Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues

Sacha Jenkins's 2022 documentary rests on the personal tape recordings Louis Armstrong made at home. For years Armstrong taped his own conversations, phone calls and thoughts, and the documentary uses those tapes as its narration. Its real subject is the distance between Armstrong's public smile and his private anger. During the civil rights era some quarters accused him of being too accommodating; the tapes do not bear that out. His open criticism of the president of the day during the events at Little Rock is one of the film's turning points. Jenkins sets archive footage alongside Armstrong's own collages. There are few commenting guests; the weight is on the musician's own voice. Who it's for: those interested in jazz history and artist biography. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a chronological account of a career; the documentary proceeds thematically.