Louis Armstrong Biography (Jazz Musician) Died: 6 July 1971 (heart attack) Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana Best known as: The charismatic jazz trumpeter who recorded "Hello Dolly" Louis Armstrong was the most famous jazz trumpeter of the 20th century. Like Jelly Roll Morton , Armstrong began playing in New Orleans clubs and saloons in his early teens. By the 1920s Armstrong was touring the country and leading his own band, the Hot Five (later the Hot Seven). He continued to tour and record throughout his life and was particularly famous for his innovative, loose-limbed improvisations; some call him the first great jazz improvisor. His gravelly voice and sunny persona were a hit with the non-jazz public, and later in his career he became a sort of cheerful ambassador of jazz, even appearing as himself (more or less) in movies like High Society (1956, with his good friend Bing Crosby and starlet Grace Kelly ) and Hello, Dolly! (1969, with Barbra Streisand ). The theme song from the latter film became his most widely-known recording.

Extra credit: Armstrong’s nickname Satchmo was an abbreviation of “satchelmouth,” a joke on the size of his mouth… He was also nicknamed Gatemouth, Dippermouth, Dip, and simply Pops… Armstrong was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “early influence” in 1990… In 2001 the city of New Orleans renamed its airport as Louis Armstrong International Airport… Armstrong is credited with influencing trumpeters as diverse as Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis . Copyright © 1998-2017 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved. Louis Armstrong - Know Louisiana Louis Armstrong Also known as: Satchmo (1901–1971) A native of New Orleans, Louis Armstrong signed this c. 1960 publicity photo, “Kindest regards, Louis Armstrong.” Learn more Louis Armstrong is renowned as both a seminal figure in the evolution of jazz and, more broadly, as one of the major artistic figures of the twentieth century. One of several important second-generation jazz musicians to emerge from New Orleans in the 1920s, he helped introduce jazz to the global cultural mainstream.

Armstrong’s formidable technique and imaginative improvisations dramatically raised the level of musicianship among jazz soloists and vocalists alike. In later years, Armstrong also became a pop-music hero and beloved entertainer far beyond the somewhat limited audience for jazz. Armstrong is held in high regard for several reasons. First, he was an agile, inventive instrumentalist, initially playing the cornet and later switching to the trumpet, a closely related instrument. His style was distinguished by its expressive and soulful feel, clear tone and broad range, and precise phrasing that included daring experiments with rhythm. A similar approach characterized Armstrong’s pioneering mastery of the wordless vocal style known as scat singing and, in a broader sense, his emotional, rhythmic approach to vocal phrasing. Early Life Although Armstrong stated that he was born on July 4, 1900, research by scholar Tad Jones revealed Armstrong’s actual birth date as August 4, 1901, in New Orleans. The son of Willie Armstrong and Mary Ann “Mayann” Miles of Boutté, he spent his early childhood with his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong was raised on Jane Alley in a rough neighborhood known as “back of town,” near the present-day corner of Tulane Avenue and Broad Street. “I sure had a ball growing up there as a kid,” Armstrong told Life magazine interviewer Richard Meryman; “We were poor and everything like that, but music was all around you. Music kept you rolling.” The music that Armstrong heard as a child was primarily a combination of blues, ragtime, military parade music, and spirituals. In the first decade of the twentieth century, this combination evolved into what would come to be called jazz. One important early source of music for Armstrong was a neighborhood joint known as the Funky Butt Hall. He was not allowed inside, but watched performances through chinks in its ramshackle walls. Armstrong was also exposed to the nascent jazz genre—as originated by the likes of Charles“Buddy” Bolden—at second-line parades, funeral processions, and other community gatherings. In addition, as a pre-teen, Armstrong had a job delivering coal in New Orleans’s infamous Storyville district. The brothels there employed some of the city’s best musicians, and Armstrong listened to them as much as possible.

At the age of eleven, Armstrong began singing on the streets with a loose aggregation of friends, accompanying them, at times, on a slide whistle. A year later, he was arrested for firing a pistol and remanded to the Colored Waifs Home. There he learned to play the cornet and read music, thanks to teacher/bandleader Peter Davis. Leaving this facility a year and a half later, Armstrong began performing at night while still doing manual labor by day. His reputation spread within the black community and, at age eighteen, Armstrong was hired by trombonist Kid Ory to replace noted trumpeter Joseph “King” Oliver. Oliver, however, soon enticed Armstrong to join his band for a long-term engagement in Chicago. This marked Armstrong’s emergence as a full-time professional musician with a burgeoning reputation. His fame was further enhanced by recording with Oliver’s band in 1923. Armstrong was also a featured soloist on records by diverse artists, including the great blues singer Bessie Smith in 1924 and Jimmie Rodgers, the first star of country music, in 1930.

Professional Life Between 1925 and 1928, Armstrong made recordings with two groups whose members overlapped: the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. These recordings have come to be lauded as definitive statements of classic New Orleans jazz , although this term was not in use at the time. Highlights of these sessions included “Cornet Chop Suey,” “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” and “West End Blues,” with accompaniment by top players such as Kid Ory, clarinetist Johnny Dodds, drummer Baby Dodds, banjoist Johnny St. Cyr, and his then wife, Lil Armstrong. Armstrong’s recordings with pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines, during this era, are equally acclaimed. For the next two decades Armstrong played in a wide variety of settings, both as a bandleader and a sideman. He worked in small combos, big bands, and the orchestra for the all-black musical Hot Chocolates. Armstrong also appeared in films and recorded with such popular mainstream artists as Bing Crosby. As the big band era wound down after World War II , Armstrong returned to a smaller format with a band called the All-Stars.

A recording of this band’s 1947 performance at New York’s Town Hall is highly acclaimed. During the ensuing years, various configurations of this band included clarinetist Barney Bigard, drummer Big Sid Catlett, and trombonist Jack Teagarden. Armstrong’s popularity remained high, as exemplified by his number-one record, “Hello Dolly,” which briefly deposed The Beatles from the top of the pop charts in 1964. In the social and cultural changes of mid-century America, Armstrong’s old-fashioned, gregarious performance style became passé in some circles. Armstrong’s 1949 appearance as King of Zulu during Mardi Gras further confounded some admirers. Not understanding the parade’s cultural complexities and implicit satire, many fans were puzzled by Armstrong’s appearance in blackface, the Krewe of Zulu’s traditional attire. At times critics—including modern jazz musicians and black power advocates—dismissed Armstrong as an “Uncle Tom,” despite his outspoken criticism of President Eisenhower’s handling of the 1957 school desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas. Such perceptions of Armstrong continued until his death in 1971.

But a decade or so later, Armstrong was lionized by such young talents as the New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis . Since then, the earliest aspects of Armstrong’s repertoire have returned to considerable popularity. At this writing, forty years after his death, Louis Armstrong is rightly appreciated as one of the most important musicians to emerge from Louisiana. Cite this entry Chicago Manual of Style Sandmel, Ben "Louis Armstrong." In knowlouisiana.org Encyclopedia of Louisiana, edited by David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 2010–. Article published December 4, 2015. MLA Style Sandmel, Ben "Louis Armstrong" knowlouisiana.org Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Ed. David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 4 Dec 2015. Web. 20 Jan 2017. Suggested Reading Armstrong, Louis.Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. New York: Da Capo Press, 1986. Berrett, Joshua. Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Brothers, Thomas.Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans.

