The first autobiography of a jazz musician, Louis Armstrongs is a milestone in jazz literature. Armstrong wrote most of the biographical material, which is of a different nature and scope than that of his other, later autobiography,(also published by Da Capo/Perseus Books Group). covers in intimate detail Armstrongs life until his 1922 move to Chicago; butalso covers his days on Chicagos South Side with King Oliver, his courtship and marriage to Lil Hardin, his 1929 move to New York, the formation of his own band, his European tours, and his international success. One of the most earnest justifications ever written for the new style of music then called swing but more broadly referred to as Jazz, is a biography, a history, and an entertainment that really swings.