Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues

2022

Apple TV+

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ABOUT

“Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” offers 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, directed by Sacha Jenkins, 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. The film shows how Armstrong’s own life spans the shift from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, and how he became a lightning rod figure in that turbulent era.

Terence Blanchard composed the music for the 2022 documentary Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, which honors the life of the jazz legend. 

Blanchard’s score was intended to show Armstrong in a different light. The film’s soundtrack features new music composed by Blanchard, as well as passages from Armstrong’s private correspondence read by Nas. The film also traces Armstrong’s jazz predecessors, contemporaries, and disciples. 
Press

Fri, Oct 31

Variety

‘Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues’ Review: A Documentary Worthy of its Monumental Subject
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Tue, Oct 28

NPR

The gripping 'Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues' confronts the artist's complexities
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Sat, Oct 25

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues review – swinging doc is a stirring tribute
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AWARDS

IDA Documentary Award: Best Music Documentary 

Nominations:
Black Reel Award 
  • Outstanding Documentary Feature (Sacha Jenkins)
  • Outstanding Editing (Jason Pollard & Anna Herrera Pazmino

Image Awards (NAACP):

  • Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture) – Sacha Jenkins
  • Outstanding Documentary (Film)
  • 2023 Nominee Cinema Eye Honors Awards
    Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design

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