New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. Chilton, John, and Max Jones. Louis, the Louis Armstrong Story, 1900–1971. New York: De Capo Press, 1988. Edwards, B. H. “Louis Armstrong and the Syntax of Scat.” Critical Inquiry 28 no. 3 (Spring 2002): 618–49. Hersch, C. “Poisoning Their Coffee: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights.” Polity 34 no. 3 (Spring 2002): 371–92. Raeburn, Bruce Boyd. New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009. External Links Disclaimer » If you click on any of the links below, you will leave knowlouisiana.org. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities does not certify the accuracy of information, nor endorse points of view expressed on the site to which you are navigating, with the exception of other LEH sites.

Legacy Recordings on Louis Armstrong From Legacy Recordings | Visit Louis Armstrong - Trumpet Player, Singer - Biography.com Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong was a trumpeter, bandleader, singer, soloist, film star and comedian. Considered one of the most influential artists in jazz history, he is known for songs like "Star Dust," "La Via En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World." IN THESE GROUPS “The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician.” “If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.” “All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song.” “The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky are also on the faces of people going by.” “The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” “Seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love, baby - love.

That's the secret.” “We all do 'do re mi,' but you have got to find the other notes yourself.” “Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. You might be able to buy a little better booze than the wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat and when you die you're just as graveyard dead as he is.” “What we play is life.” “The bottom line of any country in the world is what did we contribute to the world? ...We contributed Louis Armstrong.” Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong - Mini Biography (TV-14; 3:55) Louis Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo," "Pops" and, later, "Ambassador Satch," was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. An all-star virtuoso, he came to prominence in the 1920s, influencing countless musicians. Synopsis Louis Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo," "Pops" and, later, "Ambassador Satch," was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

An all-star virtuoso, he came to prominence in the 1920s, influencing countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style and unique vocals. Armstrong's charismatic stage presence impressed not only the jazz world but all of popular music. He recorded several songs throughout his career, including he is known for songs like "Star Dust," "La Via En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World." Armstrong died at his home in Queens, New York, on July 6, 1971. Younger Years Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a section so poor that it was nicknamed "The Battlefield." Armstrong had a difficult childhood. His father was a factory worker and abandoned the family soon after Louis's birth; his mother, who often turned to prostitution, frequently left him with his maternal grandmother. Armstrong was obligated to leave school in the fifth grade to begin working. A Jewish family, the Karnofskys, gave young Armstrong a job collecting junk and delivering coal. They also encouraged him to sing and often invited him into their home for meals.

On New Year's Eve in 1912, Armstrong fired his stepfather's gun in the air during a New Year's Eve celebration and was arrested on the spot. He was then sent to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys. There, he received musical instruction on the cornet and fell in love with music. In 1914, the home released him, and he immediately began dreaming of a life making music. While he still had to work odd jobs selling newspapers and hauling coal to the city's famed red-light district, Armstrong began earning a reputation as a fine blues player. One of the greatest cornet players in town, Joe "King" Oliver, began acting as a mentor to the young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn and occasionally using him as a sub. By the end of his teens, Armstrong had grown up fast. In 1918, he married Daisy Parker, a prostitute, commencing a stormy union marked by many arguments and acts of violence. During this time, Armstrong adopted a three-year-old boy named Clarence. The boy's mother, Armstrong's cousin, had died in childbirth.

Clarence, who had become mentally disabled from a head injury he had suffered at an early age, was taken care of by Armstrong his entire life. Meanwhile, Armstrong's reputation as a musician continued to grow: In 1918, he replaced Oliver in Kid Ory's band, then the most popular band in New Orleans. He was soon able to stop working manual labor jobs and began concentrating full-time on his cornet, playing parties, dances, funeral marches and at local "honky-tonks"—a name for small bars that typically host musical musical acts. Beginning in 1919, Armstrong spent his summers playing on riverboats with a band led by Fate Marable. It was on the riverboat that Armstrong honed his music reading skills and eventually had his first encounters with other jazz legends, including Bix Beiderbecke and Jack Teagarden. Early Career: Jazz Musician Though Armstrong was content to remain in New Orleans, in the summer of 1922, he received a call from King Oliver to come to Chicago and join his Creole Jazz Band on second cornet.

Armstrong accepted, and he was soon taking Chicago by storm with both his remarkably firery playing and the dazzling two-cornet breaks that he shared with Oliver. He made his first recordings with Oliver on April 5, 1923; that day, he earned his first recorded solo on "Chimes Blues." Armstrong soon began dating the female pianist in the band, Lillian Hardin. After they married in 1924, Hardin made it clear that she felt Oliver was holding Armstrong back. She pushed her husband to cut ties with his mentor and join Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, the top African-American dance band in New York City at the time. Armstrong joined Henderson in the fall of 1924, and immediately made his presence felt with a series of solos that introduced the concept of swing music to the band. Armstrong had a great influence on Henderson and his arranger, Don Redman, both of whom began integrating Armstrong's swinging vocabulary into their arrangements—transforming Henderson's band into what is generally regarded as the first jazz big band.

However, Armstrong's southern background didn't mesh well with the more urban, Northern mentality of Henderson's other musicians, who sometimes gave Armstrong a hard time over his wardrobe and the way he talked. Henderson also forbade Armstrong from singing, fearing that his rough way of vocalizing would be too coarse for the sophisticated audiences at the Roseland Ballroom. Unhappy, Armstrong left Henderson in 1925 to return to Chicago, where he began playing with his wife Lil's band at the Dreamland Café. Mid-Career: Acclaimed Artist While in New York, Armstrong cut dozens of records as a sideman, creating inspirational jazz with other greats such as Sidney Bechet, and backing numerous blues singers, namely Bessie Smith. Back in Chicago, OKeh Records decided to let Armstrong make his first records with a band under his own name: Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five. From 1925 to 1928, Armstrong made more than 60 records with the Hot Five and, later, the Hot Seven.

Today, these are generally regarded as the most important and influential recordings in jazz history; on these records, Armstrong's virtuoso brilliance helped transform jazz from an ensemble music to a soloist's art. His stop-time solos on numbers like "Cornet Chop Suey" and "Potato Head Blues" changed jazz history, featuring daring rhythmic choices, swinging phrasing and incredible high notes. He also began singing on these recordings, popularizing wordless "scat singing" with his hugely popular vocal on 1926's "Heebie Jeebies." The Hot Five and Hot Seven were strictly recording groups; Armstrong performed nightly during this period with Erskine Tate's orchestra at the Vendome Theater, often playing music for silent movies. While performing with Tate in 1926, Armstrong finally switched from the cornet to the trumpet. Armstrong's popularity continued to grow in Chicago throughout the decade, as he began playing other venues, including the Sunset Café and the Savoy Ballroom. A young pianist from Pittsburgh, Earl "Fatha" Hines, assimilated Armstrong's ideas into his piano playing.

