Crowds gathered as a New Orleans style second line, featuring Irvin Mayfield as the leader as well as members of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, sauntered down 125th street to the Apollo Theater to induct Louis Armstrong into the Apollo’s walk of fame, which sits right under the canopy of the famous Harlem theater. Members of the board of the Apollo Theater and the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, jazz musician Stefon Harris, former First Lady of New Orleans and CBS reporter Michelle Miller, and Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans/trumpeter Irvin Mayfield shared their own commemorations of Armstrong and how vital he was to the development and popularization of jazz across the world, especially in Harlem and New Orleans. The weekend’s shows were headlined by Mayfield, Harris and pianist Jon Batiste, paying respect to the legacy of both the Apollo Theater and Louis Armstrong.
– Charley Raiff
[…] the piano at an early age. He started playing trumpet at age 10, inspired by the Roy Eldridge and Louis Armstrong records in the collections of his grandfather and uncle. He studied at the Julliard School and […]