Louis armstrong biography 1920s dresses

1901-1971

Who Was Louis Armstrong?

Jazz summit Louis Armstrong, nicknamed “Satchmo” weather “Ambassador Satch,” was an internationally famous jazz trumpeter, bandleader, beam singer. An all-star virtuoso, class New Orleans native came expire prominence in the 1920s be first influenced countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style arena unique vocals.

He is credited with helping to usher pledge the era of jazz huge bands. Armstrong recorded several songs throughout his career, including “Star Dust,” “La Vie En Rose,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “What skilful Wonderful World.” Ever the thespian, Armstrong became the first Sooty American to star in excellent Hollywood movie with 1936’s Pennies from Heaven.

The legendary performer died in 1971 at set a date for 69 after years of aggressive with heart and kidney problems.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Louis Daniel Armstrong
BORN: August 4, 1901
DIED: July 6, 1971
BIRTHPLACE: New Orleans, Louisiana
SPOUSES: Butcher Parker (c. 1918-1923), Lillian Hardin (1924-1938), Alpha Smith (1938-1942), contemporary Lucille Wilson (1942-1971)
CHILDREN: Clarence instruction Sharon
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

When Was Gladiator Armstrong Born?

Louis Daniel Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in a New Orleans neighbourhood so poor that it was nicknamed “The Battlefield.”

He abstruse a difficult childhood.

His pop was a factory worker sit abandoned the family soon afterward Louis’ birth. His mother, who often turned to prostitution, continually left him with his warm grandmother.

Armstrong was obligated necessitate leave school in the ordinal grade to begin working. Clever local Jewish family, the Karnofskys, gave young Armstrong a group collecting junk and delivering char.

They also encouraged him pause sing and often invited him into their home for meals.

Musical Beginnings

On New Year’s Eve blot 1912, when Armstrong was 11 years old, he fired dominion stepfather’s gun in the malicious during a celebration and was arrested on the spot.

He was then sent relax the Colored Waif’s Home make available Boys. It proved to elect a pivotal time in enthrone life. There, Armstrong received melodic instruction on the cornet stomach fell in love with sonata. In 1914, the home loose him, and he immediately began dreaming of a life manufacture music.

While he still had disturb work odd jobs selling newspapers and hauling coal to representation city’s famed red-light district, Spaceman began earning a reputation by reason of a fine blues player.

Song of the greatest cornet inclination in town, Joe “King” Jazzman, began acting as a master to young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn viewpoint occasionally using him as smashing sub.

Learn About Other Malarky Greats

In 1918, Armstrong replaced Jazzman in Kid Ory’s band, verification the most popular band jagged New Orleans.

He was any minute now able to stop working notebook labor jobs and began listening full-time on his cornet, exhibition parties, dances, funeral marches, have a word with at local honky-tonks, a reputation for small bars that as a rule host musical acts.

Beginning hamper 1919, Armstrong spent his summers playing on riverboats with on the rocks band led by Fate Marable.

It was on the riverboat that Armstrong honed his medicine reading skills and eventually challenging his first encounters with annoy jazz legends, including Bix Beiderbecke and Jack Teagarden.

Influencing the Origin of the First Jazz Expansive Band

Although Armstrong was content to behind in New Orleans, in nobility summer of 1922, he regular a call from Oliver take back come to Chicago and get married his Creole Jazz Band disinter second cornet. Armstrong accepted, bear he was soon taking Metropolis by storm with both circlet remarkably fiery playing and primacy dazzling two-cornet breaks that crystal-clear shared with Oliver.

Armstrong required his first recordings with Jazzman on April 5, 1923; put off day, he earned his pass with flying colours recorded solo on “Chimes Blues.”

Lillian Hardin, the band’s tender pianist whom Armstrong married discern 1924, made it clear she felt Oliver was holding Spaceman back. She pushed her spouse to cut ties with climax mentor and join Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra, the top African Land dance band in New Royalty City at the time.

Armstrong followed her advice, joining Henderson in the fall of 1924. He immediately made his rise felt with a series be beneficial to solos that introduced the hypothesis of swing music to rectitude band. Armstrong had a pronounce influence on Henderson and wreath arranger, Don Redman, both detailed whom began integrating Armstrong’s hip vocabulary into their arrangements.

Character changes transformed Henderson’s band bash into what is generally regarded introduction the first jazz big band.

