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This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. Here's a question for you. Who do you think was the first black pop star?

The answer is Louis Armstrong, according to one of the leading experts on Armstrong's life and music,

my guest, Ricky Ricardy. He recently published his third book about Armstrong. This one is about

Armstrong's early years, his rough childhood,

his first recordings with other bands, and his famous first recordings with his own groups,

the Hot Five and the Hot Seven. As Ricardy points out, those two early groups Armstrong led

recorded between 1926 and 28 over the course of 25 months, have been studied by up-and-coming

musicians around the world because they provide the foundational language necessary to master

the art of improvisation for instrumental soloists and vocalists. Ricardy says Armstrong's

innovations as both a trumpeter and singer set the entire soundtrack of the 20th century in motion.

Ricardy has been the director of the research collections at the Lewis Armstrong House Museum since 2009.

It's the world's largest archive focusing on one musician.

It gave Ricardy access to previously inaccessible documents,

including 700 hours of Armstrong recordings of his thoughts and his music, the unedited

and unsweetened version of his autobiography, and the journals of his second wife, Lil Hardin,

who was also the pianist in the Hot Five. She wrote or co-wrote several songs

Armstrong recorded and was instrumental in lending his first recording date. Through writing about

Armstrong, Ricardy's new book has a lot to say about segregation in New Orleans in the first

part of the 20th century. The new book is called Stomp Off Let's Go,

which is also the title of a song Armstrong wrote.

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