A Brief Biography of Louis Armstrong

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. Louis Armstrong (Aug 4th, 1901 - Jul 6th, 1971) was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who became one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned many decades, from the 1920s to his death in 1971, and many different eras in jazz. He first came to prominence in the 1920s as a trumpeter and cornet player with no technique as well as being very skilled in scat singing, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, influencing many later jazz artists as well as shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance.With his very well-known and recognizable gravelly voice, a technique that was later named “crooning”, Armstrong was an incredibly influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser by bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes on demand. 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 was one of the first very popular

Louis Armstrong's diversity and adaptability is widely recognized as one of the most influential aspect in jazz music. Louis Armstrong's musical influence is still the fundamental base for modern jazz today. "Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.” — Wynton Marsalis perfectly sums up his contributions. His diversity sets him apart from other jazz artists because he managed to stay relevant throughout different musical eras like, the ENOJ era, The Swing Era, Blues etc., until the end of his career. The accomplishments he has achieved throughout his life and the hardships he has gone through has shaped his persona, contributing to how he will become as an artist. His instrumental style, singing, career throughout musical eras, accomplishments, and etc., contribute to how adaptable and diverse he is.

From its inception, Jazz has applied both innovative approaches in different degrees and boundless configuration. And has continually amplified, progress, and modify music through various distinctive episodes of growth. So, an all-encompassing denotation of jazz is likely vain. Additionally, jazz as a music whose prime attribute was “improvisation,” for example, revealed to be too regulated and chiefly false. Meanwhile composition, adaptation, and ensembles have also been imperative constituent of Jazz (for most of its backstory). Furthermore, “syncopation” and “swing,” often viewed as important and distinctive to jazz, are certainly lacking the genuineness of it, whether of the 1920s (or of later decades). However, the prolonged perception that swing could not transpire without syncopation was utterly refuted when trumpeter Louis Armstrong often produced vast swing while playing repeated, and unsyncopated quarter notes (Armstrong, L., Fitzgerald, E., & Middleton, V. (1988). Satchmo. Gong.)

Armstrong was born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901. He attended school until he was in the 5th grade, he stopped going to help support his family. To earn money, Armstrong sang on street corners, sold newspapers, and delivered coal. When Armstrong was eleven years old, he got in trouble for shooting a gun on New Year’s Eve to ring in the new year, 1912. He attended Colored Waifs Home in 1913 for eighteen months. During his time there, he learned how to play the bugle cornet, an instrument that is similar to the trumpet. After his time in Colored Waifs Home, he wanted to become a musician. At the start of Armstrong’s career, he married Daisy Parker. Armstrong’s mentor, King Oliver, had Armstrong move to Chicago to be in his band; in Oliver’s

Aside from the typical cultural, social, and political factors influencing any musician’s style, an early life filled with poverty and hardship also shaped Louis Armstrong’s musical development. Some even theorize that it was Armstrong’s difficult upbringing that made his music so wise, so unique, and so revolutionary. Armstrong was an African American child growing up in the slums of New Orleans, close to abandonment, impoverished, and with too few constant people, resources, or homes. 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. When Louis Armstrong was placed in a boys’ home as a young boy, he was presented with the opportunity to play the cornet. He took up work in Joe (King) Oliver’s house, doing chores in exchange for musical lessons, developing into a

I think something that Louis Armstrong did for the Harlem Renaissance is that he made a lot of African Americans feel beautiful by his music. People could listen to his music and dance while forget the world around them. He was important because he was one of the first African Americans to write an Autobiography (“Swing That Music”). He continued to appear in movies and that is something else that is good for African Americans during that

Louis Armstrong, one of the most influential figures in jazz music, enjoyed a career that spans across 50 years, and through different eras of jazz. Nicknamed” Satchmo”, “Pops”, and” Ambassador Satch”, Armstrong could do it all, he sang, occasionally acted, composed music, but was most famous for his cornet and trumpet playing. Although Armstrong is well known for his amazing trumpet play, he also influenced the direction that jazz music during his time was headed. Over the course of this paper I will concisely go over his early life, and focus more on his music career.