Together, the two formed a potent team and made some of the greatest recordings in jazz history in 1928, including their virtuoso duet, "Weather Bird," and "West End Blues." The latter performance is one of Armstrong's best known works, opening with a stunning cadenza that features equal helpings of opera and the blues; with its release, "West End Blues" proved to the world that the musical genre of fun, dance jazz was also capable of producing high art. In the summer of 1929, Armstrong headed to New York, where he had a role in a Broadway production of Connie's Hot Chocolates, featuring the music of Fats Waller and Andy Razaf. Armstrong was featured nightly on Ain't Misbehavin', breaking up the crowds of white theatergoers nightly. That same year, he recorded with small New Orleans-influenced groups, including the Hot Five, and began recording larger ensembles.

Instead of doing strictly jazz numbers, OKeh began allowing Armstrong to record popular songs of the day, including "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "Star Dust" and "Body and Soul." Armstrong's daring vocal transformations of these songs completely changed the concept of popular singing in American popular music, and had lasting effects on all singers who came after him, including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. Career and Personal Setbacks By 1932, Armstrong had begun appearing in movies and made his first tour of England. While he was beloved by musicians, he was too wild for most critics, who gave him some of the most racist and harsh reviews of his career. Armstrong didn't let the criticism stop him, however, and he returned an even bigger star when he began a longer tour throughout Europe in 1933. In a strange turn of events, it was during this tour that Armstrong's career fell apart: Years of blowing high notes had taken a toll on Armstrong's lips, and, following a fight with his manager, Johnny Collins—who already managed to get Armstrong into trouble with the American mob—he was left stranded overseas by Collins.

Armstrong decided to take some time off soon after the incident, and spent much of 1934 relaxing in Europe and resting his lip. When Armstrong returned to Chicago in 1935, he had no band, no engagements and no recording contract. His lips were still sore, and there were still remnants of his mob troubles and with Lil, who, following the couple's split, was suing Armstrong. He turned to Joe Glaser for help; Glaser had mob ties of his own, having been close with Al Capone, but he had loved Armstrong from the time he met him at the Sunset Café (Glaser had owned and managed the club). Armstrong put his career in Glaser's hands and asked him to make his troubles disappear. Glaser did just that; within a few months, Armstrong had a new big band and was recording for Decca Records. African-American 'Firsts' During this period, Armstrong set a number of African-American "firsts." In 1936, he became the first African-Amercican jazz musician to write an autobiography: Swing That Music.

That same year, he became the first African-American to get featured billing in a major Hollywood movie with his turn in Pennies from Heaven, starring Bing Crosby. Additionally, he became the first African-American entertainer to host a nationally sponsored radio show in 1937, when he took over Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann's Yeast Show for 12 weeks. Armstrong continued to appear in major films with the likes of Mae West, Martha Raye and Dick Powell. He was also a frequent presence on radio, and often broke box-office records at the height of what is now known as the "Swing Era." Armstrong's fully healed lip made its presence felt on some of the finest recordings of career, including "Swing That Music," "Jubilee" and "Struttin' with Some Barbecue." In 1938, Armstrong finally divorced Lil Hardin and married Alpha Smith, whom he had been dating for more than a decade. Their marriage was not a happy one, however, and they divorced in 1942. That same year, Armstrong married for the fourth—and final—time; he wed Lucille Wilson, a Cotton Club dancer.

When Wilson tired of living out of a suitcase during endless strings of one-nighters, she convinced Armstrong to purchase a house at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. The Armstrongs moved into the home, where they would live for the rest of their lives, in 1943. By the mid-'40s, the Swing Era was winding down and the era of big bands was almost over. Seeing "the writing on the wall," Armstrong scaled down to a smaller six-piece combo, the All Stars; personnel would frequently change, but this would be the group Armstrong would perform live with until the end of his career. Members of the group, at one time or another, included Jack Teagarden, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Trummy Young, Edmond Hall, Billy Kyle and Tyree Glenn, among other jazz legends.

Armstrong continued recording for Decca in the late 1940s and early '50s, creating a string of popular hits, including "Blueberry Hill," "That Lucky Old Sun," "La Vie En Rose," "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" and "I Get Ideas." Armstrong joined with Columbia Records in the mid-'50s, and soon cut some of the finest albums of his career for producer George Avakian, including Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy and Satch Plays Fats. It was also for Columbia that Armstrong scored one of the biggest hits of his career: His jazz transformation of Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife." 'Ambassador Satch' During the mid-'50s, Armstrong's popularity overseas skyrocketed, leading him to be known as "Ambassador Satch." He performed all over the world in the 1950s and '60s, including throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow followed Armstrong with a camera crew on some of his worldwide excursions, turning the resulting footage into a theatrical documentary, Satchmo the Great, released in 1957.

Though his popularity was hitting new highs in the 1950s, and despite breaking down so many barriers for his race and being a hero to the African-American community for so many years, Armstrong began losing his standing with two segments of his audience: Modern jazz fans and young African-Americans. Bebop, a new form of jazz, had blossomed in the 1940s. Featuring young geniuses such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the younger generation of musicians saw themselves as artists, not as entertainers; they saw Armstrong's stage persona and music as old-fashioned and criticized him in the press. Armstrong fought back, but for many young jazz fans, he was regarded as an out-of-date performer with his best days behind him. The struggle for civil rights was growing tenser with each passing year, with more protests, marches and speeches from African Americans wanting equal rights. To many young jazz listeners at the time, Armstrong's ever-smiling demeanor seemed like it was from a bygone era, and the trumpeter's refusal to comment on politics for many years only furthered perceptions that he was out of touch.

These views changed in 1957, when Armstrong saw the Little Rock Central High School integration crisis on television. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent in the National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from entering the school. When Armstrong saw this—as well as white protesters hurling invective at the students—he blew his top to the press, telling a reporter that President Dwight D. Eisenhower had "no guts" for letting Faubus run the country, and stating, "The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell." Armstrong's words made front-page news around the world. Though he had finally spoken out after years of remaining publicly silent, he received criticism at the time from both black and white public figures. Not a single jazz musician who had previously criticized him took his side—today, this is seen as one of the bravest, most definitive moments of Armstrong's life. A Daughter?: Sharon Preston Armstrong's four marriages never produced any children, and because he and wife Lucille Wilson had actively tried for years to no avail, many believed him to be sterile, incapable of having children.

However, controversy regarding Armstrong's fatherhood struck in 1954, when a girlfriend that the musician had dated on the side, Lucille "Sweets" Preston, claimed she was pregnant with his child. Preston gave birth to a daughter, Sharon Preston, in 1955. Shortly thereafter, Armstrong bragged about the child to his manager, Joe Glaser, in a letter that would later be published in the book Louis Armstrong In His Own Words (1999). Thereafter until his death in 1971, however, Armstrong never publicly addressed whether he was in fact Sharon's father. In recent years, Armstrong's alleged daughter, who now goes by the name Sharon Preston Folta, has publicized various letters between her and her father. The letters, dated as far back as 1968, prove that Armstrong had indeed always believed Sharon to be his daughter, and that he even paid for her education and home, among several other things, throughout his life. Perhaps most importantly, the letters also detail Armstrong's fatherly love for Sharon.

