LOUIS ARMSTRONG

From Perdido Street in New Orleans where at night ""jazz poured from honky tonks"" and Louis got his start in the Colored Waifs' Home Brass Band. . .then up the Mississippi to Chicago with ""Joe"" Oliver, on to New York's Roseland. . .and, before you can say skid-dat-de-dat, around the world as Ambassador Satch. Iverson conducts readers through louis' life in the manner of a packaged-tour guide, hitting the high spots (but not the conflicts) and including only two enlivening specifics, both toward the end: the New Orleans announcer who stalked off the stage rather than ""announce that nigger on radio"" and, later, Satchmo's in-person dedication of ""You Rascal You"" to the King of England. Otherwise this ain't got much swing--though it's a step up from Sanders' 1973 biography.