Gary Giddins is a great jazz writer, superb at the Voice for years, and his "Satchmo" is a good book but it isn't a definitive look at Louis Armstrong,he seems to run out of steam half way through and while Giddins is great on the music but he feels short shrifted, certainly the 1960s seem rushed. I'm no expert on Armstrong and I learnt nothing new.
Here is Wynton Marsalis discussing the jazz master: " “Louis Armstrong was one of the greatest human beings to ever set foot on this planet. He gave us a healing that still sits with us. Thank you, Pops."
Anybody who gives a damn about contemporary popular music can only second that emotion. And not feel that the news of Wynton discussing a new Armstrong biography with Walter Isaacson is a bit of wasted energy. I am reading Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" at the moment and I am not a huge fan of the man's style. There is something a little too clinical about his approach. But Isaacson has actually played with former Armstrong musicians in New Orleans and Marsalis is certainly passionate enough for the both of them
Page Six wrote "Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson and jazz great Wynton Marsalis are talking about collaborating together on a biography of legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Isaacson, who has written biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, and Marsalis were both honored at the New-York Historical Society History Makers Gala on Tuesday. One guest tells us, “Both Walter and Wynton spoke openly about their strong desire to work together on a biography of Louis Armstrong."