Louis Armstrong: Rare video of jazz musician in a recording studio released

The "groundbreaking" film was discovered in a storage facility

The only known video showing jazz icon Louis Armstrong in a recording studio has been released having been locked away in a storage facility for years.

Dubbed "a groundbreaking discovery" by New York City museum's executive director Michael Cogswell, the 33-minute film has been acquired by the Louis Armstrong House Museum situated in Corona, Queens.

The clip, shot in 16mm, shows Armstrong recording his 1959 album Satchmo Plays King Oliver in a Los Angeles studio. It was shot under the orders of Audio Infinity founder Syd Frey who ended up locking it away.

“The film has spent the past six decades in private hands or in a storage locker. Not even the most diligent Armstrong researchers knew it existed,” Cogswell said.

Frey passed away in 1968; upon the death of his widow in 2005, all of Audio Fidelity's tapes and films were placed in a storage facility.

“People were always asking me where the masters were,” said Bass' daughter, Andrea.

“I went on one of these message boards about Audio Fidelity and someone said: ‘I have the masters.’ It turned out to be a person who buys the contents of abandoned storage facilities."

Initially unable to strike a deal, the unnamed man reached out again six months ago which led to a successful purchase of the coveted material.

The film - which features the tracks "I Ain't Got Nobody" and "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jelly Roll" - shows Armstrong playing his iconic trumpet and joking with his bandmates, the All Stars.

In the timeline of his life, the recording session took place a matter of months after suffering a heart attack.

The Louis Armstrong House Museum is based in the same building where the musician lived for 28 years.

There are no immediate plans to show the film in its entirety.