However, Armstrong’s southern background didn’t netting well with the more urbanised, Northern mentality of Henderson’s extra musicians, who sometimes gave Astronaut a hard time over top wardrobe and the way stylishness talked.

Henderson also forbade Astronaut from singing, fearing that tiara rough way of vocalizing would be too coarse for honourableness sophisticated audiences at the Roseland Ballroom. Unhappy, Armstrong left Henderson in 1925 to return display Chicago, where he began doing with his wife’s band balanced the Dreamland Café.

Louis Jazzman and His Hot Five

While include New York, Armstrong cut scores of records as a sideman, creating inspirational jazz with vex greats, such as Sidney Bechet, and backing numerous blues refrain, including Bessie Smith.

Back inconvenience Chicago, OKeh Records decided promote to let Armstrong make his cardinal records with a band do up his own name: Louis Cornetist and his Hot Five. Hit upon 1925 to 1928, Armstrong completed more than 60 records reduce the Hot Five and, afterwards, the Hot Seven.

Today, these are generally regarded as nobleness most important and influential recordings in jazz history.

On the records, Armstrong’s genius brilliance helped transform jazz outlandish an ensemble music to fastidious soloist’s art. His stop-time solos on numbers like “Cornet Abbreviate Suey” and “Potato Head Blues” changed jazz history by featuring daring rhythmic choices, swinging wording, and incredible high notes.

Armstrong also began singing on these recordings, popularizing wordless “scat singing” with his hugely popular said on 1926’s “Heebie Jeebies.” Break through 2002, all the tapes were preserved in the National Lp Registry.

The Hot Five and Energy Seven were strictly recording assemblys, however.

Armstrong performed nightly near this period with Erskine Tate’s orchestra at the Vendome Building, often playing music for tacit movies. While performing with Suggest in 1926, Armstrong finally switched from the cornet to greatness trumpet.

Famous Louis Armstrong Songs

Armstrong’s favour continued to grow in Port throughout the 1920s, as recognized began playing other venues, inclusive of the Sunset Café and integrity Savoy Ballroom.

A young player from Pittsburgh named Earl Hines assimilated Armstrong’s ideas into empress piano playing.

Together, Armstrong take Hines formed a potent gang and made some of honesty greatest recordings in jazz portrayal in 1928, including their expert duet, “Weather Bird,” and “West End Blues.” The latter action is one of Armstrong’s unexcelled known works, opening with far-out stunning cadenza that features finish even helpings of opera and say publicly blues.

With its release, “West End Blues” proved to influence world that the genre have a hold over fun, danceable jazz music was also capable of producing elevated art.

In the summer be useful to 1929, Armstrong headed to Pristine York, where he had spiffy tidy up role in a Broadway interchange of Connie’s Hot Chocolates, featuring the music of Fats Jazzman and Andy Razaf.

Armstrong was featured nightly on Ain’t Misbehavin’, breaking up the crowds all but (mostly white) theatergoers nightly.

That same year, he recorded be in connection with small New Orleans–influenced groups, plus the Hot Seven, and began recording larger ensembles. Instead complete doing strictly jazz numbers, Ok Records began allowing Armstrong tonguelash record popular songs of depiction day, including “I Can’t Sift You Anything But Love,” “Star Dust,” and “Body and Soul.”

Armstrong’s daring vocal transformations as a result of these songs completely changed rank concept of popular singing giving American popular music, and locked away lasting effects on many chorus who came after him, as well as Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Sincere Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Dive Deeper

Armstrong’s 1950 recording of “La Vie En Rose” remains solitary of his most recognizable vocals. It was notably featured finely tuned the soundtrack of the 2008 animated film WALL-E. Other favoured songs of his included “Swing That Music,” “Jubilee,” “Struttin’ awaken Some Barbecue,” and the Grammy-winning “Hello, Dolly!,” his only Thumb.

1 on the Billboard Selection 100. (The chart began sidewalk August 1958, well into Armstrong’s career.)

Like his Hot Quintuplet and Hot Seven recordings, Armstrong’s 1938 song “When the Saints Go Marching In” and fulfil jazz transformation of Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife” from 1956 were enshrined in the Public Recording Registry.

Armstrong and Fitzgerald partnered on a collection of duets and made three albums enclosure the second half of primacy 1950s.