While only a DNA test could officially prove whether a blood relationship does exist between Armstrong and Sharon—and one has never been conducted between the two—believers and skeptics can at least agree on one thing: Sharon's uncanny resemblance to the jazz legend. Later Career Armstrong continued a grueling touring schedule into the late '50s, and it caught up with him in 1959, when he had a heart attack while traveling in Spoleto, Italy. The musician didn't let the incident stop him, however, and after taking a few weeks off to recover, he was back on the road, performing 300 nights a year into the 1960s. Armstrong was still a popular attraction around the world in 1963, but hadn't made a record in two years. In December of that year, he was called into the studio to record the title number for a Broadway show that hadn't opened yet: Hello, Dolly! The record was released in 1964 and quickly climbed to the top of the pop music charts, hitting the No. 1 slot in May 1964, and knocking the Beatles off the top at the height of Beatlemania.

This newfound popularity introduced Armstrong to a new, younger audience, and he continued making both successful records and concert appearances for the rest of the decade, even cracking the "Iron Curtain" with a tour of Communist countries such as East Berlin and Czechoslovakia in 1965. In 1967, Armstrong recorded a new ballad, "What a Wonderful World." Different from most of his recordings of the era, the song features no trumpet and places Armstrong's gravelly voice in the middle of a bed of strings and angelic voices. Armstrong sang his heart out on the number, thinking of his home in Queens as he did so, but "What a Wonderful World" received little promotion in the United States. The tune did, however, become a No. 1 hit around the world, including in England and South Africa, and eventually became Armstrong's most-lasting song after it was used in the 1986 film Good Morning, Vietnam. Final Years By 1968, Armstrong's grueling lifestyle had finally caught up with him. Heart and kidney problems forced him to stop performing in 1969. That same year, his longtime manager, Joe Glaser, passed away.

Armstrong spent much of that year at home, but managed to continue practicing the trumpet daily. By the summer of 1970, Armstrong was allowed to perform publicly again and play the trumpet. After a successful engagement in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements around the world, including in London and Washington, D.C. and New York (he performed for two weeks at New York's Waldorf-Astoria). However, a heart attack two days after the Waldorf gig sidelined him for two months. Armstrong returned home in May 1971, and though he soon resumed playing again and promised to perform in public once more, he died in his sleep on July 6, 1971, at his home in Queens, New York. Legacy Since his death, Armstrong's stature has only continued to grow. In the 1980s and '90s, younger African-American jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis and Nicholas Payton began speaking about Armstrong's importance, both as a musician and a human being.

A series of new biographies on Armstrong made his role as a civil rights pioneer abundantly clear and, subsequently, argued for an embrace of his entire career's output, not just the revolutionary recordings from the 1920s. Armstrong's home in Corona, Queens was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977; today, the house is home to the Louis Armstrong House Museum, which annually receives thousands of visitors from all over the world. Arguably the most important figure in 20th century music, Armstrong's innovations as a trumpeter and vocalist are widely recognized today, and will continue to be for decades to come. Videos Louis Armstrong | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by William Ruhlmann Louis Armstrong was the first important soloist to emerge in jazz, and he became the most influential musician in the music's history. As a trumpet virtuoso, his playing, beginning with the 1920s studio recordings made with his Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles, charted a future for jazz in highly imaginative, emotionally charged improvisation. For this, he is revered by jazz fans.

But Armstrong also became an enduring figure in popular music, due to his distinctively phrased bass singing and engaging personality, which were on display in a series of vocal recordings and film roles. Armstrong had a difficult childhood. William Armstrong, his father, was a factory worker who abandoned the family soon after the boy's birth. Armstrong was brought up by his mother, Mary (Albert) Armstrong, and his maternal grandmother. He showed an early interest in music, and a junk dealer for whom he worked as a grade-school student helped him buy a cornet, which he taught himself to play. He dropped out of school at 11 to join an informal group, but on December 31, 1912, he fired a gun during a New Year's Eve celebration, for which he was sent to reform school. He studied music there and played cornet and bugle in the school band, eventually becoming its leader. He was released on June 16, 1914, and did manual labor while trying to establish himself as a musician.

He was taken under the wing of cornetist Joe "King" Oliver , and when Oliver moved to Chicago in June 1918, he replaced him in the Kid Ory Band . He moved to the Fate Marable band in the spring of 1919, staying with Marable until the fall of 1921. Armstrong moved to Chicago to join Oliver 's band in August 1922 and made his first recordings as a member of the group in the spring of 1923. He married Lillian Harden , the pianist in the Oliver band, on February 5, 1924. (She was the second of his four wives.) On her encouragement, he left Oliver and joined Fletcher Henderson 's band in New York, staying for a year and then going back to Chicago in November 1925 to join the Dreamland Syncopators , his wife's group. During this period, he switched from cornet to trumpet. Armstrong had gained sufficient individual notice to make his recording debut as a leader on November 12, 1925.

Contracted to OKeh Records, he began to make a series of recordings with studio-only groups called the Hot Fives or the Hot Sevens . For live dates, he appeared with the orchestras led by Erskine Tate and Carroll Dickerson . The Hot Fives' recording of "Muskrat Ramble" gave Armstrong a Top Ten hit in July 1926, the band for the track featuring Kid Ory on trombone, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Lillian Harden Armstrong on piano, and Johnny St. Cyr on banjo. By February 1927, Armstrong was well-enough known to front his own group, Louis Armstrong & His Stompers , at the Sunset Café in Chicago. ( Armstrong did not function as a bandleader in the usual sense, but instead typically lent his name to established groups.) In April, he reached the charts with his first vocal recording, "Big Butter and Egg Man," a duet with May Alix . He took a position as star soloist in Carroll Dickerson 's band at the Savoy Ballroom in Chicago in March 1928, later taking over as the band's frontman.

"Hotter than That" was in the Top Ten in May 1928, followed in September by "West End Blues," which later became one of the first recordings named to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Armstrong returned to New York with his band for an engagement at Connie's Inn in Harlem in May 1929. He also began appearing in the orchestra of Hot Chocolates, a Broadway revue, given a featured spot singing "Ain't Misbehavin'." In September, his recording of the song entered the charts, becoming a Top Ten hit. Armstrong fronted the Luis Russell Orchestra for a tour of the South in February 1930, then in May went to Los Angeles, where he led a band at Sebastian's Cotton Club for the next ten months. He made his film debut in Ex-Flame, released at the end of 1931.

By the start of 1932, he had switched from the "race"-oriented OKeh label to its pop-oriented big sister Columbia Records, for which he recorded two Top Five hits, "Chinatown, My Chinatown" and "You Can Depend on Me" before scoring a number one hit with "All of Me" in March 1932; another Top Five hit, "Love, You Funny Thing," hit the charts the same month. He returned to Chicago in the spring of 1932 to front a band led by Zilner Randolph ; the group toured around the country. In July, Armstrong sailed to England for a tour. He spent the next several years in Europe, his American career maintained by a series of archival recordings, including the Top Ten hits "Sweethearts on Parade" (August 1932; recorded December 1930) and "Body and Soul" (October 1932; recorded October 1930). His Top Ten version of "Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train," in the charts in early 1933, was on Victor Records; when he returned to the U.S.

in 1935, he signed to recently formed Decca Records and quickly scored a double-sided Top Ten hit, "I'm in the Mood for Love"/"You Are My Lucky Star." Armstrong 's new manager, Joe Glaser , organized a big band for him that had its premiere in Indianapolis on July 1, 1935; for the next several years, he toured regularly. He also took a series of small parts in motion pictures, beginning with Pennies From Heaven in December 1936, and he continued to record for Decca, resulting in the Top Ten hits "Public Melody Number One" (August 1937), "When the Saints Go Marching in" (April 1939), and "You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)" (April 1946), the last a duet with Ella Fitzgerald . He returned to Broadway in the short-lived musical Swingin' the Dream in November 1939.

