Louis Armstrong and me

Louis Armstrong and his autograph

We saw him twice on the same day.  The first time was in the Meier and Frank record department in downtown Portland.  I picked up a business card lying on the counter, and he signed it with his green pen.  He signed everything with a green fountain pen.

I was with Don Quimby, a grade school friend; but this was when I was a sophomore in high school.

The second time we saw him was four blocks away on the same day.  He was standing outside on a sidewalk calling a cab on a phone next to the curb where folks could call taxis.  We walked up and asked if he needed help getting around.  He said he was calling a cab to get to Shriner's Hospital to give a kid a present, who had written him a letter.  We told him we both played the coronet a little bit and that we liked seeing his show when he was in town. Then he started talking about Portland, how he liked it, then started talking about New Orleans a little bit as that was his favorite city.  A cab came and picked him up; and he left.  A guy came out of a tavern and wanted to know who the fellow was we were talking to, "Rochester?"  We told him it was Louis Armstrong as we walked away.

I saw him three different years when he came to town, twice in Portland, Oregon and another time in Tacoma.

The experience stuck me with me, as later in life I moved to New Orleans where I painted the musicians of the town.

The card remains with me after 65 years.  And so does my love of music, as an older musician who sees it as a way to sustain youth and health.

Del