"Just Very"

Jazz Trumpeter Louis Armstrong has been just about everywhere. But CBS Telecaster Edward R. Murrow discovered one place he had missed: the land of his ancestors, Central Africa. The entertainment possibilities were just too colorful to miss, so CBS shelled out some $25,000 to send Armstrong, his five-man All-Stars and a camera crew to the city of Accra, the Gold Coast, for a three-day junket. The results were as good as expected. "After all," explained Louis, "my descendants came from here."

From the minute he walked down the plane steps, the Gold Coast gleamed with 22-carat jive. On hand were 15 "highlife" bands (specialists in West Coast African jazz, with a, bouncing calypso beat), blatting out a special called All for You, Louis, All for You. No man to dodge a jam session, Louis ducked back into the plane and emerged with his gold-plated trumpet, his lip salve and his sidemen.

Dallied Long. The first official act was lunch with Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah. The conversation: almost solely Swiss Kriss, a herbal laxative that Louis discovered from reading Gayelord (yoghurt and molasses) Hauser, and recommended insistently to the Prime Minister and all his Cabinet. He dallied so long over his Benedictine and brandy that he was late for his afternoon concert.

Some 30,000 Gold Coasters were waiting restlessly when he arrived. He made his apologies--"Man, I've been scoffing plenty with the P.M."--and started to play. Some fans dodged up to the bandstand and started to dance. One ran afoul of the cops, who roughed him up, leaving Louis depressed. "Man, that's why I left New Orleans. I don't like rough stuff."

Little Old Woman. Next afternoon the Armstrong crew held a "cultural exchange" on the Achimota college lawn with some 500 tribesmen, dancers and drummers. After a diplomatic round of palm wine and a furious round of tribal dances, the All-Stars took their turn. Africans received the jazz coolly until Royal Garden Blues stirred them up, and soon 30-odd tribesmen were doing jivey steps to the riffs. "Did you see that little old plump woman?" said Louis later. "When she danced, man, she was just like toy mother Mary Ann" (see cut).

Armstrong & Co. left Accra without the triumphal procession that CBS had planned, but leaving a trail of good will anyhow. A band of young high-life musicians who followed him devotedly throughout the tour went back to their nightclubs feeling good--the master had told them they sounded just like the jazzmen in old-time New Orleans. "Man, it was just very," said one of them in his daze. Just very what? someone asked. "Just very great," he sighed.

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