Satchmo at the National Press Club

Louis Armstrong at The National Press Club

Upper left: National Press Club President Vernon and Mrs. Louviere with Louis and Lucille Armstrong. Lower right: Humorist Mark Russell (right) greets Louis Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong was in Washington on January 29, 1971 to perform at the Inauguration of then incoming National Press Club President Vernon Louviere, a fellow native of New Orleans. Armstrong had been too ill to play trumpet for much of 1970 and the infrequent recordings of him from this period consist only of vocal performances.

But on this evening Armstrong, backed by a group that included trombonist Tyree Glenn and Tommy Gwaltney on clarinet, performed for nearly 30 minutes, playing trumpet in addition to singing. The songs performed were: When It's Sleepy Time Down South; Hello, Dolly; Rockin’ Chair; Boy from New Orleans and Mack the Knife.

NPC member Kim Gregory of CBS News, knowing that Armstrong would be performing, brought some state-of-the-art field audio recording equipment that evening to capture the event. About 300 copies of the recording (along with six additional tracks from a 1972 Armstrong tribute concert featuring Glenn and Gwaltney) were pressed to vinyl a year later for distribution to those who had attended Louviere's inaugural ball as Satchmo at The National Press Club: Red Beans & Rice-ly Yours. It would be the last issued recording of Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet.

Mr. Armstrong died in his sleep of a heart attack on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th birthday. His honorary pallbearers included (among many other luminaries) David Frost, who had acted as emcee at Louviere's Inauguration and can be heard on the recording.

This rare recording will be available widely for the first time via Smithsonian Folkways Recordings on April 24th as part of the Smithsonian’s celebration of the 11th annual Jazz Appreciation Month. Armstrong often signed letters "Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours," which makes for an apt title for the recording especially since his favorite recipes — everything from Louisiana Caviar to the Sazerac — are included in the liner notes, as they were in the original pressing.