With the decline of swing music in the post-World War II years, Armstrong broke up his big band and put together a small group dubbed the All Stars , which made its debut in Los Angeles on August 13, 1947. He embarked on his first European tour since 1935 in February 1948, and thereafter toured regularly around the world. In June 1951 he reached the Top Ten of the LP charts with Satchmo at Symphony Hall ("Satchmo" being his nickname), and he scored his first Top Ten single in five years with "(When We Are Dancing) I Get Ideas" later in the year. The single's B-side, and also a chart entry, was "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," sung by Armstrong in the film The Strip. In 1993, it gained renewed popularity when it was used in the film Sleepless in Seattle. Armstrong completed his contract with Decca in 1954, after which his manager made the unusual decision not to sign him to another exclusive contract but instead to have him freelance for different labels.

Satch Plays Fats , a tribute to Fats Waller , became a Top Ten LP for Columbia in October 1955, and Verve Records contracted Armstrong for a series of recordings with Ella Fitzgerald , beginning with the chart LP Ella and Louis in 1956. Armstrong continued to tour extensively, despite a heart attack in June 1959. In 1964, he scored a surprise hit with his recording of the title song from the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!, which reached number one in May, followed by a gold-selling album of the same name. It won him a Grammy for best vocal performance. This pop success was repeated internationally four years later with "What a Wonderful World," which hit number one in the U.K. in April 1968. It did not gain as much notice in the U.S. until 1987 when it was used in the film Good Morning, Vietnam, after which it became a Top 40 hit. Armstrong was featured in the 1969 film of Hello, Dolly!, performing the title song as a duet with Barbra Streisand .

He performed less frequently in the late '60s and early '70s, and died of a heart ailment in 1971 at the age of 69. As an artist, Armstrong was embraced by two distinctly different audiences: jazz fans who revered him for his early innovations as an instrumentalist, but were occasionally embarrassed by his lack of interest in later developments in jazz and, especially, by his willingness to serve as a light entertainer; and pop fans, who delighted in his joyous performances, particularly as a vocalist, but were largely unaware of his significance as a jazz musician. Given his popularity, his long career, and the extensive label-jumping he did in his later years, as well as the differing jazz and pop sides of his work, his recordings are extensive and diverse, with parts of his catalog owned by many different companies. But many of his recorded performances are masterpieces, and none are less than entertaining.

Only known film of Louis Armstrong in studio discovered in storage facility | Music | The Guardian Louis Armstrong Only known film of Louis Armstrong in studio discovered in storage facility Louis Armstrong House Museum has acquired the 33-minute, 16mm film, which captures Armstrong recording his 1959 album Satchmo Plays King Oliver Wednesday 20 April 2016 16.59 EDT Last modified on Friday 11 November 2016 07.00 EST Close This article is 9 months old The Louis Armstrong House Museum has acquired the only known film of the great jazz musician in a recording studio, footage that was discovered in a storage facility. The 33-minute, 16mm film captures Armstrong recording his 1959 album Satchmo Plays King Oliver in Los Angeles for Audio Fidelity. The record producer, Sid Frey, had the film professionally shot but wound up not doing anything with it or telling anyone about it. Louis Armstrong’s Desert Island Discs appearance found by BBC Read more Michael Cogswell, the New York City museum’s executive director, called it “a groundbreaking discovery”. The museum announced the acquisition on Wednesday.

“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,” he said. Frey’s daughter, Andrea Bass, who helped the museum acquire the film, said she first learned about its existence in a chatroom discussion of her father’s company. Frey, the founder and president of Audio Fidelity, was known in the industry as Mr Stereo for being the first to release a commercially distributed stereo recording, she said. Frey died in 1968. Bass said that after their mother died in 2005, her sister placed the Audio Fidelity tapes, films, albums and personal family items in a storage facility – unbeknownst to her. “People were always asking me where the masters were,” said Bass, a former marketing director. “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. Bass said she was unable at that time to purchase the Louis Armstrong material, but the man contacted her again six months ago, and this time they struck a deal.

The film’s recording session was made just after Armstrong appeared on Bing Crosby’s television special. It shows a relaxed Armstrong in a short-sleeved plaid shirt and shorts blowing his trumpet and singing with his All Stars band. He looks healthy despite a heart attack a few months earlier. The film opens with two complete takes of I Ain’t Got Nobody. After the first attempt, Armstrong signals for “one more,” and then approvingly winks at his bandmates after the second – master – take. Much of the film focuses on Armstrong and the All Stars working out a routine for I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll. Armstrong didn’t have sheet music for the song so he improvised each take with “a new vocal made up of a mixture of dazzling scat singing”, the museum said. The film ends with a complete take of Jelly Roll Blues, a tribute to jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton. The museum has also acquired Frey’s master reel-to-reel tapes for Louie and the Dukes of Dixieland, which Armstrong recorded in 1960 for Audio Fidelity at Webster Hall in New York City. The album’s numbers include Limehouse Blues and Avalon.

“Capturing Louis in the act of recording is a unique and welcome discovery augmenting what we know about his artistry in an invaluable manner, proving that he was a leader in the true musical sense of that word,” said Dan Morgenstern, the former longtime director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. For now, the museum will post one complete song on its website and social media. It plans to show the complete film at a future date. The museum is housed in Corona, Queens, in the modest brick building where Armstrong lived for 28 years and died in 1971. It has the largest publicly held archival collection devoted to a jazz musician in the world. Louis Armstrong - Biography of a Masterful Trumpet Player Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong A Masterful Trumpet Player Studio portrait of American jazz musician and bandleader Louis Armstrong grinning and holding his trumpet. (circa 1945). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) By Patricia Daniels, Contributing Writer Updated April 28, 2016. Who Was Louis Armstrong? Born into poverty at the turn of the twentieth century, Louis Armstrong rose above humble origins to become a masterful trumpet player and beloved entertainer.

He played a key role in the development of one of the early twentieth century's most important new styles of music -- jazz . Armstrong's inventiveness and improvisational techniques, along with his energetic, dazzling style have influenced generations of musicians. One of the first to perform scat-style singing, he is well-known also for his distinctive, gravelly singing voice. Armstrong wrote two autobiographies and appeared in more than 30 films. Dates: August 4, 1901* - July 6, 1971 Also Known As: Satchmo, Pops Childhood in New Orleans Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to 16-year-old Mayann Albert and her boyfriend Willie Armstrong. Only weeks after Louis' birth, Willie left Mayann and Louis was placed in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong. continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance Josephine brought in some money doing laundry for white families, but struggled to keep food on the table. Young Louis Armstrong had no toys, very few clothes, and went barefoot most of the time. Despite their hardships, Josephine made sure that her grandson attended school and church.

