Louis Armstrong Master of Modernism (W.W. Norton 2014)
Finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Biography
Winner of Irving Lowes prize for best book in American Music, Society for American Music
“Profoundly evocative and altogether admirable … The writing and detail are so brilliant that I found the volume revelatory.” –Tim Page The Washington Post
“Thomas Brothers has brought together startling new discoveries and insights, a fresh look at hallowed recordings, and an understanding of the multifold influences that helped shape Louis Armstrong. In so doing, he has written by far the most complete and original look at an American icon whose influence continues into its second century.”
– Loren Schoenberg, artistic director, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem
“Honest, uncompromising, and wholly sympathetic to its subject, Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism is the ideal for jazz biography and criticism.”
– Scott DeVeaux, author of The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History
Interview with Tom for Jerry Jazz:
https://jerryjazzmusician.com/2014/06/interview-thomas-brothers-author-louis-armstrong-master-modernism-2/
Watch video of Tom discussing Louis Armstrong’s music from the 1920s at the Library of Congress.
By Bruce Boyd Raeburn American Music, V. 32, no. 2, Fall 2014, 356-359.
