Louis Armstrong studio film archive unearthed

A short film archive of Louis Armstrong from 1959 during a recording session in Los Angeles has been found in a storage facility.

Published 24th Apr 2016

A short film archive of Louis Armstrong from 1959 during a recording session in Los Angeles has been found. This 33 minute 16mm film is the only footage of Armstrong at work in a recording studio and captures him recording the album ‘Satchmo Plays King Oliver.’ The film was never used as intended and has been in storage all along. It has now been acquired by The Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York. Museum executive director Michael Cogswell called it, "a groundbreaking discovery."

Also found is a 1928 lost recording of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performing ‘Hot and Bothered’ that have remained unheard until now since the original metal discs were dispatched to Germany.