WebLouis Armstrongs ability to use his career to change the music and jazz industry forever is another great example of why Louis Armstrong exhibits the right. In fact, before marrying his fourth wife, he made sure that she could cook a satisfactory plateful. His distinctive sound and style have had a lasting impact on the genre, and he was a major influence on subsequent generations of jazz musicians. He didn't own an instrument at this time, If one was to go out into the street, walked up to a random stranger and asked them if they knew who Louis Armstrong was, chances are that they would be able to answer you correctly. In December of that year, he was called into the studio to record the title number for a Broadway show that hadn't opened yet: Hello, Dolly! The record was released in 1964 and quickly climbed to the top of the pop music charts, hitting the No. Louis began playing at a young age when he was growing up in New Orleans. Armstrong accepted, and he was soon taking Chicago by storm with both his remarkably fiery playing and the dazzling two-cornet breaks that he shared with Oliver. By the end of the decade, the popularity of the Hot Fives and Sevens was enough to send Armstrong back to New York, where he appeared in the popular Broadway revue, Hot Chocolates. He soon began touring and never really stopped until his death in 1971. He was a groundbreaking musician and a pioneer in the development of jazz music. He was often left with his grandmother, and left school in fifth grade to start working. Armstrong was a busy man, he always had more than one thing going on, if he wasnt recording with Hot Five/Seven, he was performing in the Vendome theatre, playing music for silent movies.. The many years of constant touring eventually wore down Armstrong, who had his first heart attack in 1959 and returned to intensive care at Beth Israel Hospital for heart and kidney trouble in 1968. Why Is Louis Armstrong Important. If Armstrong never bought the cornet he would have never become famous. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. ", Armstrong's fully healed lip made its presence felt on some of the finest recordings of career, including "Swing That Music," "Jubilee" and "Struttin' with Some Barbecue.". Louis was the illegitimate son of William Armstrong and Mary Est Mayann Albert. When Armstrong was eleven years old, he got in trouble for shooting a gun on New Years Eve to ring in the new year, 1912. He was an all-star virtuoso, and came to prominence in the 1920s playing cornet and trumpet with an excitingly new and improvisational style. Armstrong could make an audience cheer, but Roy Eldridge, made those top and bottom notes feel like a natural part of what the horn should do (Friedwald 21). He began following him and eventually Oliver became Armstrongs mentor. In the 1950s, he was sometimes criticized for his onstage persona and called an Uncle Tom but he silenced critics by speaking out against the governments handling of the Little Rock Nine high school integration crisis in 1957. When Armstrong returned to Chicago in 1935, he had no band, no engagements and no recording contract. He was raised by his mother Mayann in a neighborhood so dangerous it was called The Battlefield. He only had a fifth-grade education, dropping out of school early to go to work. His mother, who often turned to prostitution, frequently left him with his maternal grandmother. Career highlights, compiled by the Louis Armstrong House Museum: His crucial contribution to American and world culture continues to reverberate into the 21 st century. Armstrong continued to tour extensively, despite a heart attack in June 1959. Louis was born in New Orleans where he grew up and learned to play the trumpet. The letters, dated as far back as 1968, prove that Armstrong had indeed always believed Sharon to be his daughter, and that he even paid for her education and home, among several other things, throughout his life. They danced to the jazz music with a whole new style. He was from a very poor family and was sent to reform school when he was twelve after firing a gun in the air on New Year's Eve. Why Is Louis Armstrong Important. However, had his upbringing been different, his musical talents may never have been established to grow and thrive into one of the most internationally influential jazz musicians ever. His notoriety for being the best jazz player of his time was secured as Armstrong's arrangement of swing and melodic development opened out and changed Henderson's band and in addition jazz overall. WebDid You Know? Aristotle did not consider children as morally responsible as adults because they have not had sufficient time to move beyond their backgrounds and upbringing. Pillars of Life 3 y Related Why was jazz so important? Study now. His career spanned many decades, from the 1920s to his death in 1971, and many different eras in jazz. Between the two, Armstrong has been the more unsullied figure in historical treatments and biographies. Shortly thereafter, Armstrong bragged about the child to his manager, Joe Glaser, in a letter that would later be published