Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong websites
Louis Armstrong Archives at Queens College, CUNY
Biographical information
More Background-Career Information
Louis Armstrong
Background
"Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, perhaps the 20th century's most famous musician, lived for almost thirty years in a modest
frame house in Corona, Queens. He could have lived anywhere--a mansion in Beverly Hills or an estate on Long Island--but
he preferred to live as a "regular guy" in a working class eighborhood. After Louis and Lucille Armstrong passed away, the
house was discovered to be filled with a treasure trove of home-made tape recordings, scrapbooks, photographs,
autobiographical manuscripts, and other priceless material."
-www.qc.edu//Library/info/liblaarc.html
real name: Louis Daniel Armstrong
Born
Aug 4 , 1901 in New Orleans, LA
Died
Jul 6 , 1971 in New York, NY
Years Active
Genres
Jazz
Styles
Dixieland, Swing, Classic Jazz, New Orleans Jazz, Traditional Pop, Traditional
Jazz
Instruments
Trumpet, Vocals
Louis Armstrong was the most important and influential musician in jazz history. Although he is often thought of by the
general public as a lovable, clowning personality, a gravel-voiced singer who played simple but dramatic trumpet in
a New Orleans-styled Dixieland setting, Armstrong was much much more.
One of the first soloists on record (although he was preceded
by Sidney Bechet), Louis was more responsible than anyone
else for jazz changing from an ensemble-oriented folk music into
an art form that emphasized inventive solo improvisations. His
relaxed phrasing was a major change from the staccato style of
the early '20s (helping set the stage for the swing era) and
Armstrong demonstrated that it was possible to have both impressive technique and a strong feeling
for the blues. One of jazz's first true virtuosos, his influence over his contemporaries was so powerful
that nearly every trumpeter to record between 1927 and 1940 sounded to an extent like one of his
followers!
Louis Armstrong's unique singing voice was imitated by a countless number of listeners through the
years, he popularized scat singing (using nonsense syllables rhythmically rather than words) and his
phrasing (carried over from his horn playing) affected virtually every singer to emerge after 1930,
including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. In addition, Louis Armstrong's accessible
humor and sunny stage personality were major assets in popularizing jazz with larger audiences.
Many youngsters were inspired to take up the trumpet after hearing or seeing him and millions more
were introduced to jazz through Armstrong; in later years Louis Armstrong's worldwide tours
resulted in him being widely known as "America's goodwill ambassador."
Few would have predicted greatness for Louis Armstrong based on his humble beginnings. Born in
New Orleans on Aug. 4, 1901 (until his birth certificate was discovered in the late '80s, Armstrong's
birth date was believed to have been July 4, 1900), Louis grew up in the poorest part of the city,
sometimes singing in a vocal quartet on the street for pennies. On New Year's Eve of 1912 he got
his hands on a pistol, shot it in the air in celebration and was quickly arrested and sent to live in a
Waif's home that functioned as a type of juvenile hall. This would be the turning point of his life for it
was at the Waif's home that he learned to play the cornet. Released after two years, Armstrong
began playing with jazz groups and brass bands in New Orleans, developing quickly. When King
Oliver, who had befriended Louis, left New Orleans in 1918 he recommended the young player as
his replacement in a popular band led by trombonist Kid Ory. Four years later, Oliver sent for his
protege to join his Creole Jazz Band in Chicago as second cornetist.
During 1922-24 King Oliver led the top classic jazz orchestra of the era, an octet which although
emphasizing group improvisation also left room for short solos. While Oliver was a fine cornetist
(more an inspiration than a direct influence on Louis' playing), it soon became obvious that
Armstrong was surpassing him. Fortunately this very significant band recorded 41 tracks in 1923 for
four labels for by the following year pianist Lil Harden (who became Louis' second of four wives)
talked him into leaving Oliver and joining Fletcher Henderson's big band in New York.
Although considered the top jazz orchestra of the time, Henderson's band had not yet learned how
to swing, really improvise or play the blues; at the time New York musicians were generally behind
those from Chicago. However Armstrong's playing soon inspired the musicians and it was at this
point that his impact was first really felt. Armstrong also began to record as an accompanist to blues
singers (including Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey)' teamed up with Sidney Bechet in Clarence Wiliams'
Blue Five and in 1925 (after he left Henderson and moved back to Chicago) he began his
remarkable series of Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings.
With clarinetist Johnny Dodds, trombonist Kid Ory, pianist Lil Armstrong and banjoist Johnny St.
