Rap artists have been subjected to many of the same criticisms as Armstrong himself: that by reveling in wealth they are supporting a capitalist system in which they don’t wield the levers of power. It’s especially fitting having Nas become the voice of “Pops” Armstrong. Jenkins interposes some of the audio-only content over collage-like animations in which old photos pop against a red background and words from the interviews fly out at you like the Fitzgerald text flung at the camera in Baz Luhrmann’s “Great Gatsby.” It’s a fun effect, and makes you think for a moment that Armstrong is alive, well, and ready to “sweeten the air with entertainment” as Orson Welles put it in one of his more colorful TV intros for the jazzman.

‘You Can Live Forever’ Review: Earnest Jehovah’s Witness Lesbian Drama Has Few SurprisesĪnd “Black & Blues” indeed has similar aesthetic flourishes to Haynes’ doc. In that respect, “Black & Blues” feels a lot like Apple TV+’s big music doc from last year, Todd Haynes’ “The Velvet Underground.” There are no talking heads except for Armstrong himself and some select archival material of others, nothing newly recorded. He brings Armstrong to life through archive footage (Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas’s shows get a workout here), voiceover audio he recorded of himself, and having Nas read passages of his letters. He’s interested in the man who was Armstrong, and that means a more complete, nuanced picture - a portrait of a human not so easy to categorize. Jenkins’ new documentary for Apple TV+ avoids those absolutes. And of course there’s the third path of corporate America, to sand the edges of someone like Armstrong down until he’s a cuddly teddy bear whose “What a Wonderful World” stands ready to accompany any commercial. (and, for a time in his youth, Marsalis as well) once thought. Or he’s an Uncle Tom, someone who sold out and pandered to white audiences, as Sammy Davis Jr.

He’s either the greatest artist of the 20th century, in the esteem of Robert Christgau or Wynton Marsalis. Director Sacha Jenkins does the most important thing he could do in “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues”: He lets Louis Armstrong be messy.Īrmstrong is one of those legends about whom people have had strong, polarized opinions.

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