“Through a combination of intricate research and unbridled enthusiasm, Ricky Riccardi has become the 21st century’s foremost expert on Louis Armstrong.” — Thomas Cunniffe, Jazz History Online

Ricky Riccardi is the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years. He runs the online blog, “The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong,” and has given lectures on Armstrong at venues around the world, including the Institute of Jazz Studies, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Riccardi will discuss the last 25 years of the life and career of Louis Armstrong. These were Armstrong’s most popular years but in the jazz world, many critics spent those years criticizing Armstrong for “going commercial,” for “selling out,” for being an “Uncle Tom” and more. Riccardi’s book refuted those claims, often using Armstrong’s own words to defend himself, words taken from the collections of the Louis Armstrong House Museum and currently found on the Queens College campus.