Louis Armstrong
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Louis Armstrong was born on August 4th, 1901, but he always insisted that his birthday was July 4th ,1900. He must have believed that it made a better story. He was born into a very poor family and grew up in the back of town area of uptown New Orleans. He was a bit of a hooligan in his early days, firing a celebratory shot on New Years Eve when he was twelve. This incident led to him being sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, and strangely to his first music teacher, Professor Peter Davis. He tried his hand at percussion and the bugle, but eventually took to the cornet. Under professor Davis's instruction, the young Armstrong learned traditional marches and rags. Louis heard the music of New Orleans, hearing trombonist Kid Ory and his cornet player Joe Oliver a good bit. He would have heard and seen the brass bands of uniform clad Black men rolling through his neighborhood, which is now part of modern day New Orleans Central Business District. It was around this time that Armstrong was hanging out at the Funky Butt Hall and Mahogany Hall, listening to the raggy, strutting, funky music that later would be come to be known as Jazz.
His first music jobs were with Zutty Singleton's Trio and the Silver Leaf Band. He also performed in these early years with Papa Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra. He did numerous parades with the Allen Brass Band. In what must have felt like a major achievement to the young Louis, he took Joe Oliver's place in Kid Ory's Band when Oliver moved to Chicago. Eventually, Armstrong would play on the riverboats (especially with the Fate Marable band) headed up the Mississippi river, and he gained much experience doing that. After some time of dong this, he landed the job of Joe Oliver’s second trumpet. With that job he got his first experience in the studio. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band recorded for the Gennett Recording label in the unlikely locale of Richmond, Indiana. They recorded only about ten or eleven takes, but each one of them is a shining piece of Jazz history. The piano player in the band happened to be a real beauty of a woman, named 'lil Harding. Louis fell in love, and they were soon to be married.
Louis had a natural talent as an entertainer and leader, and he began his own project, the Hot 5, and later expanded the band (with drums and sousaphone) to be called the Hot 7. During this time, Louis made some of his most memorable classic recordings. Potato Head Blues, West End Blues, and Willie the Weeper all come from this era of his
music. Unfortunately, the Hot 7's and Hot 5's rarely played live. In fact, Armstrong made most of his income during this period by performing with his wife's band. While he was living in Chicago around this time, he also met his first manager, Joe Glazer, who had ties to Al Capone's organization.
Armstrong's wife wanted more for him, and pushed him to audition for Fletcher Henderson's band in New York. Armstrong got the gig, and started a year long stint at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
Armstrong began to become a star and was the first black man to have his own radio show. It was then the beginning of the 1930's. He led a full orchestra during the swing era, but always felt more comfortable in smaller bands, so he started "The All Stars", a small group that had a sound closer to his Hot 7's.
Hollywood began to approach him to star in films. He did numerous movies, the most famous of which were "Pennies from Heaven" and "New Orleans", where he starred with another Jazz great, Billie Holiday.
Louis loved his native New Orleans, but was heart broken when during a homecoming performance, the City Council would not allow his integrated band (featuring Trombonist Jack Teagarden) to perform together. Because of this event, Louis never again returned to the city.
He continued to record and perform all over the world until his death on July 6, 1971. By that time he had perfected the concept of the Jazz solo, invented scat singing, brought Jazz music to the world, and fought for equal rights for all in America.
His most famous recording is the beautiful ballad, "What a Wonderful World".
~Written by Kevin O'Day