in the book Louis Armstrong In His Own Words (1999). He turned to Joe Glaser for help; Glaser had mob ties of his own, having been close with Al Capone, but he had loved Armstrong from the time he met him at the Sunset Caf (Glaser had owned and managed the club). For this, he is revered by jazz fans. 2012-02-22 18:06:07. By that point, Armstrong began dating the pianist in the band, Lillian Hardin. He is a husky singer, often with a trumpet in his hand. That didnt stop him from living his life like a regular boy. However, Armstrong's southern background didn't mesh well with the more urban, Northern mentality of Henderson's other musicians, who sometimes gave Armstrong a hard time over his wardrobe and the way he talked. Renowned for his charming and incredibly charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet and/or cornet playing, Armstrong 's influence extends far beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the early 1970s at his death, he was widely regarded as a deep and profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong continued touring the world and making records with songs like Blueberry Hill (1949), Mack the Knife (1955) and Hello, Dolly! In 1993, it gained renewed popularity when it was used in the film Sleepless in Seattle. Armstrong felt that being subservient to white people, was an unfortunately necessary evil in order for him to live successfully and happily. He embarked on his first European tour since 1935 in February 1948, and thereafter toured regularly around the world. However, conditions changed when he was requested to record the title number of a broadway show that went on to become a hit. Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901. Louis Armstrong was the first black man in the U.S. to host a radio show. .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S LOUIS ARMSTRONG FACT CARD. In April, he reached the charts with his first vocal recording, "Big Butter and Egg Man," a duet with May Alix. He was also a gifted singer, and his Outraged, Armstrong refused to stage another concert within the state's borders. He moved to the Fate Marable band in the spring of 1919, staying with Marable until the fall of 1921. Bebop, a new form of jazz, had blossomed in the 1940s. Armstrong made his first trip abroad, to Europe, and received the nickname Satchmo from his original nickname Satchelmouth, because of his big lips. Louis Armstrong was an American jazz musician who was one of the most influential figures in jazz music. It has given me something to live for. Armstrong was brought up by his mother, Mary (Albert) Armstrong, and his maternal grandmother. His rise to fame peaked in the 1920s, where he stunned the world with his bold trumpet style and idiosyncratic vocals. Armstrong was arrested at eleven years old for disturbing the peace. With the decline of swing music in the post-World War II years, Armstrong broke up his big band and put together a small group dubbed His All-Stars, which made its debut in Los Angeles on August 13, 1947. Here is one paragraph from the post: From the very first note of West End Blues, a tune composed by Joe King Oliver, one can immediately sense the shift that Armstrong's charismatic stage presence impressed not only the jazz world but all of popular music. He was a master of the trumpet and a pioneer of jazz. Armstrong put his career in Glaser's hands and asked him to make his troubles disappear. Related. Armstrong fronted the Luis Russell Orchestra for a tour of the South in February 1930, and in May went to Los Angeles, where he led a band at Sebastian's Cotton Club for the next ten months. While he still had to work odd jobs selling newspapers and hauling coal to the city's famed red-light district, Armstrong began earning a reputation as a fine blues player. WebLouis Armstrong was the most important and influential musician in jazz history. He was soon able to stop working manual labor jobs and began concentrating full-time on his cornet, playing parties, dances, funeral marches and at local "honky-tonks"a name for small bars that typically host musical acts. In the 1980s and '90s, younger African American jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis and Nicholas Payton began speaking about Armstrong's importance, both as a musician and a human being. He showed an early interest in music, and a junk dealer for whom he worked as a grade-school student helped him buy a cornet, which he taught himself to play. Evidently, the show went well. He made his first recordings with Oliver on April 5, 1923; that day, he earned his first recorded solo on "Chimes Blues.". By the '50s, Armstrong was widely recognized, even traveling the globe for the US. Many great performers have come out of the jazz industry, but the most widely known is Louis Satchmo Armstrong. The story behind the jazz legends final hit and, quite simply, one of the most beautiful songs ever written. He is remembered as the most influential artist in the early development of jazz. