Michael Varekamp | Louis Armstrong Celebration Band

Trumpeter & singer Michael Varekamp is ten years old when he finds a record in his father's record cabinet: The Townhall Concert by Louis Armstrong. He puts it on and is immediately sold. All he could think was 'I want that too! What follows is an intense time of trying, listening, practicing and trying again. Ten years later, he travels the world as a jazz trumpeter and Louis Armstrong connoisseur. He is part of the Dutch Swing College Band for five years, receives the Kobe Award in Japan, plays in Jazz at Lincoln Center, is a special guest in Kenny Ball's band and performs in a New Orleans program together with Branford Marsalis.

When -another decade later- he makes a pilgrimage to Louis' home in New York City and gets to play Louis' trumpets, he becomes inspired again. Together with the famous pianist Harry Kanters, he decides to form a band that approaches Louis' music in its own way but still manages to touch the soul of their inspiration.