Louis Armstrong’s Black & and Blue is a documentary directed by Sacha Jenkins. A feature that gives us an impressive and enlightening portrayal of the music legend.
Premise
An intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary honors Armstrong’s legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States.
About the Documentary
With a very clever and amusing introduction the documentary takes off with Orson Welles presenting and interviewing Louis Armstrong. Our attention is immediately grabbed. From there on the feature offers testimony after testimony, by Armstrong himself, his fourth wife, whom he adored, and various eminent musicians and actors who give their take on the protagonist.
Genuinely moving without being melodramatic, this artistically pieced together documentary is well worth the while. With very fitting animated sequences, archive footage and photos, visually, the documentary is a pleasant little journey that allows for the voice recordings to take center stage.
It shines through that this project has been taken on with deep respect for the protagonist, and following Armstrong’s own wishes of telling his story in his own words that are given ample space in this feature. As we learned, Armstrong had recorded his thoughts, and had kept them in his home, well knowing that his story would be told in the future, and he wanted his life be relayed by himself. Jenkins does right by Armstrong.
You can look forward to an interesting and compelling story, and to get to know the father of jazz and the context he had to maneuver in, much better.
Director
Sacha Jenkins
