Ricky Riccardi Archives - Music Inside Out

The list of 2022 Grammy nominations is full of Louisiana artists not named Batiste, and we couldn’t be more proud to have had some of them as guests on Music Inside Out. In addition, our out-of-town friends Sylvan Esso and Ricky Riccardi each snagged a nom. What’s not to like? Here are some of the highlights:

Blanchard’s Absence is Present

Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard has nominations in two jazz categories. The first, for Best Improvised Jazz Solo; the other for Best Jazz Instrumental Album (Absence). That recording also features The E Collective and The Turtle Island Quartet.

Grammy? Bring It

PJ Morton lends his considerable chops to a gorgeous cover of “Bring it on Home to Me (feat. Charlie Bereal).” That song is nommed for a Best Traditional R&B Performance Grammy. Check it out:

Numb With Gratitude

The Recording Academy gave Sylvan Esso their second nomination in the Best Dance/Electronic Music Album category for Free Love. Just off their Shaking Out the Numb Tour, vocalist Amelia Meath and electronics wizard Nick Sanborn wrote:

“…after a year where sometimes we couldn’t even tell if anyone was listening – Free Love and this tour feel like the best work we’ve ever done, and to have that reflected back by y’all on the road and now by the Academy is just overwhelming.”

Notes on Satch

Our favorite maven of all things Louis Armstrong is Ricky Riccardi, whose erudite liner notes are up for an award. The recording in the Grammy spotlight is The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966, on Mosaic Records.

For much of those 20 years, Riccardi writes, many critics and many in the jazz community viewed Armstrong as someone whose best days were behind him. But, he says, “One person never ever bought into that line of thinking: Armstrong himself.”

The Grammy Awards were moved from L.A. to Las Vegas, because Covid. They’re now scheduled for April 3rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.

Our program on Ricky Riccardi is dedicated to Michael Cogswell, who died April 20, 2020 at the age of 66. Cogswell was the founding Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens. Ricky Riccardi, Cogswell’s friend and protégé, posted a tribute to Cogswell on Facebook:

“Everyone who loves Louis Armstrong owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude for his vision to open the Armstrong House, Armstrong Archives, and to raise the money for the upcoming Armstrong Center.”

Jazz station WBGO has an excellent obituary on its website, detailing Cogswell’s career. A jazz archivist and historian, in 1991 he undertook the job of turning Louis Armstrong’s New York home into a museum.

Along with the house, Cogswell inherited “Armstrong’s vast collection of home-recorded tapes, scrapbooks, photographs, manuscripts, and memorabilia,” according to the LAHM Facebook page.

It was a monumental job. Under Cogswell’s tenure, 72 shipping cartons of Armstrong material evolved into an invaluable research archive.

Photo courtesy of Louis Armstrong House Museum

All that said, we have a Michael Cogswell memory of our own to share.

In 2005, NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday aired recorded messages offering words of encouragement and support to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The speakers included singer Bonnie Raitt, reporter Betsy Mullener, authors Fannie Flagg and Richard Ford … and Michael Cogswell:

At that time, Gwen was the senior editor of the program. “Michael Cogswell and I never met face to face, but in 2005 he was my first call when I came up with the idea to create this ribbon of salutations. He really came through. Only later did I hear that his brother lives not far from New Orleans, in Folsom, Louisiana. Cogswell’s message of support set the exact tone we wanted — calm, personal concern, sincerity and hope.”