Satchmo at the Waldorf Satchmo was one of Louis Armstrong’s nicknames, and that it derived from “satchel-mouth” . Waldorf refers to the luxurious hotel in Manhattan called the Waldorf Astoria New York, where Louis Armstrong played and where he also stayed. The whole play takes place at what is supposed to be Louis Armstrong’s room. The printed programme (2018) indicates that the original off-Broadway production’s World Premiere was presented in Lenox, Massachusetts and in New Haven, Connecticut, in the year 2012; the play was previously premiered in Orlando, Florida in 2011. The theatrical work is based on his biography written in 2009, and titled:
Woody Shaw degenerative eye disease and was losing his eyesight. A user of heroin throughout his adult life, Shaw was in extremely poor health when he returned to the U.S. from Europe in 1988—he needed a wheelchair at the airport. Details of the accident are unclear, but on February 27, 1989, Shaw was struck by a subway car in Brooklyn, NY, which severed his left arm. Shaw suffered complications in the hospital and died of kidney failure on May 10, 1989. He was 44 years old. He was survived by his mother, two brothers, a sister, and his son, Woody Louis Armstrong