X
  • 2022
  • R
  • Apple TV+
  • 1 h 46 m
  • 2022
  • R
  • Apple TV+
  • 1 h 46 m

Summary Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues offers an intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary, directed by Sacha Jenkins, honors Armstrong's legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the fi...

Directed By: Sacha Jenkins

  • 2022
  • R
  • Apple TV+
  • 1 h 46 m
  • 2022
  • R
  • Apple TV+
  • 1 h 46 m

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
80
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 4 User Ratings
5.8
My Score
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Summary Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues offers an intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary, directed by Sacha Jenkins, honors Armstrong's legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the fi...

Directed By: Sacha Jenkins

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
80
100% Positive
13 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
80
100% Positive
13 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
Oct 31, 2022
Jenkins has made a movie that captures both the joy of Armstrong’s music and the distinctive nature of his personal charisma, though he doesn’t shy away from some of the more controversial elements of Armstrong’s legacy.
By Stephanie Zacharek FULL REVIEW
88
Oct 18, 2022
In this Golden Age of biographical musical documentaries, the filmmaker who is now working on an Ed Sullivan doc has taken a subject we thought we knew all we needed to know about, and all but re-introduced him to a new age. Well done
By Roger Moore FULL REVIEW
83
Oct 28, 2022
Most of the participants who knew Armstrong are dead and there’s something melancholy about realizing that the human being behind that voice is silent. What remains is a quality that Marsalis identifies as essential in Armstrong’s music, a gift which he was fully conscious of, conveying a “transcendent joy” through sound.
By Liam Lacey FULL REVIEW
80
Oct 27, 2022
Built around excerpts from Armstrong’s home audio recordings, which he made in private over the decades, the documentary is far from exhaustive and yet, as a primer for why Armstrong remains influential, this inquisitive portrait successfully manages to render him as both a titan and a nuanced human being.
By Tim Grierson FULL REVIEW
80
Oct 27, 2022
Luxuriating in a wealth of archival material that encompasses radio and TV interviews, privately recorded conversations from reel-to-reel tapes (Armstrong could swear like a sailor), and good old-fashioned newspaper clippings (remember them?), this documentary about the great Louis Armstrong is a real keeper.
By Leslie Felperin FULL REVIEW
75
Oct 27, 2022
"Black & Blues” is a doc that will make you appreciate Armstrong, the man. Someone far too complex to reduce to any one thing.
By Christian Blauvelt FULL REVIEW
70
Oct 27, 2022
A delightful experience for jazz buffs and more than an eye-opener for any youngsters who barely know who Armstrong was, it’s worth applauding just for its belief that it can meaningfully touch on private life, public persona, musical legacy and everything else — even if, on each front, it leaves one wanting more.
By John DeFore FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 4 User Ratings
5.8
50% Positive
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 4 User Ratings
5.8
50% Positive
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Apple Original Films, Imagine Documentaries
Release Date Oct 28, 2022
Duration 1 h 46 m
Rating R
Genres
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Awards

Black Reel Awards
• 2 Nominations
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
• 2 Nominations
Image Awards (NAACP)
• 2 Nominations

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