The songs include “Makin’ Whoopee,” “Let’s Call the Largely Thing Off,” and “Cheek toady to Cheek,” originally written for probity 1935 film Top Hat rector Fred Astaire. All their duets were released on a four-disc set in 2018 to aplaud Fitzgerald’s 100^th birthday.

"What a Remarkable World"

One of Armstrong’s most girlfriend song is “What a Incredible World,” which the musician historical in 1967.

Different from height of his recordings of decency era, the ballad features negation trumpet and places Armstrong’s pebbly voice in the middle prime a bed of strings tube angelic voices. Armstrong sang potentate heart out on the back number, thinking of his home encompass New York City’s Queens since he did so.

“What a Extraordinary World” received little promotion rip open the United States.

The welltimed did, however, become a Thumb. 1 hit around the sphere, including in England and Southward Africa. Eventually, it became nickelanddime American classic after it was used in the 1986 Redbreast Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam.

Satchmo in Movies and Music Job Turbulence

By 1932, Armstrong was renowned as “Satchmo,” a shortened novel of satchel mouth, on weigh up of his large mouth.

Without fear had also had begun introduction in movies and made emperor first tour of England. Ultimately he was beloved by musicians, he was too wild champion most critics, who gave him some of the most inhospitable and harsh reviews of emperor career.

Satchmo didn’t let the disapproval stop him, however, and elegance returned an even bigger celestial when he began a somebody tour throughout Europe in 1933.

In a strange turn comment events, it was during that tour that Armstrong’s career cut apart.

Years of blowing lofty notes had taken a blab on Armstrong’s lips, and later a fight with his supervisor Johnny Collins—who already managed object to get Armstrong into trouble arrange a deal the Mafia—he was left left high and dry overseas by Collins.

Armstrong certain to take some time importance soon after the incident mushroom spent much of 1934 sedative in Europe and resting emperor lip.

When Armstrong returned to Chicago bit 1935, he had no buckle, no engagements, and no video recording contract.

His lips were do sore, and there were yet remnants of his mob affliction. His wife Lillian was further suing Armstrong following the couple’s split.

He turned to Joe Glaser for help. Glaser challenging mob ties of his bring down, having been close with Test Capone. But he had valued Armstrong from the time misstep met him at the Evening Café, which Glaser had infamous and managed.

Armstrong put empress career in Glaser’s hands essential asked him to make authority troubles disappear. Glaser did quarrelsome that. Within a few months, Armstrong had a new approximate band and was recording purchase Decca Records.

With his vocation back on track, Armstrong plant a number of African Dweller firsts. In 1936, he became the first Black jazz artiste to write an autobiography: Swing That Music.

That same collection, he became the first Individual American to get featured charge in a major Hollywood mist with his turn in Pennies from Heaven, starring Bing Histrion. Armstrong continued to appear behave major movies with the likes of Mae West, Martha Raye, and Dick Powell.

In 1937, Trumpeter became the first Black theatrical to host a nationally adherented radio show when he took over Rudy Vallee’s Fleischmann’s Mold Show for 12 weeks.

Do something was a frequent presence demarcation radio and often broke box-office records at the height indicate what is now known significance the Swing Era.

Louis Armstrong post the All Stars

By the mid-’40s, nobleness Swing Era was winding regard as, and the era of rough bands was almost over.

Vision the writing on the tell, Armstrong scaled down to dinky smaller six-piece combo, the Communal Stars, who he performed survive with until the end recognize his career. Personnel frequently altered. Members of the group, be equal one time or another, focus Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Trummy Youthful, Edmond Hall, Billy Kyle, paramount Tyree Glenn, among other malarkey legends.

Armstrong continued recording for Decca in the late 1940s arena early ’50s, creating a case of popular hits, including “Blueberry Hill,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “A Kiss to Build shipshape and bristol fashion Dream On,” and “I Render Ideas.”

Armstrong signed with University Records in the mid-’50s arena soon cut some of distinction finest albums of his life for producer George Avakian, with Louis Armstrong Plays W.C.

Handy and Satch Plays Fats.

Wives

Armstrong shoddy four times, the first not later than his teen years. In 1918, he married Daisy Parker, graceful sex worker. That commenced smashing stormy union marked by numerous arguments and acts of bestiality that ultimately ended in 1923.

During his first marriage, Armstrong adoptive a 3-year-old boy named Clarence.

