Music: Louis the First

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The brown-skinned man with the golden horn pursed his scarred lips, blew a short stream of incredibly high, shining notes and then carefully laid the trumpet down. "There's a thing I've dreamed of all my life," he graveled, "and I'll be damned if it don't look like it's about to come true—to be King of the Zulus' Parade. After that I'll be ready to die."

This week few mortals were closer to heart's desire than Jazz Trumpeter Daniel Louis Armstrong. At 48, he was on his way back to the town where...