'Corona Collection' on display at Louis Armstrong House and Museum in Queens

Growing up, Willie Johnson learned a lot from one of his neighbors in Corona, Queens — that neighbor being renowned trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong.

Learning about art and creativity instilled in Johnson a lifelong love of music. Armstrong “taught me that art is creativity at its finest, so I got into playing music,” Johnson said in a news release about a new oral history collection, running through March at the Louis Armstrong House and Museum in Corona.

The Corona Collection consists of loving recollections from about 15 neighbors who lived near Armstrong and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson Armstrong, from 1943 until the musician’s death in 1971.

“It paints an amazing picture of this icon, but also the neighborhood he lived in,” said Regina Bain, the museum’s executive director, explaining how the museum tracked down the kids seen with Armstrong in hundreds of photos. “They told us fascinating stories,” said Bain. “It’s an intimate, first-person narrative from people who knew him.”

The museum complex is a treasure trove of memorabilia about one of the world’s most famous musicians. Open for public tours since 2003, the home and museum house everything from personal and concert recordings to letters, manuscripts and photos. And, oh, yes — two trumpets, including one gifted to Armstrong by King George V of England.

Visitors to the red brick home, open Thursdays through Sundays, can get a close glimpse of how the Armstrongs lived as they wander the living room with its cream wallpaper, the dining room, the kitchen with its matching aquamarine cabinets and appliances, the paneled den and lavish bathrooms.

Armstrong was a megastar, Bain said in a video. “He didn’t want to be in Manhattan because he would get mobbed,” he said. But in Corona, “He could walk down the street, he could talk to the kids, he could go to his barber.”

The bedroom where Armstrong died in 1971 is a place of reverence, Bain said. “When people come in and we tell them this is where he died, the room changes,” she said. “There’s a beautiful respect.”

Beyond touring the home, visitors have access to a number of collections housed across the street in the Armstrong Center, a distinctive 14,000-square-foot building with a woven brass façade that brings to mind Armstrong’s trumpet.

“Here to Stay” is a permanent exhibit curated by jazz musician Jason Moran that covers many aspects of Armstrong’s life. Visitors are drawn to the trumpet, of course, said Bain, along with the Grammy he won for “Hello, Dolly!” and several interactive exhibits where visitors can listen to him play. In addition, there’s Jerry’s Place, a 75-seat jazz club that holds frequent concerts to keep the music alive and which has hosted everyone from Wynton Marsalis to neighborhood youth who learn to play the trumpet at the museum.

  

Louis Armstrong House and  Museum, 34-56 107th St., Corona

Open Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., tickets for house tour and “Here to Stay” exhibit, $20; seniors/students/military, $14; exhibit only, $10; seniors/student/military, $8; 718-478- 8274, louisarmstronghouse.org