While Louis was living with his grandmother, his mother briefly reunited with Willie Armstrong and gave birth to a second child, Beatrice, in 1903. While Beatrice was still very young, Willie once again left Mayann. Four years later, when Armstrong was six years old, he moved back in with his mother, who was then living in a tough neighborhood called Storyville. It became Louis’ job to look after his sister. Working on the Streets By the age of seven, Armstrong was looking for work wherever he could find it. He sold newspapers and vegetables and made a little money singing on the street with a group of friends. Each group member had a nickname; Louis Armstrong's was "Satchelmouth" (later shortened to "Satchmo"), a reference to his wide grin. Armstrong saved up enough money to buy a used cornet (a brass musical instrument similar to a trumpet), which he taught himself to play. He quit school at age eleven to concentrate on earning money for his family. While performing on the street, Armstrong and his friends came into contact with local musicians, many of whom played in Storyville honky-tonks (bars with working-class patrons, often found in the South).

Armstrong was befriended by one of the city's best known trumpeters, Bunk Johnson, who taught him songs and new techniques and allowed Louis to sit in with him during performances in the honky-tonks. Armstrong managed to stay out of trouble until an incident on New Year's Eve 1912 changed the course of his life. The Colored Waif's Home During a New Year's Eve street celebration at the end of 1912, eleven-year-old Louis fired a pistol into the air. He was hauled off to the police station and spent the night in a cell. The next morning, a judge sentenced him to the Colored Waif's Home for an unspecified period of time. The home, a reformatory for troubled black youths, was run by a former soldier, Captain Jones. Jones provided discipline as well as regular meals and daily classes, all of which had a positive effect on Armstrong. Eager to participate in the home's brass band, Armstrong was disappointed that he was not allowed to join right away. The band director surmised that a boy from Storyville who had fired a gun did not belong in his band. Armstrong proved the director wrong as he worked his way up the ranks.

He first sang in the choir and later was assigned to play various instruments, eventually taking over the cornet. Having demonstrated his willingness to work hard and act responsibly, young Louis Armstrong was made leader of the band. He reveled in this role. In 1914, after 18 months at the Colored Waif's Home, it was time for Armstrong to return home to his mother. Becoming a Musician Back home again, Armstrong worked delivering coal during the day and spent his nights in local dance halls listening to music. He became friends with Joe "King" Oliver, a leading cornet player, and ran errands for him in return for cornet lessons. Armstrong learned quickly and began to develop his own style. He filled in for Oliver at gigs and gained further experience playing in parades and funeral marches. When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Armstrong was too young to participate, but the war did indirectly affect him. When several sailors stationed in New Orleans became victims of violent crime in the Storyville district, the secretary of the Navy shut the district down, including brothels and clubs.

While a large number of New Orleans' musicians moved north, many relocating to Chicago, Armstrong stayed and soon found himself in demand as a cornet player. By 1918, Armstrong had become well-known on the New Orleans music circuit, playing at numerous venues. That year, he met and married Daisy Parker, a prostitute who worked in one of the clubs he played in. Leaving New Orleans Impressed by Armstrong's natural talent, band conductor Fate Marable hired him to play in his riverboat band on excursions up and down the Mississippi River. Armstrong convinced Daisy that it was a good move for his career and she agreed to let him go. Armstrong played on the riverboats for three years. The discipline and high standards that he was held to made him a better musician; he also learned to read music for the first time. Yet, chafing under Marable's strict rules, Armstrong grew restless. He yearned to strike out on his own and find his unique style. Armstrong quit the band in 1921 and returned to New Orleans. He and Daisy divorced that year.

Louis Armstrong Earns a Reputation In 1922, a year after Armstrong quit the riverboats, King Oliver asked him to come to Chicago and join his Creole Jazz Band. Armstrong played second cornet and was careful not to outshine band leader Oliver. Through Oliver, Armstrong met the woman who became his second wife, Lil Hardin , who was a classically-trained jazz pianist from Memphis. Lil recognized Armstrong's talent and thus urged him to break away from Oliver's band. After two years with Oliver, Armstrong quit the band and took a new job with another Chicago band, this time as first trumpet; however, he only stayed a few months. Armstrong moved to New York City in 1924 at the invitation of bandleader Fletcher Henderson . (Lil did not accompany him, preferring to stay at her job in Chicago.) The band played mostly live gigs, but made recordings as well. They played backup for pioneering blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, furthering Armstrong's growth as a performer. Just 14 months later, Armstrong moved back to Chicago at Lil's urging; Lil believed that Henderson held back Armstrong's creativity.

"The World's Greatest Trumpet Player" Lil helped to promote Armstrong in Chicago clubs, billing him as "the world's greatest trumpet player." She and Armstrong formed a studio band, called Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five. The group recorded several popular records, many of which featured Armstrong's raspy singing. On one of the most popular of the recordings, "Heebie Jeebies," Armstrong spontaneously launched into scat-singing, in which the singer replaces the actual lyrics with nonsense syllables that often mimic the sounds made by instruments. Armstrong did not invent the singing style, but helped to make it enormously popular. During this time, Armstrong permanently switched from cornet to trumpet, preferring the brighter sound of the trumpet to the more mellow cornet. The records gave Armstrong name recognition outside of Chicago. He returned to New York in 1929, but again, Lil did not want to leave Chicago. (They stayed married, but lived apart for many years before divorcing in 1938.) In New York, Armstrong found a new venue for his talents; he was cast in a musical revue that featured the hit song "Ain't Misbehavin' " and Armstrong's accompanying trumpet solo.

Armstrong displayed showmanship and charisma, gaining a greater following after the show. The Great Depression Because of the Great Depression , Armstrong, like many others, had trouble finding work. He decided to make a new start in Los Angeles, moving there in May 1930. Armstrong found work in clubs and continued to make records. He made his first film, Ex-Flame, appearing as himself in the movie in a small role. Armstrong gained more fans through this widespread exposure. After an arrest for marijuana possession in November 1930, Armstrong received a suspended sentence and returned to Chicago. He stayed afloat during the Depression, touring the U.S. and Europe from 1931 to 1935. Armstrong continued to tour throughout the 1930s and 1940s and appeared in a few more movies. He became well-known not only in the U.S., but in much of Europe as well, even playing a command performance for King George V of England in 1932.

Big Changes for Armstrong In the late 1930s, band leaders such as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman helped to propel jazz into the mainstream, ushering in the "swing music" era. The swing bands were large, consisting of about 15 musicians. Although Armstrong preferred working with smaller, more intimate ensembles, he formed a large band in order to capitalize on the swing movement. In 1938, Armstrong married longtime girlfriend Alpha Smith, but soon after the wedding began seeing Lucille Wilson, a dancer from the Cotton Club. Marriage number three ended in divorce in 1942 and Armstrong took Lucille as his fourth (and final) wife the same year. While Armstrong toured, often playing at military bases and army hospitals during World War II , Lucille found them a house in Queens, New York (her hometown). After years of traveling and staying in hotel rooms, Armstrong finally had a permanent home. Louis and the All-Stars In the late 1940s, large bands were falling out of favor, deemed too expensive to maintain. Armstrong formed a six-piece group called Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars.

