Louis Armstrong: A Guide to His Life and Music

Louis Armstrong was a jazz musician who helped make the genre one of the twentieth century's signature American art forms. From his early days in New Orleans brass band parades to big band performances at sold out Broadway clubs, Armstrong was a pop culture icon.

Armstrong was equally famous as an instrumentalist—he excelled on trumpet and cornet—and as a vocalist who helped pioneer scat singing. As a bandleader, he was equally revered by Black and white audiences, although he skirted the subject of civil rights when appearing in public. He was known as a musical pioneer in Louisiana, where he was born, as well as in Chicago, where he spent many years, and in his long-term home base of New York City. Around the world, Armstrong was known as America's "Ambassador Satch."

Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in Louisiana. In his early years, he moved frequently, performing odd jobs and dabbling in music before becoming one of the most influential musicians of early jazz.

• Untraditional music education: At the Colored Waifs Home, a reform school, in New Orleans in 1913, Armstrong was fortuitously exposed to professional musicians, such as trumpet teacher Peter Davis. Armstrong learned the cornet from a local musician named Bunk Johnson and became quite adept on the instrument during his time in the Colored Waifs Home. When he was released in 1914, Armstrong got regular work as a cornetist around the city.
• Brass bands and riverboats: Armstrong spent the ensuing years playing in brass bands and on riverboats with artists such as Kid Ory, Joe "King" Oliver, and the Fate Marable band. Eventually, Oliver moved to Chicago, and Armstrong, who idolized him, followed. Armstrong made his first recordings with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, for an Indiana label called Gennett Records.
• Chicago to New York: Starting in 1924, Armstrong toggled between Chicago and New York City, which was quickly becoming the jazz capital of the world. He joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra as a trumpet player and occasional trombonist. As a bandleader in Chicago, he started Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five (and also the Hot Seven), which scored hits with "Potato Head Blues" and "West End Blues." During this era, Armstrong also cut records with woodwind virtuoso Sidney Bechet and blues singers Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Alberta Hunter.
• Burgeoning acting career: In 1929, Armstrong was cast in the Broadway revue Hot Chocolates (with music by Fats Waller), thrilling audiences with his vocal performance on "Ain't Misbehavin'." When the Great Depression set in, he spent time in Hollywood, appearing in films such as Ex-Flame, Pennies from Heaven, and Going Places. (Much later in life, Armstrong would appear in even bigger films, like High Society and Hello, Dolly!
• Smaller ensembles: During the Depression and World War II, many venues closed and most big band artists (with the exception of Duke Ellington) lost work. Armstrong shifted his focus to smaller ensembles and collaborated with jazz greats such as Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, and Arvell Shaw. Although Armstrong was revered in jazz circles for his trumpet playing, affluent white audiences gravitated toward his singing, which led to duets with singers like Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday (his co-star in the film New Orleans).
• Personal and professional teams: Throughout his life, Armstrong relied on manager Joe Glaser and his four wives (particularly his second wife, Lil Hardin, and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson) to help manage his career. His career began to wind down in the late 1960s when Glaser died and Armstrong suffered a series of heart attacks.

Louis Armstrong died in his longtime home of Corona, Queens in 1971. His career is memorialized at the Louis Armstrong House and Museum in New Orleans.

As perhaps the first international star of jazz music, Armstrong was known for several characteristics.

1. 1. Equal talents as a trumpeter and a singer: Armstrong was famous among mainstream white audiences as a singer and entertainer, but he was also widely respected by jazz musicians for his abilities on the trumpet.
2. 2. Inventive soloist: Armstrong was a gifted improviser. His solos on songs like "Cornet Chop Suey," "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," and "Potato Head Blues" would greatly inspire jazz musicians to come.
3. 3. Gravelly vocalist: Armstrong’s signature gravelly vocals can be heard on hits like “Summertime” (with Ella Fitzgerald) and “What a Wonderful World.”
4. 4. Gregarious on and off the stage: Armstrong was known for his effervescent personality, which made him the jazz version of a pop star (his song "Hello Dolly!" knocked none other than The Beatles from the top of the Billboard Charts). This was also his personality as a bandleader with the Louis Armstrong Hot Five/Seven and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. Occasionally, Armstrong would use his celebrity for social causes. He notably critiqued the Eisenhower Administration for its slow response to civil rights issues at Little Rock's Central High School.

Armstrong recorded dozens of classics as a bandleader, trumpet player, sideman, and vocalist. Highlights of his career include:

1. 1. "St. Louis Blues": Armstrong recorded multiple versions of "St. Louis Blues." Two of them, one sung by Bessie Smith in 1925 and one sung by Red Allen in 1929, were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
2. 2. "Potato Head Blues": An early hit for Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven, recorded in 1927 for Okeh Records.
3. 3. "Swing That Music": While Armstrong did not always receive the same praise for his compositions as his playing, "Swing That Music" is considered one of his finest originals.
4. 4. "What a Wonderful World": Perhaps Armstrong's most enduring lead vocal performance.
5. 5. "Mack the Knife": The song "Mack the Knife" is from the Weimar Republic music drama The Threepenny Opera, but Armstrong helped make it an American pop hit with his 1955 rendition. This inspired the 1958 Bobby Darin version that is best known to contemporary audiences.

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