Running from June 20 to August 2, 2026, this summer season gathers audiences for over 30 performances across the estate, balancing discovery with legacy and giving each night the feeling of stepping into something bigger than the calendar.
One of this year’s most meaningful tributes lands right at the intersection of celebration and cultural memory: Louis Armstrong Hot Five Centennial Celebration is scheduled for Friday, July 3, 2026, at 7:30 pm in the Friends Field. The event is presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center.
A century later, the music Louis Armstrong made in the 1920s with his small group, the Hot Five, still hits with the kind of joy that feels immediate—and the kind of influence that’s impossible to overstate. These recordings didn’t simply define an era; they helped reshape the DNA of American music, pushing jazz from a collective sound into a soloist’s art form and changing the future of popular music in the process.
Presented under the auspices of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, this centennial celebration arrives on the eve of what Armstrong always claimed as his birthday—the Fourth of July—adding an extra spark of symbolism to an already landmark evening. Trumpeter Alphonso Horne leads an all-star ensemble of today’s finest jazz musicians, bringing the spirit of the Hot Five into the present with reverence, fire, and the kind of musicianship that honours the source without turning it into a museum piece.
Guiding the night is two-time GRAMMY Award winner Ricky Riccardi, who hosts the performance and helps frame why these recordings still matter—not just as classics, but as turning points. The world knows Armstrong as the beloved entertainer behind enduring favourites like “What a Wonderful World” and “Hello, Dolly!” Yet it was the Hot Five sessions—revolutionary, fearless, and bursting with invention—that truly redirected the sound of jazz and expanded what music could be.
Tickets are available for purchase online at caramoor.org; by phone at 914.232.1252 Tuesdays through Fridays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm; and on site from the Box Office two hours before each performance.
Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road in Katonah, NY, and is open daily from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm for free exploration.
About visiting Caramoor: caramoor.org/visit-us
Getting to Caramoor: caramoor.org/visit-us/getting-here
Image Louis Armstrong 1953 © New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection Library of Congress, Washington.
Image provided courtesy of Jenson Artists
About Author