The group debuted at New York's Town Hall in 1947, playing New Orleans style jazz to rave reviews. Not everyone enjoyed Armstrong's somewhat "hammy" brand of entertainment. Many from the younger generation considered him a relic of the Old South and found his mugging and eye-rolling racially offensive. He was not taken seriously by young up-and-coming jazz musicians. Armstrong, however, saw his role as more than that of a musician -- he was an entertainer. Continued Success and Controversy Armstrong made eleven more movies in the 1950s. He toured Japan and Africa with the All-Stars and recorded his first singles. Armstrong faced criticism in 1957 for speaking out against racial discrimination during the episode in Little Rock, Arkansas in which black students were heckled by whites while attempting to enter a newly integrated school. Some radio stations even refused to play his music. The controversy faded after President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock to facilitate integration. On tour in Italy in 1959, Armstrong suffered a massive heart attack. After a week in the hospital, he flew back home. Despite warnings from physicians, Armstrong returned to a busy schedule of live performances.

Number One at Last After playing five decades without a number-one song, Armstrong finally made it to the top of the charts in 1964 with "Hello Dolly," the theme song for the Broadway play of the same name. The popular song knocked the Beatles from the top spot they had held for 14 consecutive weeks. By the late 1960s, Armstrong was still able to perform, despite kidney and heart problems. In spring 1971, he suffered another heart attack. Unable to recover, Armstrong died July 6, 1971 at age 69. More than 25,000 mourners visited the body of Louis Armstrong as it lay in state and his funeral was televised nationally. * Throughout his life, Louis Armstrong claimed that his birth date was July 4, 1900, but documents found after his death confirmed the actual date to be August 4, 1901.

Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong "Satchmo" – as he was affectionately called by his legions of friends – never boasted like his fellow New Orleanians, jazzmen Jelly Roll Morton and Bunk Johnson, that he invented jazz, or that he was even one of its better players. But everyone who heard him play or hears his inimitable style today can only agree that Louis Daniel "Satchmo" Armstrong was perhaps the best jazz musician and the greatest entertainment personality the world has ever known. The universal popularity of jazz can be directly attributed to the infectious style of performance that "Satchmo" gave and the unselfishness that characterized his persona. He literally took New Orleans-style music from its raw origins and introduced it to the world as a refined art form. Armstrong was born in a poor section of New Orleans to an unwed mother on August 4, 1901. (His birthplace near the corner of Tulane and Broad avenues was torn down in 1964 to make way for a new court building and police headquarters.

A plaque, dedicated 100 years later, marks the site today.) During much of his youth, Armstrong worked at various unskilled jobs, including at a tailor shop owned by the Karnofsky family in the 400 block of South Rampart Street that still stands today. He also sold coal and had a youthful propensity for mischief. On a dare from a friend, he fired a pistol into the air on South Rampart Street and was arrested. Sentenced to the Colored Waif's Home in the city's Milneburg section, he eventually came under the influence of "Captain" Peter Davis. Sensing that young Armstrong possessed a burning desire to learn, Davis provided the basic musical training on the cornet to young Louis. With that kindly gesture musical history was on its way to being written. After serving his sentence, Armstrong began playing his horn in the noisy, smoke-filled musical clubs of what was termed the "Black Storyville," the section of New Orleans in the vicinity of South Liberty and Perdido streets (the present site of New Orleans City Hall).

Honing his skills by playing in early brass bands with Joe "King" Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Kid Ory and others, he ended up replacing Oliver in Ory's band in 1919 when Oliver moved to Chicago. In 1922, he was ready to join his idol, "King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Chicago. By the time of his arrival in the Windy City he had become an accomplished musician and Chicago was beginning to supplant New Orleans as the epicenter for jazz in America. He was in the right place at the right time. Much of the influence that Armstrong brought to Chicago had been acquired in New Orleans at the time jazz was evolving and developing into what would become the premier musical art form in America. But even while living like a king in Chicago (and later New York) Armstrong remained attached to and nostalgic for the New Orleans of his roots. He wrote in his autobiography, Satchmo, "There were all kinds of thrills for me in Storyville. On every corner I could hear music. And such good music...And that man Joe Oliver!

My, my, that man kept me spellbound with that horn of his." By the mid-1920s, Armstrong had surpassed in popularity even his mentors. His Hot 5 and Hot 7 bands really WERE hot! One musical innovation followed another, from his solos to his gravelly vocals to the rhythmic progressions that expanded the boundaries of the jazz genre. In the early '30s, Armstrong's popularity had reached such epic proportions that he and his band toured Europe, a major milestone for a performer, and especially a young black performer. As the years passed, Armstrong's persona and star appeal continued to grow. He enjoyed recording deals with major labels and movie deals with major Hollywood studios. He played in clubs and theaters and other major performance venues that no African American had ever performed in. He appeared in more than a dozen films with major stars of the era, toured the U.S. and abroad with popular White musicians and bandleaders and, before the advent of television, he was widely popular on the radio. As "Satchmo," (short for "Satchel Mouth," a nickname he earned for his trademark wide grin) his popularity never waned during his entire life.

He played for presidents in the White House, in palaces for European royalty and for high-ranking officials on his beloved continent of Africa. He frequently toured internationally as a special envoy for the U.S. State Department and he represented his country and New Orleans with dignity, charm and class. At every stop he made over a half century of performing, he always promoted his love for New Orleans and an avowed passion for red beans and rice. But of all the accolades he received, one of the greatest he ever cited was being selected King of Zulu during Mardi Gras 1949. The photo of him as Zulu King made the cover of TIME magazine. During his long career, Armstrong had many classic hit records, including "Stardust," "When the Saints Go Marching In," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "You Rascal You," "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Up a Lazy River" and many more. In early 1964, at age 62, Armstrong achieved the distinction of being the oldest musician ever to have a #1 song on the BILLBOARD charts.

His version of the popular show tune, "Hello Dolly" was the first record to knock The Beatles out of the top position they held for 14 straight weeks with three separate songs. Late in his career, when he recorded "What a Wonderful World" it was a fitting ode to the life he lived and the legacy he created. He died in New York City on July 6, 1971, a month short of his 70th birthday. He is buried in Flushing Cemetery in the New York City Borough of Queens but his greatest honors have been here in New Orleans. Two statues in New Orleans have been erected in Armstrong's honor, one on the West Bank in Algiers adjacent to the Canal Street Ferry landing, and the other in the park named for him on North Rampart Street. In 2001, his centennial year, New Orleans International Airport was renamed after him and the Satchmo SummerFest began that same year. A summer music camp for young people also bears his name. His likeness has been seen on hundreds, if not thousands of New Orleans souvenir posters, paintings and other memorabilia.

