section_path: Legacy
section_name: Legacy
paragraph_text: Legacy
  
  In 1950, Bing Crosby, the most successful vocalist of the first half of the 20th century, said, "He is the beginning and the end of music in America." Duke Ellington, DownBeat magazine in 1971, said, "If anybody was a master, it was Louis Armstrong. He was and will continue to be the embodiment of jazz." Though Armstrong is widely recognized as a pioneer of scat singing, Ethel Waters and others preceded his scatting on record in the 1920s according to Gary Giddins and others.
  
  According to literary critic Harold Bloom, "The two great American contributions to the world's art, in the end, are Walt Whitman and, after him, Armstrong and jazz... If I had to choose between the two, ultimately, I wouldn't. I would say that the genius of this nation at its best is indeed Walt Whitman and Louis Armstrong".
  
  In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Armstrong at No. 39 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
  
  In 1991, an asteroid was named 9179 Satchmo in Armstrong's honor. In the summer of 2001, in commemoration of the centennial of his birth, New Orleans's main airport was renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The entrance to the airport's former terminal building houses a statue depicting Armstrong playing his cornet. In 2002, the Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925–1928) were preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. The US Open tennis tournament's former main stadium was named Louis Armstrong Stadium in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.
  
  Congo Square was a common gathering place for African-Americans in New Orleans for dancing and performing music. The park where Congo Square is located was later renamed Louis Armstrong Park. Dedicated in April 1980, the park includes a 12-foot (3.7 m) statue of Armstrong, trumpet in hand.
  
  The house where Armstrong lived for almost 28 years was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and is now a museum. The Louis Armstrong House Museum, at 34–56 107th Street between 34th and 37th avenues in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the Queens College, City University of New York, following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will. The museum opened to the public on October 15, 2003. A new visitors center opened across the street from the Armstrong home in the summer of 2023.
  
  A Wonderful World, a musical based on his life story, had its world premiere run at Miami New Drama from December 4, 2021, to January 16, 2021, after mounting previews beginning March 5, 2020 and canceling opening night (March 14) due to COVID concerns. Mirroring Armstrong's musical journey, the show stars James Monroe Iglehart and makes "pre-Broadway" stops in New Orleans October 1–8, 2023, and Chicago October 11–29, 2023. The new musical charts the rise of Armstrong from the perspective of his four wives. It is conceived by Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee, Christopher Renshaw, and novelist Andrew Delaplaine and directed by Renshaw, A Wonderful World features an original book by Aurin Squire. The show will debut on Broadway in 2024.