Cyr, Armstrong recorded one classic after another during 1925-27, music that can be thought of as
both the height of New Orleans jazz and the death of it due to the increasing emphasis on
Armstrong's virtuosity. "Cornet Chop Suey" amazed fellow trumpeters (Louis switched from cornet
to the similar sounding trumpet in 1927), "Heebies Jeebies" was a hit that greatly popularized scat
singing and both "Potato Head Blues" and "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" had perfectly constructed
and thrilling solos. In 1928 Armstrong led a completely different group in the studio, the Savoy
Ballroom Five, that used the trombone and clarinet more as color than as competing voices and put
the emphasis on the interplay between the trumpeter and the remarkable pianist Earl Hines. "West
End Blues," with its remarkable opening trumpet cadenza, was considered by many (including Louis
himself) to be his greatest recording while "Weather Bird" is a duet between Armstrong and Hines
that found the two taking many chances with time; Louis' classic versions of "St. James Infirmary"
and "Basin Street Blues" (which helped to introduce the two future standards) are almost
after-thoughts next to these other remarkable records.
The odd part is that, with the exception of one appearance at a function put on by Okeh Records,
the Hot Five and Seven (the latter added tuba and drummer player Baby Dodds to the original
quintet) never played in public. Louis Armstrong was actually featured on a nightly basis in Chicago
with big bands led by Erskine Tate and Carrol Dickerson and he was rapidly developing his talents
as a showman. Starting in 1929 he began recording almost exclusively as the head of a variety of big
bands, emphasizing superior pop standards of the era (such as "I Can't Give You Anything but
Love"). During the next decade he became a household name, making two acclaimed visits to
Europe during 1932-34, appearing in small but memorable roles in movies and leading a
swing-oriented big band that mostly functioned as a backdrop for his vocals and trumpet solos.
Although the most advanced playing of his career took place with Earl Hines in 1928 and his Decca
recordings of 1935-44 often involved novelties and commercial material, Armstrong provided some
musical magic to nearly all of the records and his singing voice was at its peak in the early '40s.
Still by the mid-'40s Louis Armstrong was considered out of style. His orchestra had declined and
his own solos and clowning sounded at odds with his younger more bop-oriented sidemen. But after
appearing with a variety of veteran players in the interesting if flawed Hollywood film New Orleans
and having success playing with a small group at an acclaimed Town Hall concert in 1947,
Armstrong broke up his big band and formed the All-Stars. His sextet (which originally included
trombonist Jack Teagarden and clarinetist Barney Bigard and soon had Earl Hines) was an
immediate success playing Dixieland and swing standards along with some comedy numbers, and
Armstrong began a schedule of nearly non-stop travelling that lasted until his death.
After a few years the routines became fairly predictable and critics tired of them while some in the
Civil Rights community thought of Armstrong as an Uncle Tom. However they all missed the point.
While Armstrong was quick to make fun of himself and his nickname of "Satchmo" (short for
"Satchelmouth") could be considered objectionable, Armstrong always stood up for his race (most
notably during the struggle to integrate schools in the South) and spread more goodwill than anyone;
his brilliant trumpet playing set an example that busted stereotypes. Audiences the world over loved
the joy of Louis Armstrong's music (his and his inspiring trumpet and vocals; his main concern was
always to please the people who paid to see him. And although Armstrong's music did not evolve
much after the 1940s, neither did the playing of Johnny Hodges and Thelonious Monk!
In the 1950s Hines left the All-Stars and Teagarden and Bigard were replaced by Trummy Young
and Edmond Hall but the basic sound of the group did not change. Armstrong, who also
occasionally recorded with larger orchestras and with Ella Fitzgerald, found his celebrity status
continuing to grow. He had major hits in "Blueberry Hill," "Mack the Knife" and "Hello Dolly" and
when he died on July 6, 1971, there was no jazz musician who could approach him in popularity.
With all of the reissues and continued acclaim (including a postage stamp), there is little chance that
Louis Armstrong will ever be forgotten! -- Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide
A sampling of Louis Armstrong's albums from 1923 to 1935
1923
Clarence Williams' Blue Five
CSB
1923
The Genius of Louis Armstrong
1923
Louis Armstrong and King Oliver
Milestone
1924
An Early Portrait
Milestone
1924
Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers
Affinity
1925
Hot Fives, Vol. 1
Columbia
1926
Louis Armstrong of New Orleans
MCA
1926
Hot Fives and Sevens, Vol. 2
Columbia
1927
Hot Fives and Sevens, Vol. 3
Columbia
1928
Louis Armstrong Special
CBS
1929
Louis in New York, Vol. 5
Columbia
1930
In the Thirties/In the Forties, Vol. 2
RCA
1931
V.S.O.P., Vol. 1
Epic
1931
Stardust
Portrait
1932
From the Big Band to the All Stars (1946-56)
RCA
1934
Rare Louis Armstrong
Jazz Anthology
1935
Jazz Heritage: Satchmo Forever
Jazz Heritage
Email: ter2@acpub.duke.edu