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. His lips were still sore, and there were still remnants of his mob troubles and with Lil, who, following the couple's split, was suing Armstrong. Armstrong fought back, but for many young jazz fans, he was regarded as an out-of-date performer with his best days behind him. In 1922, his mentor, King Oliver, invited him to work his Creole Jazz Band in Chicago. Armstrong completed his contract with Decca in 1954, after which his manager made the unusual decision not to sign him to another exclusive contract but instead have him freelance for different labels. Copy. Nobody did what Louis could do. The tune did, however, become a No. He was then sent to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys. 1 hit around the world, including in England and South Africa, and eventually became one of Armstrong's most-beloved songs after it was used in the 1986 Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam. To earn money, Armstrong sang on street corners, sold newspapers, and delivered coal. Related. Armstrong used to say that hed been born on July 4, 1900. Armstrong was the primary ever "Genius" of jazz music. Louis Armstrong was an outstanding jazz musician during the Harlem Renaissance Era. He dropped out of school at 11 to join an informal group, but on December 31, 1912, he fired a gun during a New Year's Eve celebration, and was sent to reform school. Together, Armstrong and Hines formed a potent team and made some of the greatest recordings in jazz history in 1928, including their virtuoso duet, "Weather Bird," and "West End Blues.". He was by far the most enduringly popular man of all the classical composers, and his influence on following Western art music was very good and intense., Intro WebLouis Armstrong remains an icon of American history and 20 th century popular culture. What made jazz continuously popular was the way it progressed. Without the jazz musicians, jazz music would not have been possible. Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 4, 1901. Music historians recognize this as the first popular, mass-market scat ever recorded. Featuring young geniuses such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the younger generation of musicians saw themselves as artists, not as entertainers. In recent years, Armstrong's alleged daughter, who now goes by the name Sharon Preston Folta, has publicized various letters between her and her father. At the school he learned to play cornet. He is remembered as the most influential artist in the early development of jazz. Eldridge is the obvious link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. Wiki User. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. In 1988, music historian Thaddeus Tad Jones located a baptismal record at New Orleanss Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. The year is 1954. Different from most of his recordings of the era, the song features no trumpet and places Armstrong's gravelly voice in the middle of a bed of strings and angelic voices. He began to grow artistically and perfected his improvisational method (Jazz Stars 2). Not a single jazz musician who had previously criticized him took his side but today, this is seen as one of the bravest, most definitive moments of Armstrong's life. These views changed in 1957, when Armstrong saw the Little Rock Central High School integration crisis on television. Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans. He was employed by a Jewish family who encouraged him to sing. He is also the first African American celebrity to appear in a major Hollywood movie. In 16967, Armstrong recorded his most renowned tune, What a Wonderful Word that surprisingly featured no trumpet. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive musical mind still dominate Jazz to this day. Armstrong was still a popular attraction around the world in 1963, but hadn't made a record in two years. Louis Armstrong used to give away laxatives as gifts. Then, at the age of five, he was returned to the care of his mother, who at the time worked as a laundress. He made his film debut in Ex-Flame, released at the end of 1931. To grasp how much the man adored this entre, consider that he often signed his personal letters with Red Beans and Ricely Yours.. Death Year: 1971, Death date: July 6, 1971, Death State: New York, Death City: Corona, Queens, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Louis Armstrong Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/louis-armstrong, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: January 29, 2021, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014. At one point in Heebie Jeebiesa 1926 song released by Armstrong and his "Hot Five bandthe singer vocalizes a series of nonsensical, horn-like sounds. After a successful engagement in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements around the world, including in London and Washington, D.C. and New York (he performed for two weeks at New York's Waldorf-Astoria). Louis Armstrong, also known as Ambassador Satch, was unofficially adopted by a family of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania who had a junk hauling business in Louisiana.