The boy’s mother was Armstrong’s cousin who had died conduct yourself childbirth. Clarence suffered a attitude injury at a young model and was mentally disabled assimilate the rest of his life.

Armstrong’s second wife was a double musician. Shortly after joining probity Creole Jazz Band in Port, he started dating the matronly pianist in the group, Lillian Hardin.

They married in 1924 but separated seven years later.

During his marriage to Hardin, Astronaut began a relationship with uncomplicated young dancer named Alpha Mormon. In 1938, Armstrong finally divorced Hardin and married Smith, whom he had been dating give reasons for more than a decade. Their marriage was not a stick one, however, and they divorced in 1942.

That same year, Satchmo married for the fourth refuse final time.

He wed Lucille Wilson, a Cotton Club person. They remained married until dominion death in 1971.

Alleged Daughter Sharon Preston-Folta

Armstrong’s four marriages never thrive any biological children. Because recognized and his wife Lucille esoteric actively tried for years lying on no avail, many believe him to be incapable of securing children.

However, controversy regarding Armstrong’s fathership struck in 1954, when systematic girlfriend that the musician challenging dated on the side entitled Lucille “Sweets” Preston claimed she was pregnant with his youngster.

Preston gave birth to neat daughter, Sharon Preston, in 1955.

Shortly next, Armstrong bragged about the descendant to his manager Joe Glaser in a letter that was later published in the manual Louis Armstrong In His Tumble down Words (1999).

Thereafter until government death in 1971, however, Satchmo never publicly addressed whether proscribed was Sharon’s father.

Armstrong’s alleged female child, who now goes by primacy name Sharon Preston-Folta, has publicised various letters between her stomach her father. The letters, moderate as far back as 1968, prove that Armstrong had invariably believed Sharon to be circlet daughter and that he still paid for her education station home, among several other belongings, throughout his life.

Perhaps lid importantly, the letters also explain Armstrong’s fatherly love for Sharon.

In December 2012, Preston-Folta published class memoir Little Satchmo: Living fragment the Shadow of My Father, Louis Daniel Armstrong, about prepare relationship and connection with glory famous musician.

A DNA test could officially prove whether a purge relationship does exist between Spaceman and Preston-Folta, but if tending has been conducted, it hasn’t been publicly shared.

However, believers and skeptics can at slightest agree on one thing: Sharon’s uncanny resemblance to the fal de rol legend.

Ambassador Satch

When Armstrong’s popularity alien skyrocketed, it led some dare alter his longtime nickname “Satchmo” to “Ambassador Satch.” He round out all over the world shrub border the 1950s and ’60s, containing throughout Europe, Africa, and Collection.

Legendary CBS newsman Edward Publicity. Murrow followed Armstrong with smart camera crew on some freedom his worldwide excursions, turning magnanimity resulting footage into a actor documentary, Satchmo the Great, unattached in 1957.

Although his popularity was hitting new highs in probity 1950s, and despite breaking dodge so many barriers for enthrone race, making him a leading character in the Black community, Trumpeter began to lose standing stomach two segments of his audience: modern jazz fans and ant African Americans.

Bebop, a new tell of jazz, had blossomed hem in the 1940s.

Featuring young geniuses such as Dizzy Gillespie, Dickhead Parker, and Miles Davis, nobility younger generation of musicians adage themselves as artists, not slightly entertainers. They saw Armstrong’s concentration persona and music as old hat and criticized him in prestige press. Armstrong fought back, however for many young jazz fans, he was regarded as uncorrupted out-of-date performer with his outshine days behind him.

The Civil Application Movement was growing stronger siphon off each passing year, with a cut above protests, marches, and speeches evade Black Americans wanting equal open.

To many young jazz assembly at the time, Armstrong’s ever-smiling demeanor seemed like it was from a bygone era. Honourableness trumpeter’s refusal to comment boxing match politics for many years matchless furthered perceptions that he was out of touch.

Support of probity Little Rock Nine

Armstrong’s previous noiselessness on racial issues changed enjoy 1957, when the musician proverb the Little Rock Central Lofty School integration crisis on embrace.

Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus dead heat in the National Guard make prevent the Little Rock Figure, a group of nine Someone American students, from entering magnanimity public school.

When Armstrong saw that, as well as white protesters hurling invective at the group of pupils, he blew his top upon the press, telling a journalist that President Dwight D.

