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Louis
Armstrong was possibly the greatest jazz musician of all time, certainly
the most influential of them all. Fellow musicians
called him “stachelmouth”
because of his huge, wide grin, later, shortened to “Sachmo”.
Louis Daniel Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in the Storyville
District of New Orleans. It was a rough and tumble neighbourhood,
populated by street toughs and so crowded that one could barely find
standing room. His father was a labourer who
His amazing technical
abilities, spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive, musical mind
still dominate Jazz to this day. Only Charlie Parker comes close to
having as much influence on the history of Jazz as Louis Armstrong did.
Perhaps if he hadn’t
fired a pistol into the air to celebrate New Year's 1913, Armstrong
might have never been a professional musician at all. Then a 12-year-old
boy he was arrested by a very annoyed police officer and sent to
the New Orleans Colored Waifs' Home for Boys to ponder his infamy. Fortunately for Louis, and the
musical world as well, he fell under the influence of Peter Davis, the
home’s musical
instructor. Davis recognized the talent in the young black boy. He
taught him singing, percussion and, finally, the cornet. After being
released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and
selling coal from a cart. He didn't own an instrument at this time, but
continued to listen to bands at clubs, Joe
"King" Oliver was his favourite and the older man
acted as a father to Louis, even giving him his first real cornet. In 1919, Armstrong was so deft
that he moved to St. Louis to join Fate Marable’s
band. It was an exciting two years for young Louis because Marable’s
band played on paddle wheelers owned by the Streckfus Mississippi Boat
Lines. The young musician spent most of his time playing the river and
playing to appreciative riverboat passengers. Louis stayed with Marable until
1921 when he returned to New Orleans and played in Zutty Singleton's. He
also played in parades with the Allen Brass Band, and on the bandstand
with Papa Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra, and the Silver Leaf Band. When
King Oliver left the city in
1919
to go to Chicago, Louis took his place in Kid Ory's band from time to
time. In 1922 Louis received a telegram from his mentor Joe Oliver,
asking him to join his Creole Jazz Band. It was there that Armstrong
fell in love with, and married, Lillian Hardin, Oliver’s
pianist. By the middle 1920s, Louis
Armstrong’s star was
rapidly rising. He formed a band called the “Hot
Five” and cut his first
records for Okeh in 1925, including the famous rendition of “St.
Louis Blues” with Bessie
Smith. The Hot Five -- later the Hot Seven -- existed for three years,
but never played a live date. Rather it was formed for recording
purposes only. In the meantime, Armstrong continued playing in other
bands. For the next two years
Armstrong played with Carroll Dickerson's Savoy Orchestra and with
Clarence Jones' Orchestra in Chicago. By 1929 Louis was becoming a very
big star. He toured with the show "Hot Chocolates" and
appeared occasionally with the Luis Russell Orchestra, with Dave Peyton,
and with Fletcher Henderson. Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930
where he fronted a band called Louis Armstrong and his Sebastian New
Cotton Club Orchestra. In 1931 he returned to Chicago and assembled his
own band for touring purposes. In June of that year he returned to New
Orleans for the first time since he left in 1922 to join King Oliver's
Creole Jazz Band. Armstrong was greeted as a hero, but racism marred his
return when a White radio announcer refused to mention Armstrong on the
air and a free concert that Louis was going to give to the cities'
African-American population was cancelled at the last minute. Louis and
Lil also separated in 1931. In 1932 he returned to California, before
leaving for England where he was a great success. When he returned in 1935, he
hired Joe Glaser as his manager. Glazer remained until Armstrong’s
death in 1971. By the end of World War II, swing music was on its way
out and bands, again, became smaller. At a Town Hall concert
in New York, he introduced the six piece group that he would use off and
on for the rest of his life -- the Louis Armstrong Allstars They
complimented his style perfectly and over the years featured exceptional
musicians like Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, Sidney ‘Big
Sid’ Catlett, vocalist
Vilma Middleton, and Earl Hines. In the 1950s, Armstrong teamed up with
other singers to make recordings -- Bing Crosby, Louis Jordan and Gary
Crosby. Then in 1957, he made some tracks with Ella
Fitzgerald, backed up
In 1968 he recorded another
number one hit "What A Wonderful World". His popularity had
now reached its zenith. Armstrong toured the world as an unofficial
goodwill ambassador for America. Then his health began to fail him. For
the last three years of his life he was in and out of the hospital, but
he continued recording and performing until July 6, 1971 when he died in
his sleep at home in Queens, New York. With Louis Armstrong’s
death, jazz had lost the world's greatest Jazz musician and a great
master.
