Louis Armstrong has become a kind of sub-industry in contemporary theater. Little wonder -– no other jazz figure transcended the limits of his own genre as thoroughly, and with seemingly so little effort, as he did. Indeed, his popularity extended well beyond ordinary national boundaries. Though born in New Orleans and reared amid the roiling jazz currents of early 20th-century America, he was as much a citizen of the world as he was of the United States. Mere borders, whether geographical or aesthetic, never seemed to matter much in the World According to Armstrong.

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