On this episode of Our American Stories, by the time the Jazz Age arrived in the 1920s, Louis Armstrong had already begun transforming American music. Raised in New Orleans and shaped by the streets, dance halls, and neighborhoods surrounding Storyville, Armstrong developed a revolutionary jazz sound that audiences had never heard before. His trumpet playing, gravelly voice, and improvisational style would help turn jazz into one of America’s defining art forms.

Laurence Bergreen, author of Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life, shares the story of the musician known as “Pops,” from his difficult childhood in New Orleans, to becoming one of the most influential figures in jazz and American music

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