The Prolific Trumpeter Who Became A World Ambassador For Jazz, Louis A

The prolific trumpeter who became a world ambassador for jazz, Louis Armstrong learned to blow on a bugle in reform school when he was 13. His intuitive genius for improvisation changed the course of jazz, but after the 1940s mugging dominated his performances and he had his greatest success as a pop singer. Louis Daniel Armstrong popularly known as Satchmo and Pops was born on July 4, 1900, in New Orleans, the birthplace of American jazz. His father, Willie, was a day laborer in a turpentine plant, and his mother, Mayann (Mary Ann), worked chiefly as a domestic. His grandparents had been slaves. Dippermouth (his original nickname) picked up small change by singing and dancing with other street urchins in the notorious Storyville district. After Louis celebrated New Year's Eve by firing a .38 pistol that belonged to one of his "stepfathers," he was sent to the Colored Waifs' Home for Boys in 1913. There he tried several instruments until he found his voice in the cornet, and, though self-taught, he became the leader of the school band. Armstrong was 18 when he replaced his idol, King Oliver, in Kid Ory's Brownskin Band. A mellophonist taught him how to read music when he joined a Mississippi riverboat band. In 1922 he went to Chicago to play second cornet with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. His time with Fletcher Henderson's big band in New York City in 1924 expanded his music beyond the traditional New Orleans style. Soon he switched to the trumpet on theater dates because of its brighter sound and flashier look. The first band built in the image of one personality was the one Armstrong organized in Chicago in 1925. With his phenomenal tone, instrumental range, stamina, and stunning gift for melodic variations, he was able to turn jazz from ensemble music to a solo art. His Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings were jazz landmarks. He introduced scat on 'Heebie Jeebies', supposedly because he dropped the sheet music. The voice was first used as an instrument on 'Skid-Dat-De-Dat', also the first tune built completely on breaks. With 'Cornet Chop Suey' he had created the stop-time solo break. Another Armstrong innovation was high-register playing in jazz, and his sandpaper voice influenced more conventional jazz singing. Armstrong's contagious humor and flamboyant style made him an ideal goodwill ambassador for American music. In 1933, during his first European tour, he dedicated a hot trumpet break to King George VI with "This one's for you, Rex!" As his non-jazz audience grew, he appeared frequently on television and made more than 35 film shorts or movies, including 'High Society' and 'Hello Dolly!'. Satchmo classics include 'West End Blues', 'Weather Bird', 'Tight Like This', 'Hotter than That', and 'S.O.L. Blues'. Among his best-selling records were 'Mack the Knife' and 'C'est si bon'. The musician had four wives Daisy Parker, a prostitute; Lil(lian) Hardin, a jazz pianist who gave him some formal musical education; Alpha Smith; and Lucille Wilson, a showgirl (don't want to sound rude, but he has a thing for women of that kind). He died July 6, 1971, in New York City. A great legend left behind magnificant work to be honored for the rest of history.