Hot Five Centennial Celebration: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong
Saturday, November 22, 2025
3:00 PM
Jerry's Place - Louis Armstrong Center
The music Louis Armstrong created in the 1920s with his small group, The Hot Five, remains among the most influential, timeless, and joyous in the history of American music. While Armstrong is celebrated worldwide as the beloved entertainer behind classics like “What a Wonderful World” and “Hello, Dolly,” it was the groundbreaking recordings he made a century ago that transformed jazz from a collective style into a soloist’s art form—changing the course of popular music forever.
To honor the 100th anniversary of Armstrong’s first Hot Five recording session, trumpeter Bruce Harris leads an all-star ensemble of today’s finest jazz musicians:
Bruce Harris, trumpet
Jon-Erik Kellso, special guest trumpet
Jeffery Miller, trombone
Evan Arntzen, clarinet
Ricky Riccardi, piano
Emeline O’Rourke, banjo & guitar
Jen Hodge, bass
Joe Saylor, drums
Joining the band is GRAMMY-winning author and Armstrong scholar Ricky Riccardi, who will illuminate the stories behind these legendary recordings and share rare photographs from the Louis Armstrong House Museum Archives.
Come experience the music that started it all, and discover why, a century later, the Hot Fives are still supreme!