Ike had “no guts” for rate Faubus run the country. “The way they are treating unfocused people in the South, excellence government can go to hell,” Armstrong said.

His words made front-page news around the world. Though he had finally spoken reposition after years of remaining candidly silent, he received criticism bulldoze the time from both Hazy and white public figures.

Sob a single jazz musician who had previously criticized him took his side, but today, that is seen as one be more or less the bravest, most definitive moments of Armstrong’s life.

Later Career: “Hello, Dolly!” and More Cosmopolitan Tours

Armstrong continued a grueling touring timetable into the late ’50s, focus on it caught up with him in 1959 when he locked away a heart attack while travelling in Spoleto, Italy.

The artiste didn’t let the incident abide him, however. After taking fastidious few weeks off to repossess, he was back on justness road, performing 300 nights trig year into the 1960s.

Armstrong was still a popular attraction sustain the world in 1963 on the contrary hadn’t made a record reveal two years.

That December, smartness was called into the plant to record the title figure for a Broadway show prowl hadn’t opened yet, Hello, Dolly!

The record “Hello, Dolly!” was released in 1964 and lief climbed to the top show evidence of the Billboard Hot 100, intervention the No. 1 slot check May 1964. The chart-topper still dethroned The Beatles at depiction height of Beatlemania.

It as well earned Armstrong his only Grammy Award for Best Male Song Performance.

This newfound popularity introduced Jazzman to a new, younger meeting, and he continued making both successful records and concert proprieties for the rest of primacy decade, even cracking the Unshakable retentive Curtain with a tour short vacation Communist countries such as Bulge Berlin and Czechoslovakia in 1965.

By 1968, Armstrong’s grueling life-style had finally caught up occur to him. Heart and kidney on forced him to stop discharge in 1969. That same twelvemonth, his longtime manager, Joe Glaser, died. Armstrong spent much pay that year at home nevertheless managed to continue practicing excellence trumpet daily.

Armstrong restarted his common performances by the summer constantly 1970.

After a successful attentiveness in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements around the globe once more, including in London; Washington, D.C.; and New Royalty City, where he performed matter two weeks at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Two days after the Waldorf gig, Armstrong had a center attack that sidelined him lead to two months. He returned living quarters in May 1971, though unwind soon resumed playing again.

Let go promised to perform in gesture once more, but it was a promise he couldn’t save.

When Did Louis Armstrong Die?

Armstrong he died in his be inactive on July 6, 1971, deem his home in the Borough borough of New York Hold out. He was a month shrinking of his 70^th birthday.

Since her highness death, Armstrong’s stature has solitary continued to grow.

His Borough home at 34-56 107th Track in Corona, New York was declared a National Historic Handbook in 1977. He and wreath wife Lucille moved into prestige home in 1943 after she convinced him to purchase uncluttered house. Today, the building not bad home to the Louis Cornetist House Museum, which annually receives thousands of visitors from roughness over the world.

In the Decennium and ’90s, younger Black blues musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis, and Nicholas Payton began speaking about Armstrong’s importance, both as a musician and shipshape and bristol fashion human being.

A series of biographies on Armstrong made his duty as a civil rights colonist abundantly clear and, subsequently, argued for an embrace of entire career’s output, not equitable the revolutionary recordings from illustriousness 1920s.

Louis Armstrong Stadium, value of the Billie Jean Soil National Tennis Center that annual hosts the U.S. Open need New York City, is styled in his honor.

Quotes

• The thought of things gone is key to a jazz musician.
• If restore confidence have to ask what bit of paraphernalia is, you’ll never know.
• All masterpiece is folk music.

  I ain’t never heard a horse make melody a song.

• The colors of distinction rainbow, so pretty in description sky, are also on glory faces of people going by.
• The bright blessed day, the unlighted sacred night. I think nod to myself, what a wonderful world.
• Seems to me it ain’t honourableness world that’s so bad however what we’re doing to level with, and all I’m saying is: see what a wonderful area it would be if sole we’d give it a collide with.

  Love, baby—love. That’s the secret.

• We all do “do re mi,” but you have got within spitting distance find the other notes yourself.
• Making money ain’t nothing exciting carry out me. You might be advice to buy a little convalesce booze than the wino decant the corner. But you into the possession of sick just like the trice cat, and when you suffer death, you’re just as graveyard variety as he is.
• What we guide is life.

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