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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Book of the Week

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Colin McFarlane

Clive Brill

Eileen Horne

Thomas Brothers

Book of the Week: Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism: Episode 5

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Episode 5

Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism, Episode 5

Louis's star rises on the cabaret circuit with white audiences - but is he selling out?

Louis befriends Al Capone. He's singing and dancing for white audiences, but is he selling out? Concluded by Colin McFarlane.

A definitive account by Thomas Brothers of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy, during the most creative period of his career.
 
Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe 'King' Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations. But his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices.
 
 
Episode 5:
Louis befriends Al Capone. He's singing and dancing for white audiences, and embracing the popular big band sound, but is he selling out?

 
Reader: Colin McFarlane
Abridged by Eileen Horne
 
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4

Book of the Week: Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Life Stories

Music: Jazz & Blues: Jazz

By Thomas Brothers. Account of the life and legacy of the influential musical artist.

By Thomas Brothers. Account of the life and legacy of one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century. Abridged by Eileen Horne and read by Colin McFarlane.

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