Ricky Riccardi Receives GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Album Notes on The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966 (Mosaic)
‘The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966’ is nominated for Best Album Notes at the 64th GRAMMY® Awards
New York, NY – Ricky Riccardi has received a GRAMMY® Nomination for his album notes on The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946–66 in the Best Album Notes category. The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946–66 is a 7-CD, limited edition boxed set featuring all 29 of Armstrong’s 1946-47 RCA recordings alongside 3 classic albums and singles from Columbia Records. The 64th annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place on January 31, 2022 in Los Angeles.
The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-66 was released on April 10, 2021 via Mosaic Records, a label which has long been lauded for its release of stunning, hi-fidelity limited edition collections, providing historical recordings of superb musicians to passionate jazz lovers around the world. Alongside the CDs, the boxed set included over 40 mostly-unpublished photos from the collections of the Louis Armstrong House Museum as well as an extensive 30,000 word essay written by Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi. The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia & RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946–66 has received world-wide acclaim since release. Periodicals such as Downbeat, Jazzwise, JazzTimes, Jazz Thing, All About Jazz and London Jazz News have praised the set.
“The musical contents of this set represent the exact Armstrong recordings that changed my life when I was 15-years-old. This is a dream come true,” Riccardi shared in a statement. “I learned so much of what I know about Jazz History from what I read in liner notes penned by past Grammy recipients. To be nominated in the Best Album Notes category for this release is an honor that I am truly fortunate to receive.”
Ricky Riccardi is 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 and Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong (named “Best Book of 2020” by Jazz Times magazine). 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. He has taught Armstrong courses for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University and at Queens College. He has co-produced numerous Armstrong reissues in recent years, including Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary: The Complete Concert, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Cheek to Cheek: The Complete Duets, Pops is Tops: The Verve Studio Albums, two volumes of Decca Singles for Universal Music, and two comprehensive boxed sets of Armstrong’s Columbia and RCA Victor recordings for Mosaic Records. Riccardi has a degree in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University and is also an accomplished jazz pianist. He lives in Toms River, NJ with his wife and three daughters.