#PickoftheWeek | Block Party! A Tradition Returns to Louis Armstrong’s House
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Take a trip to a wonderful world.
The Louis Armstrong Block Party will unfold at the jazz legend’s house on Saturday, July 10, from 11 am to 3 pm.
Sponsored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce and Resorts World New York City, the annual event is back after the Covid pandemic with guided tours, live music, food samples from three stations, children’s activities, and ice cream while supplies last.
It’s all free, but registration is required. (Check in and claim tickets by noon on July 10 to receive a food ticket. An individual can register up to four tickets per person.)
Here’s the schedule.
11 am: Check in begins in front of Satchmo’s house, which is now a museum, at 34-56 107th St. in Corona.
11 am: Tours begin. (Sign up is required.)
11:30 am: Calvin A. Johnson Jr. and Native Son perform. Johnson is a jazz bandleader and composer who plays alto, baritone, soprano, and tenor saxophone, clarinet, and flute. The New Orleans native has led the band Calvin Johnson & Native Son since 2008.
11:30 am: Food stations open. (Remember: while supplies last.)
12:15 pm. Children’s activities start.
1:30 pm: The Alvaro Benavides Group closes out the day with live Salsa and dancing. Benavides is a Grammy-nominated Bass player from Venezuela. His band will get serious vocal support from Mexican-American singer-songwriter Marilyn Castillo.
Armstrong is often associated with New Orleans, his hometown, but the only piece of land he ever owned is the two-story, unattached brick house where he lived with his fourth wife, Lucille, a former singer at Harlem’s Cotton Club. Lucille (née Wilson) outlived him and donated the Corona property to the city for use as a museum upon her death in 1983.
The Louis Armstrong Block Party honors the bandleader’s musical legacy, but it also pay homage to his beloved house. Because he traveled about 300 days a year during his heyday, Satchmo cherished his home time. He often described his “love affair” with the neighborhood and the people on his block. The museum displays the tape of a 1968 interview during which he talks about the children he’s watched growing up from his stoop and how they call him “Uncle Satchmo.”
Images: Louis Armstrong House Museum