To start, Louis Armstrong was a leader. He symbolized civil rights. As I have stated before, Louis Armstrong was an African American male. Because of that, he wasn’t easily liked. Some white critics would even go as far to say that his music was of the devil and threatened the power of reason. To put it simply, before he became successful, Louis Armstrong had to deal with the same mistreatment that was brought upon the rest of the African Americans, even though he had talent. But despite that, he succeeded. He made a lot of money, and was loved by many people for his music. Armstrong didn’t let the racism control

Success is a path way, full of mysterious wonders. Many strive to accomplish, while others wait for success to find them. Louis Armstrong’s life was similar to this. Armstrong strived and strived until he reached to a point in his life where he was comfortable with his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson. Armstrong is ultimately known as the creator of jazz and blues. He was awarded this title by using his talents when he was a young boy growing up in a rough neighborhood. Armstrong’s talent was a result of his childhood and young adult life. Growing up, Armstrong was exposed to music in his surroundings. Armstrong obtained this fantastic talent, therefore causing him to establish it in a well minded surrounding; creating his success and fame.

Louis Armstrong was born in one of the poorest sections in New Orleans, August 4, 1901. Louis a hard-working kid who helped his mother and sister by working every type of job there was, including going out on street corners at night to singing for coins. Slowly making money, Louis bought his first horn, a cornet. At age eleven Armstrong was sent to juvenile Jones Home for the colored waifs for firing a pistol on New Year’s Eve. While in jail Armstrong received his first formal music lesson from one of the friends he met their, he later played in Home’s brass band that was located in the same facility. Armstrong gained experience from the band. After a year and six month he was released. After being released he considered himself as a

In Penny M. Von Eschen’s book Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War, Von Eschen writes about the positive effect that the jazz tours had on the international opinion of America during the Cold War. Due to the Soviet Union relaying the message in their communist propaganda that America was ridiculously racist, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the State Department funded multiple trips across the globe where jazz musicians, both white and African-American, would perform their music and inevitably help end the war. The musicians and the government often clashed though, mainly because they were both using the tours for their own personal aspirations, which were completely opposite of each other

Louis Armstrong is a man of many talents and skills known for creating a new environment, especially in his home town of New Orleans. He was born into poverty on August 4, 1901 in the streets of Back o’ Town (Meckna). He’s a professional jazz performer who played with Oliver and Henderson. He started as a soloist for Henderson after marrying Lil Hardin. He has many nicknames in which some are Satchmo and Pops. He also played as a second trumpet for King Oliver. He interprets and contributes to the genre of jazz, creates great form through his performance in the “Hot Chocolates,” and his work represents a whole for equality and the civil rights movement.

Armstrong did not define himself by his background and could have grown up to be just another poor child from a broken home. Instead he used his talent as a ticket to improve his lot and create a meaningful life. Armstrong brought jazz music to mainstream America, playing his trumpet and singing for a career spanning 50 years. He was called “Ambassador Satch,” referring to the hundreds of concerts he performed all over the world. Considered one of the great celebrities of his time, “despite his fame, he remained a humble man and lived a simple life in a working-class neighborhood” (www.louisarmstronghouse.org).

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong was one of the most popular musicians of his time. Upon initiating my research, I was surprised to find conflicting dates as to when he was born. Encarta Africa said he was born in 1901, 1001 things to know about African American history-1898, regular Encarta --1900, "Little Louis and the jazz band" by Angela Shelf Medearis says his date of birth is August 4, 1901. The book "Jazz Stars" by Richard Rennert states that Louis Armstrong was born in 1899, the book "Louis Armstrong" by Sam Tanenhaus says he was born on July 4, 1900. The reason why they have so many different dates is due to the fact that he probably wasn't born in a hastpital and they did not use to keep good records of black

From the government’s perspective, African American jazz artists were an essential key to using the “music’s potential as a Cold War weapon” (3). Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong are among the various jazz musicians sent on tours abroad by the State Department in an effort to construct a more liberated view of America to diminish Cold War propaganda. Von Eschen explains the first major jazz tour ambassadors were Dizzy Gillespie to the Middle East in 1956 and Benny Goodman to South East Asia in 1957 (27) they were highly prized gigs and were considered a congratulatory medal of honor with a “chance to work, support a big band, serve one’s country, meet musicians abroad, and contribute to the civil right ’s cause” (29). Consequentially, when Gillespie’s band was sent to Iran, band saxophonist Phil Woods, remembered they had arrived to the smell of “crude oil and the sound of gunfire from nearby Iraq” (31).