ALBUMS Louis Armstrong and His Friends [GNP] 1970 Louis Armstrong & His Friends 1970 More Greatest Hits 1970 What A Wonderful World (BMG) 1970 Greatest Hits (RCA/Victor) 1970 The Fabulous Louis Armstrong 1970 Hello Dolly! 1969 Christmas Through the Years [Laserlight] 1969 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection... 1968 An American Icon 1968 Louis Armstrong's Greatest Hits Live 1968 Disney Songs The Satchmo Way 1968 Priceless Jazz Collection 1968 What A Wonderful World 1968 When the Saints Go Marchin' In [Laserlight] 1968 All Time Greatest Hits 1967 The Sullivan Years: Louis Armstrong 1966 Greatest Hits (Legacy) 1966 The Essential Louis Armstrong [Vanguard] 1966 Now You Has Jazz: Louis Armstrong At M.G.M. 1965 Swingin' Hits 1965 The Best of Louis Armstrong 1965 The Best of Louis Armstrong [1998 Vanguard] 1965 Best Live Concert: Paris 1965 [Accord] 1965 Hello, Dolly! (MCA Jazz) 1964 Master of Jazz, Vol. 1: Live in Chicago 1962 Hello Dolly (& Other Hits) 1962 Blueberry Hill 1962 Blueberry Hill [Milan] 1962 Paris Jazz Concert 1962 1962 I Love Jazz 1962 Louis Armstrong All Stars 1962 In Concert (1962) 1962 Satchmo Plays King Oliver 1960 Happy Birthday, Louis! Armstrong & His All-Stars 1960 Singin' n' Playin' 1959 Highlights From His Decca Years 1958 Satchmo In Style 1958 Louis And The Good Book 1958 Basin Street Blues 1957 Porgy And Bess 1957 Verve Jazz Masters 1 1957 Silver Collection 1957 I've Got The World On A String And Louis Under The Stars 1957 I've Got the World on a String/Louis Under the Stars 1957 Mack The Knife 1957 The Best Of The Decca Years Vol. 2... 1957 New & Revised Musical Autobiography, Vol. 2 1957 Let's Do It: Best Of The Verve Years 1957 Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography 1957 Louis And The Angels 1957 Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson 1957 The Best Of The Decca Years Vol. 1: The Singer 1956 Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy 1956 The Complete RCA Victor Recordings 1956 Pops [Bluebird/RCA] 1956 The Great Chicago Concert 1956 1956 Louis Armstrong at Pasadena Civic Auditorium 1956 Satchmo The Great 1956 Ambassador Satch 1955 This Is Jazz 23: Louis Armstrong Sings 1955 Satch Plays Fats: The Music of Fats Waller [Bonus Tracks] 1955 The California Concerts 1955 Satch Plays Fats 1955 In Concert, 1954 1954 New Orleans Nights 1954 Plays W.C. Handy 1954 Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars 1954 Greatest Hits [Decca] 1954 Satchmo Serenades 1953 Satchmo At Pasadena 1951 Swing That Music! [Jazz Archives] 1949 On the Road [LaserLight] 1949 Live at Winter Garden, New York & Blue Note, Chicago 1948 Satchmo At Symphony Hall 1947 Sings the Blues 1947 The Complete Town Hall Concert 1947 Struttin' [Drive Archive] 1947 Carnegie Hall Concert 1947 1947 Live in 1943: On the Sunny Side of the Street 1946 1944-1946 1946 Back O'Town Blues 1939-1945 1945 Midnights at V-Disc 1944 Masterpieces, Vol. 1 1941 Louis & Luis: Louis Armstrong and Luis Russell 1929-1941 1941 1940-1941, Vol. 7 1941 1939-1940 1940 1938-1939 1939 His Best Recordings 1924-1938 1938 1937-1938 1938 Rhythm Saved The World 1935 Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man 1923-1934 1934 Paris Session 1934 1934 1931-1932 1932 Stardust 1931 Louis Armstrong and the Big Bands 1928-1930 1930 1929-1930 1930 Hot Fives & Sevens, Vol. 3 [JSP] 1929 Hot Fives 1928 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five & Hot Seven: 1926-1927 1927 1925-1926 1926 Hot Fives Vol. 1 1926 Louis Armstrong And King Oliver 1924 Creole Jazz 1923 |
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RELATED T |
abandoned
the family soon after Louis
by
the Oscar Peterson trio. While working with Peterson, Armstrong took to
opportunity to record his first big hit to feature his famous throaty
voice -- 
