What is being called the “definitive documentary” about the life of Louis Armstrong was directed by Sacha Jenkins and released in October 2022.


The documentary, called Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues, uses rich archival material to tell the story of the legendary jazz trumpeter - his childhood, rise to fame, constant encounters with racism, pioneering of improv…There’s also the story of how Armstrong invented scat singing.

Louis Armstrong might well have been seen by many as a “subservient Uncle Tom figure” during the Civil Rights movement, but that’s not the man Jenkins shows. Instead, Louis Armstrong is presented as a courageous man negotiating a tight rope between the mainstream white community and the Black community he came from.