Join us for our first of two annual Louis Armstrong Birthday Broadcast this July!

This year, we will start our July 4th broadcast 10 hours early, at 2pm on July 3rd. A total of 34 hours of non-stop Louis! At 2pm Sid Gribetz will be kicking off the broadcast.

In his autobiography, Swing That Music, Louis Armstrong titled the first chapter “Jazz and I Get Born Together.” Dating his birthday July 4, 1900, Armstrong created a mythology that linked his own birth to the birth of Jazz and the birth of America. While he may have been mistaken about the exact date (most historians believe it's August 4th), he was not wrong to connect his life with the beginnings of this American art form. It is now believed that his actual birthday was on August 4th, so we celebrate both dates with an all-day broadcast of the great's music. He grew up surrounded by music in New Orleans and in 1922, he joined Joe “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, the burgeoning epicenter of Jazz at the time. In 1924, as the Jazz scene grew in New York, he brought swing to Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra. His approach to swing became the definitive sound of his era. Recording with the Hot Fives and the Hot Sevens, he took New Orleans polyphony to its pinnacle. He went on to make many classic recordings in collaborations with jazz greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, and Duke Ellington, and with his larger ensembles. His expression on the cornet and trumpet was complimented and contrasted by his singular vocal style. He was lauded in his own time, and his recordings have been cherished by generations.

89.9FM and wkcr.org

Full Schedule:

2PM - 7PM: Sid Gribetz

7PM - 7:44PM: Louis Armstrong Potpourri

7:44PM - 9AM: Enjoy an UNCUT 13 HOUR LONG Phil Schaap archival broadcast which originally aired on 7/3/2010

9AM - 12PM: Maria Shaughnessy

12PM - 3PM: Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera

3PM - 6PM: Sam Seliger

6PM - 9PM: Sid Gribetz

9PM - 12AM: Traditions in Swing originally broadcast 7/2/2011: Phil plays the 1935 and 1936 recordings of Louis Armstrong's new New York-based big band.