A commemorative postage stamp of him was issued on September 1, 1995 in Louis Armstrong Park. The legacy of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong will endure as long as American music is played. Louis Armstrong | Entries | KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana Entries » Louis Armstrong In this signed publicity photo of Louis Armstrong, circa 1960, his signature reads “Kindest regards, Louis Armstrong.” Learn more » Louis Armstrong is renowned as both a seminal figure in the evolution of jazz and, more broadly, as one of the major artistic figures of the twentieth century. One of several important second-generation jazz musicians to emerge from New Orleans in the 1920s, he helped introduce jazz to the global cultural mainstream. Armstrong’s formidable technique and imaginative improvisations dramatically raised the level of musicianship among jazz soloists and vocalists alike. In later years, Armstrong also became a pop-music hero and beloved entertainer far beyond the somewhat limited audience for jazz. Armstrong is held in high regard for several reasons. First, he was an agile, inventive instrumentalist, initially playing the cornet and later switching to the trumpet, a closely related instrument.

His style was distinguished by its expressive and soulful feel, clear tone and broad range, and precise phrasing that included daring experiments with rhythm. A similar approach characterized Armstrong’s pioneering mastery of the wordless vocal style known as scat singing and, in a broader sense, his emotional, rhythmic approach to vocal phrasing. Early Life Although Armstrong stated that he was born on July 4, 1900, research by scholar Tad Jones revealed Armstrong’s actual birth date as August 4, 1901, in New Orleans. The son of Willie Armstrong and Mary Ann “Mayann” Miles of Boutté, he spent his early childhood with his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was raised on Jane Alley in a rough neighborhood known as “back of town,” near the present-day corner of Tulane Avenue and Broad Street. “I sure had a ball growing up there as a kid,” Armstrong told Life magazine interviewer Richard Meryman; “We were poor and everything like that, but music was all around you. Music kept you rolling.” The music that Armstrong heard as a child was primarily a combination of blues , ragtime, military parade music, and spirituals.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, this combination evolved into what would come to be called jazz . One important early source of music for Armstrong was a neighborhood joint known as the Funky Butt Hall. He was not allowed inside, but watched performances through chinks in its ramshackle walls. Armstrong was also exposed to the nascent jazz genre—as originated by the likes of Charles “Buddy” Bolden —at second-line parades, funeral processions , and other community gatherings. In addition, as a pre-teen, Armstrong had a job delivering coal in New Orleans’s infamous Storyville district. The brothels there employed some of the city’s best musicians, and Armstrong listened to them as much as possible. At the age of eleven, Armstrong began singing on the streets with a loose aggregation of friends, accompanying them, at times, on a slide whistle. A year later, he was arrested for firing a pistol and remanded to the Colored Waifs Home. There he learned to play the cornet and read music, thanks to teacher/bandleader Peter Davis. Leaving this facility a year and a half later, Armstrong began performing at night while still doing manual labor by day.

His reputation spread within the black community and, at age eighteen, Armstrong was hired by trombonist Kid Ory to replace noted trumpeter Joseph "King" Oliver . Oliver, however, soon enticed Armstrong to join his band for a long-term engagement in Chicago. This marked Armstrong’s emergence as a full-time professional musician with a burgeoning reputation. His fame was further enhanced by recording with Oliver’s band in 1923. Armstrong was also a featured soloist on records by diverse artists, including the great blues singer Bessie Smith in 1924 and Jimmie Rodgers, the first star of country music , in 1930. Professional Life Between 1925 and 1928, Armstrong made recordings with two groups whose members overlapped: the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. These recordings have come to be lauded as definitive statements of classic New Orleans jazz , although this term was not in use at the time.

Highlights of these sessions included “Cornet Chop Suey,” “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” and “West End Blues,” with accompaniment by top players such as Kid Ory , clarinetist Johnny Dodds, drummer Baby Dodds, banjoist Johnny St. Cyr, and his then wife, Lil Armstrong. Armstrong’s recordings with pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines, during this era, are equally acclaimed. For the next two decades Armstrong played in a wide variety of settings, both as a bandleader and a sideman. He worked in small combos, big bands, and the orchestra for the all-black musical Hot Chocolates. Armstrong also appeared in films and recorded with such popular mainstream artists as Bing Crosby. As the big band era wound down after World War II , Armstrong returned to a smaller format with a band called the All-Stars. A recording of this band’s 1947 performance at New York’s Town Hall is highly acclaimed. During the ensuing years, various configurations of this band included clarinetist Barney Bigard, drummer Big Sid Catlett, and trombonist Jack Teagarden.

Armstrong’s popularity remained high, as exemplified by his number-one record, “Hello Dolly,” which briefly deposed The Beatles from the top of the pop charts in 1964. In the social and cultural changes of mid-century America, Armstrong’s old-fashioned, gregarious performance style became passé in some circles. Armstrong’s 1949 appearance as King of Zulu during Mardi Gras further confounded some admirers. Not understanding the parade’s cultural complexities and implicit satire, many fans were puzzled by Armstrong’s appearance in blackface, the Krewe of Zulu’s traditional attire. At times critics—including modern jazz musicians and black power advocates—dismissed Armstrong as an “Uncle Tom,” despite his outspoken criticism of President Eisenhower’s handling of the 1957 school desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas. Such perceptions of Armstrong continued until his death in 1971. But a decade or so later, Armstrong was lionized by such young talents as the New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis . Since then, the earliest aspects of Armstrong’s repertoire have returned to considerable popularity.

At this writing, forty years after his death, Louis Armstrong is rightly appreciated as one of the most important musicians to emerge from Louisiana. Written By Ben Sandmel , Independent Scholar Published » May 19, 2011 | Last Updated » February 20, 2014 Cite This Entry Chicago Manual of Style Sandmel, Ben. "Louis Armstrong." In KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana, edited by David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 2010–. Article published May 19, 2011. MLA Style Sandmel, Ben. "Louis Armstrong." KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Ed. David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 19 May 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2017. Suggested Reading Would you like to learn more about this topic from books and other reading materials? Armstrong, Louis.Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. New York: Da Capo Press, 1986. Berrett, Joshua. Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.

Brothers, Thomas.Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. Chilton, John, and Max Jones. Louis, the Louis Armstrong Story, 1900–1971. New York: De Capo Press, 1988. Edwards, B. H. “Louis Armstrong and the Syntax of Scat.” Critical Inquiry 28 no. 3 (Spring 2002): 618–49. Hersch, C. “Poisoning Their Coffee: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights.” Polity 34 no. 3 (Spring 2002): 371–92. Raeburn, Bruce Boyd. New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009. External Links Disclaimer » If you click on any of the links below, you will leave KnowLA. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities does not certify the accuracy of information, nor endorse points of view expressed on the site to which you are navigating, with the exception of other LEH sites.

Legacy Recordings on Louis Armstrong From Legacy Recordings | Visit Armstrong also became an enduring figure in popular music, due to his distinctively phrased bass singing and engaging personality, which were on display in a series of vocal recordings and film roles. "Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns" From Public Broadcasting System | Visit "Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame" From Jazz at Lincoln Center | Visit "The People of Traditional New Orleans Jazz: Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong" From New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, National Park Service | Visit "Smithsonian Jazz Class: Louis Armstrong" From Smithsonian Institution | Visit

Question: Which musician was known as 'Satchmo'?
Answer: Louis Armstrong