Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was born in New Orleans, LA and came to prominence in the 1920s for his daring trumpet style and unique vocals. He influenced countless musicians and music genres with his charismatic stage presence, dynamic musical ability and arrangements, and gritty vocals. Louis Armstrong also known as Satchmo, Pops, and later Ambassador Satch, was arguably the most important figure in 20th century music for his innovations as a trumpeter and vocalist. Satchmo is most recognized by generations of main stream listeners and jazz aficiados alike for “It’s a Wonderful World”, “Hello Dolly”, “Star Dust” and “LaVia En Rose”.

Formative Years in New Orleans
Louis Armstrong was born poor and had a difficult childhood. His father, a factory worker, abandoned the family after Louis’ birth; his mother was forced into prostitution. Louis spent time with his maternal grandmother and was obligated to leave school in 5th grade to work. The Karnofskys, a Jewish family, gave Louis is first job collecting junk and delivering coal. They encouraged him to sing. On New Year’s Eve 1912, Louis fired a gun in the air as part of the evening celebration and was arrested on the spot. He was sent to Colored Waif’s Home for Boys where he received musical instruction on the cornet. The school released him in 1914, with a love of music. Armstrong took odd jobs selling newspapers, hauling coal, and playing in the New Orleans red-light district. He earned a fine reputation as a blues player. Joe “King” Oliver, known as the greatest cornet player in town, was so impressed with Armstrong’s ability that he took him under his wing showing him pointers, letting him sub in under he replaced Oliver in Kid Ory’s Band. At this point, he was able to stop manual labor jobs and concentrate full-time on the cornet playing parties, concerts and honky-tonks. In 1919, he played on riverboats with bands led by Fate Marable, and this is where Armstrong fine- tuned his music reading skills and met other jazz legends.

Northern Bound
In 1922, although Armstrong remained in New Orleans, Oliver called him in the summer of 1922, to join his Creole Jazz Band as second cornet in Chicago. They recorded “Chimes Blue” and were recognized as fiery players to the delight of northern audiences. Moreover, Armstrong was asked to join Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra, the top African-American dance band, in New York City and this exposed him to Don Redman, the swing sound, and a new musical vocabulary. Although the northern audiences and musicians liked his playing, they feared his rough vocalizing and Southern background was too coarse for the sophisticated Northern audiences.

While in New York, he produced inspirational jazz with other great musicians like Sidney Bechet and blues singer Bessie Smith. Back in Chicago, his popularity grew and he played at Sunset Cafe and the Savoy Ballroom. Okeh Records let Armstrong make his first records under his own name; Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five. They produced more than 60 records from 1925 to 1928. His solos like “Cornet Chop Suey” and “Potato Head” changed jazz history with daring rhythmic choices, swing phrases, high notes, and “scat singing”. Here he worked with Earl “Fatha” Hines where they recorded some of the most famous jazz recordings in history with “Weather Bird” and “West End Blues”. The latter work is one of Armstrong’s best known songs because it incorporated equal helpings of opera and blues and proved to the world that jazz was capable of producing high art. In the summer of 1929, Armstrong worked on Broadway on “Connie’s Hot Chocolates” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’”. White audiences liked the sound of the musical genre of fun, dance jazz, so he continued to record with small New Orleans-influenced groups, but moved beyond just jazz with “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, “Star Dust”, and “Body and Soul”. In 1935, Armstrong had a new big band and was recording for Decca Records through the help of his friend and mentor Joe Glaser. Armstrong’s rough vocal sound was now appreciated as new and exciting and changed popular American singing. He influenced Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

International Fame
By 1932, Armstrong was appearing in movies in England and touring Europe to packed houses. Back in the United States, Armstrong was a regular in major Hollywood movies like “Pennies from Heaven” with Bing Crosby, and other films with Mae West, Martha Raye, and Dick Powell. He was also on radio with Rudy Vallee’s Fleischmann’s Yeast Show. He broke box-office records for his performances during the height of the “Swing Era”.

By the mid-’40s, the “Swing Era” was winding down and Big Band era was over. He scaled down his band and continued with Decca Records. In the late ’40s-early ’50s, he created a string of popular hits, including “Blueberry Hill”, “That Lucky Old Sun”, “I Get Ideas” and “ A Kiss to Build a Dream On”. Armstrong joined Columbia Records in the mid-’50s, and scored one of his biggest successes with his jazz transformation of Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife.”

During the mid-’50s, Armstrong’s popularity overseas and at home sky-rocketed. He performed around the world and became known as “Ambassador Satch”. The popular CBS news reporter, Edward R. Murrow, followed Armstrong with camera crews and produced a theatrical documentary, Satchmo the Great, released in 1957.

In the late ’50s, Armstrong’s popularity lost favor with the new younger jazz musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis that criticized him as an outdated stage performer and old fashion. With the Civil Rights Movement, young jazz listeners say Armstrong’s smiling demeanor as out of touch and didn’t appreciate how Armstrong remained silent. Armstrong finally spoke out when he saw the 1957 Little Rock Central High School integration crisis. His criticism of President Eisenhower made first page news around the world; moreover, both black and white public figures criticized him openly.

Final Years
Armstrong continued to perform throughout the world. In May 1964, “Hello Dolly” knocked The Beatles off the # 1 slot at the height of Beatlemania. In 1967, “What a Wonderful World” was recorded with Armstrong on the trumpet and his gravelly voice in the midst of strings and angelic voices. His grueling tour schedule took its toll. After several heart attacks and kidney problems, Armstrong was forced to stop performing. In the summer of 1970, he regained his health and performed in Las Vegas, Washington D.C., and at New York’s famed Waldorf Astoria. After another heart attack, he returned home to Queens, NY and passed away in his sleep.

Legacy
In the ’80s and ’90s, young African-American jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis and Nicholas Payton began speaking about the importance of Armstrong’s influence as a musician and as a human being. Armstrong is arguably the most important figure in the 20th century arts scene. His influence can be felt in jazz, big band, and swing music, vocal, theater and movie productions around the world.