Happy Birthday, Louis Armstrong! Today would have been Louis Armstrong’s 121st birthday. Did you know that a Jewish immigrant family helped Armstrong buy his first horn?

In a memoir from 1970 titled Louis Armstrong and the Jewish Family in New Orleans, LA the year of 1907 Armstrong described his time working for the Karnofsky family, a local Lithuanian-Jewish family who hired him to do odd jobs for their peddling business.

The jazzman would later write that the Karnofskys treated him as though he were their own child, often giving him food and even loaning him money to buy his first instrument, a $5 cornet which he paid back. (he wouldn’t begin playing the trumpet until 1926). As a sign of his gratitude to his Jewish benefactors, Armstrong later took to wearing a Star of David pendant around his neck until the end of his life in memory of the family who had helped him.

Here are a few RSA staff favorites of Louis Armstrong to get you started:

RSA Staff Favorites by Louis Armstrong

1. You’re Next
2. Melancholy
3. Frankie And Johnny
4. When the Saints Go Marching In
5. Satchel Mouth Swing

Celebrate Armstrong’s birthday today by listening to the music behind one of the most influential figures in jazz by visiting the RSA Website: https://rsa.fau.edu/louis-armstrong

And let us know in the comments, what is your favorite Louis Armstrong song?

Please note, due to copyright some items may only be available as a 45 second snippet.

If you are a Researcher or Educator in need of full access to these recordings, click here.

FAU Students, Faculty and Staff can listen to recordings unrestricted by logging into the Research Station using their FAU NET ID.

The Second World War waged around the globe from 1939 to 1945.

The impact of WWII on the daily lives of Americans and Europeans cannot be overstated. As the atrocities of the Nazis raged in Europe, American men were drafted and called to war. American music of the WWII era spoke to the soldiers far from home and also to those they left behind.

The Second World War changed the course of history in many ways. One of the things that changed was music…what it sounded like, how we listened to it and how intimately it touched our lives.

During WWII music became personal as well as entertaining. Major technological advances such as radio and phonograph recordings took music out of the theater and into middle-class homes. Big Bands, Jazz and Swing created a new vibe that defined a generation.

The Recorded Sound Archives has digitized two very special collections from the Second World War era. V-discs  were produced between October 1943 and May 1949 by the US Armed Forces for military personnel overseas.  Vogue Picture Records were produced between May 1946 and April 1947 by Sav-Way Industries using a special process engineered by Tom Saffady.

Enjoy the music that defined a generation – the best loved songs from the World War II era. Many thanks to all those who sent in the titles of their favorite songs from the 1940s and 1950s.

Click here to listen to Songs of the Second World War. Due to copyright concerns, some recordings may be limited to 45-second snippets.  Full versions are available to users of the RSA Research Station.

Click here for Youtube videos.

 

FAU events that may interest you.

2/2/15 through 2/25/15 – FAU Wimberly Library: World War II Highlights from Special Collections

2/17/15 (Tuesday) @ 5pm – FAU Wimberly Library: The Most Controversial Decision – Lecture by Wilson Miscamble. Mr. Miscamble is a prize-winning author and historian.

2/18/15 (Wednesday) @ 3:30pm – FAU Barry Kaye Auditorium: Truman’s Presidency and WWII – Lecture by David McCullough. David McCullough is  is an American author, narrator, and historian. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

3/18/15 (Wednesday) @ 3:30 pm – FAU Wimberly Library: Nazi War Criminals, US Intelligence and the Cold War – Lecture by Dr. Norman Goda. Norman Goda received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He studies modern European history and specializes in the history of the Holocaust, war crimes trials, and twentieth century diplomacy.