50 Years of The Slivovice Interview

Today's a fun anniversary for Pops nuts because it was 50 years ago today that Dan Morgenstern and Jack Bradley paid Louis Armstrong a visit in his Corona, Queens home, spoke to him for over two hours and polished off a bottle of Slivovice plum brandy to boot. Dan recorded the audio, which Phil Schaap played many times over the years on WKCR, making "The Slivovice Interview" fairly well known in Armstrong circles. On this here blog, I've posted the audio multiple times, usually while celebrating Dan and Jack's respective birthdays. Thus, on the 50th anniversary, I have to post it again but with some more information and many more photos from the Louis Armstrong House Museum. Sound good? Let's begin!



In July 1965, the world was preparing to celebrate what was then perceived as Louis Armstrong's 65th birthday, as well as Armstrong's 50th anniversary in show business. Dan, who was then Down Beat's New York Editor decided to mark the occasion by interviewing Pops at his Corona home on May 22 for what would become the magazine's "Salute to Satch" issue. The resulting portrait would be published in the July issue.







If you'd like to read Dan's beautiful finished portrait, it appears in his indispensable Pantheon volume Living With Jazz. But if you'd like to HEAR it, you've come to the right place.



Though Dan had known Armstrong for about 15 years, he hadn't ever been to the Armstrong home. Thus, he asked Louis's good friend Jack Bradley to put in the good word. Jack did just that, got the okay and accompanied Dan on May 22, taking a bunch of photos, some of which appeared in the final Down Beat article. Most of the watermarked images appearing in this blog have never been seen before. Here's Louis, Lucille Armstrong and Dan in the backyard that May day:







Jack wanted to get in on it but Dan, not being a trained photographer left our man in Cape Cod a little blurry!







Armstrong's career was just as busy as ever, but Dan actually caught Louis during a rare break. After a historic tour that found Armstrong breaking down the Iron Curtain by playing such places as East Berlin, Prague and Yugoslavia in March and April, Armstrong took over a month off for a dental procedure to fix his chops. Armstrong's mentor King Oliver lost his chops because of bad teeth (pyorrhea) and Armstrong wasn't about to do the same. He had also just won a Grammy for "Hello, Dolly!," which he was eager to show Dan and Jack once they got up in his den:







During Dan's interview Armstrong was resting from the dental procedure, but about to embark on yet another tour of Europe. Surrounded by his friends Jack and Dan (with Lucille chiming in now and then from the background), Louis sounds very relaxed and friendly. But there was something else present that made for the relaxed atmosphere: a bottle of Slivovice plum brandy Armstrong brought back from Europe earlier that year. Slivovice (now known as Slivovitz) is still around as an online search quickly shows. Louis and Lucille both testify early on about the powers of Slivovice. They warn Dan and Jack that it's pretty much going to knock them on their asses. Dan and Jack are up for the challenge, so the bottle of Slivovice is cracked open.







Not only will you hear the sound of ice clinking around the glasses during this interview, but you'll also hear Dan and Jack get progressively sillier as the interview goes on. Pops doesn't change much but the laughter certainly gets goofier towards the end. Here's some Bradley photos of Louis and Dan and the bottle of Slivovice that day:





 

 

I should mention the length of the Slivovice interview: two hours and ten minutes. Thus, I obviously don't expect anyone to set in front of their computer for the next 130 minutes and listen to every second of this. But I still want to share it and let it be known that it will always be here to savor if you want to listen to it in bits and pieces. And to make it easier, I've broken it into three small segments (see below for my notes). Here's the 50-minute first part:

Here's the 50-minute second part:





And finally, the 30 minute third part:







It's a fascinating interview from start to finish (this is the one where Pops finally came out and admitted he wrote "Muskrat Ramble") but it's also a fun way to feel like you're spending an afternoon with the Armstrong's in Corona in 1965. Thanks to David Ostwald for the tapes and thanks for Dan and Jack for just plain being there.



Oh, and as a postscript, you should know by now that I was hired as Archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2009 specifically to process Jack Bradley's Collection. It's monumental but what's my favorite artifact?



Yes indeed, that's the ORIGINAL Slivovice bottle polished off by Jack, Dan and Louis on that May day in 1965, now an artifact that's been preserved and displayed at the Louis Armstrong House Museum. Incredible.



One final note on this 50th anniversary. I recently listened to the entire interview on one of my 2 1/2 hour commutes, pulled out my iPhone and typed up the following notes. It might not make sense but if you're looking for a specific part, the timings can help. Enjoy!

Part 1