy money - it's the Jazz Age, when the story of jazz becomes a tale of two great cities, Chicago and New York, and of two extraordinary artists whose lives and music will span almost three-quarters of a century - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Armstrong grew up on the mean streets of New Orleans and moved to Chicago in 1922, inspiring a new generation of musicians. Meanwhile, Ellington outgrows the society music he learned to play in Washington D.C., and heads to Harlem.

The story, sound and soul of a nation come together in the most American of art forms: Jazz. Ken Burns celebrates the music's soaring achievements, from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop, and fusion. Six years in the making, this "soundbreaking" series blends 75 interviews with major artists, such as Wynton Marsalis and Dave Brubeck, and critics; more than 500 pieces of music; 2,400 still photographs; and 2,000 rare and archival film clips including performances by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and many more.

The story, sound and soul of a nation come together in the most American of art forms: Jazz. Ken Burns celebrates the music's soaring achievements, from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop, and fusion. Six years in the making, this "soundbreaking" series blends 75 interviews with major artists, such as Wynton Marsalis and Dave Brubeck, and critics; more than 500 pieces of music; 2,400 still photographs; and 2,000 rare and archival film clips including performances by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and many more.