New Orleans’ Satchmo SummerFest Kicks Off ‘Seven Days of Satch’

Satchmo Summerfest

Satchmo Summerfest. Photo by Zack Smith/Courtesy FQFI

New Orleans’ Satchmo SummerFest is today kicking off its 20th anniversary with a week-long cross-platform virtual festival entitled Seven Days of Satch which will include a week of programming on WWOZ, the city’s non-profit community-supported radio station and this coming weekend streamed concerts from local musicians in tribute to iconic New Orleans jazz legend Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.

Beginning today, Monday July 27, the station will kick off its program and on then this weekend play recorded perfomances by eight New Orleans acts: James Andrews, John Boutté, Wendell Brunious, Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, Herlin Riley, Treme Brass Band, and Tuba Skinny. The programming will also feature four scholarly Satchmo Seminars.

Satchmo

For twenty-years, Satchmo SummerFest has paid tribute to the life, legacy, and music of New Orleans’ beloved native son, Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) who did nothing less than change the course of music history both innovating and popularizing jazz.. Traditionally, the weekend was filled with music, education, cuisine, and culture on the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Due to public health concerns this year surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, French Quarter Festivals, Inc. created ‘Seven Days of Satch’ a virtual event paying tribute to 20th anniversary of the Satchmo SummerFest

Musical performances sponsored by the New Orleans National Jazz Historical Park will be filmed onsite at the New Orleans Jazz Museum and shared on Facebook live Saturday, August 1 – Sunday, August 2. Louis Armstrong-inspired cooking demos will air on the WWL-TV Morning Show July 27-30 a full weekend of original performances and Armstrong scholars broadcast on Facebook Live.

“Since 1984, we’ve been committed to our non-profit mission to showcase our incredible local music and culture,” said French Quarter Festivals, Inc’s President & CEO Emily Madero in a statement. “For the remainder of 2020, FQFI has refocused its energy on creating new ways, like the Seven Days of Satch, to support the community and deliver on this mission. We are thrilled to work with our generous partners, talented artists, chefs, and speakers, to produce this virtual tribute.”

seven days of satch schedule

WWOZ is New Orleans’ non-profit community-supported radio station which began in 1980 out of the upstairs beer storage room at Tipitina’s. For more information on the schedule and how to access the performances, visit satchmosummerfest.org.

Sponsors for the Seven Days of Satch presented by Chevron include Chevron, New Orleans National Jazz Historical Park, GE, Jack Daniel’s, Abita Brewing Company, New Orleans Jazz Museum, WWL-TV, New Orleans Advocate/Times-Picayune and NOLA.com, OffBeat Magazine, and WWOZ.

Seven Days of Satch’s WWOZ’s Programming
MONDAY, JULY 27
Traditional Jazz with Dan Meyer, 9-11am
Dan Meyer will showcase an archival WWOZ interview he conducted in 1994 with the late Louis Armstrong historian and biographer Tad Jones, who among other things, discovered Armstrong’s baptismal certificate and established Armstrong’s birth date as August 4, 1901, rather than the date Armstrong claimed– July 4, 1900.

Jazz From the French Market – Satchmo Happy Hour, 5-6pm
Each weekday during Seven Days of Satch, WWOZ is helping you start your evening right, with a special happy hour soundtrack showcasing rare live concert performances by Louis Armstrong.

TUESDAY, JULY 28
Traditional Jazz with Leslie Cooper, 9-11am
Leslie Cooper will be revisiting one of the most memorable musical partnerships ever — Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, who collaborated on three albums in the 1950s.
Jazz From the French Market – Satchmo Happy Hour, 5-6pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 29
Traditional Jazz with Michael Longfield, 9-11am
Michael Longfield will be demonstrating the influence Louis Armstrong still has on New Orleans musicians, by alternating original Louis Armstrong recordings with new renditions of the same songs by contemporary musicians, including Allen Toussaint, Dr John, the Treme Brass Band, Haruka Kikuchi, Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Seva Venet, Nicholas Payton, and more.
Jazz From the French Market – Satchmo Happy Hour, 5-6pm

THURSDAY, JULY 30
Traditional Jazz with Sally Young, 9-11am
Sally Young will be focusing on the extraordinary archivist, historian, and researcher Ricky Riccardi, Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum, and author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years. Ricky has visited WWOZ a number of times, and we’re bringing you highlights from these great conversations.
Jazz From the French Market – Satchmo Happy Hour, 5-6pm

FRIDAY, JULY 31
Traditional Jazz with Keith Hill, 9-11am
Keith Hill will feature music from the final decade of Louis Armstrong’s career, when he had some of his biggest hits and reached a worldwide audience, and included collaborations with Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, an album of Disney songs, a James Bond theme, and more.
Jazz From the French Market – Satchmo Happy Hour, 5-6pm

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1
Traditional Jazz with Big Pete, 10am-12pm
Big Pete will showcase the legendary early recordings of Louis Armstrong with the Hot Five and the Hot Seven from the 1920s, his first recordings with his own band, which set a standard for all jazz recordings that followed.
 

This event is produced by French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (www.fqfi.org), the 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, which also produces French Quarter Festival presented by Chevron, Satchmo SummerFest presented by Chevron, and Holidays New Orleans Style. Since 1984, French Quarter Festivals, Inc. has been committed to its non-profit mission to deliver a positive economic impact to the community and showcase New Orleans’ incredible local music and culture. In May the organization launched its Resilience Campaign to ensure it can survive this unprecedented situation and bring bac events in 2021.  Visit here for more information.

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