Louis Armstrong

Born in 1901, Louis Armstrong grew up poor in New Orleans. It was rough, being black and poor in the South in those days, tougher than it is today, and it's tough today, we all know that.

In 1913 he was sent to the Colored Waifs Home as a juvenile delinquent, where he learned to play cornet in the home's band. Playing music quickly became his passion--he taught himself how to play by listening to the jazz greats of the day, like New Orleans cornetist, King Oliver. Armstrong developed rapidly, playing in local marching and jazz bands, becoming so adept that he replaced King Oliver in the important Kid Ory band.

Fame beckoned in 1922 when Oliver, who by then was leading a band in Chicago, sent for Armstrong to play second cornet. Oliver's Creole Jazz Band was the one of the earliest New Orleans ensemble style. The band included Johnny and Baby Dodds, and pianist Lil Hardin, whom Armstrong married in 1924.

Encouraged by his wife, Armstrong quit Oliver's band to seek his own fame, and played for a year with Fletcher Henderson's band in New York City. After a while, Louis returned to Chicago and began playing in large orchestras.

It was there that Louis Armstrong gained notoriety, recording the Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings of 1925; by then he was accepted as one of the first great jazz soloists. The New Orleans ensemble style, which allowed few solo opportunities, could no longer contain Louis Armstrong's explosive creativity.

It was in the late 20s that Louis Armstrong switched from cornet to trumpet and recorded such jazz classic as “Hotter than That,” “Struttin' with Some Barbecue,” “Wild Man Blues,” and “Potato Head Blues.” His immensely compelling swing; his brilliant technique; his sophisticated sense of harmony; his expressive attack; his gift for creating vital melodies; his dramatic solo design; and his outsized musical energy and genius made these recordings major innovations in jazz.

Armstrong was a famous musician by 1929, when he moved from Chicago to New York City once again and performed in the theatre review Hot Chocolates. In 1935, he began touring America and Europe as a trumpet soloist accompanied by Luis Russell's big band. During this time he abandoned the often blues-based original material of his earlier years for a remarkably fine choice of popular songs by composers like Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, and Duke Ellington.

With his new repertoire came a new, simpler style. Louis' trumpet range continued to expand, as demonstrated in the high-note showpieces in his repertoire. His beautiful tone and gift for structuring bravura solos with brilliant high-note climaxes led to such masterworks as “That's My Home,” “Body and Soul,” and “Star Dust."

One of the inventors of scat singing, he began to sing lyrics on most of his recordings, varying melodies or decorating with scat phrases in a gravel voice that was instantly identifiable as Louis; and though he sang humorous songs like “Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train,” he also sang the standards, oftentimes with an intensity and creativity that equaled those of his trumpet playing.

Louis Armstrong, separated from his wife in 1931, began appearing in films--the first being Pennies from Heaven in 1936--and on radio. Though his own bands usually played in a more conservative style, Armstrong was the dominant influence on the swing era, when most trumpeters attempted to emulate his inclination to dramatic structure and melody.

In most of Armstrong's movie, radio, and television appearances, he was the good-humored entertainer, but he played a rare dramatic role in the 1947 film New Orleans, in which he also performed in a Dixieland band. This prompted the formation of Louis Armstrong's All-Stars, a Dixieland band that at first included such other jazz greats as Earl 'Fatha' Hines and trombonist Jack Teagarden.

For most of the rest of Armstrong's life, he toured the world with changing All-Stars sextets; indeed, “Ambassador Satchmo," as he came to be known in his later years, was noted for his almost nonstop touring. It was the period of his greatest popularity; he produced hit recordings such as “Mack the Knife” and “Hello, Dolly!” and outstanding albums such as his tributes to W.C. Handy and Fats Waller.

In his last years ill health curtailed his trumpet playing, but he continued as a singer. His last film appearance was in Hello, Dolly! in 1969.

More than a great trumpeter, Armstrong was a bandleader, singer, soloist, film star, and comedian. One of his most remarkable feats was his frequent conquest of the popular market with recordings that thinly disguised authentic jazz with his contagious humor. He nonetheless made his greatest impact on the evolution of jazz itself, which at the start of his career was popularly considered to be little more than a novelty.

.

And he wasn't simply a great jazz musician. Louis Armstrong lived in a time when Black music was for Black audiences, but he brought jazz to white America, and he brought white America to jazz, and jazz artists. He quietly opened the door for every single African American musician who came after him.

What a wonderful world.