Essay on Biography of Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was the greatest of all Jazz musicians. Armstrong defined what it was to play Jazz. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive musical mind still dominate Jazz to this day. Only Charlie Parker comes close to having as much influence on the history of Jazz as Louis Armstrong did. Like almost all early Jazz musicians, Louis was from New Orleans. 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. At the school he learned to play cornet. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. He didn't own an instrument at this time,

Intro- Facts- Back in 1928, a jazz song was recorded in Chicago. The hit song, West End Blues, was played by Louis Armstrong and his friends, the Hot Five. The song was written by Joe “King” Oliver, the mentor of 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 learned at a young age, not to let negative views direct your life. At the age of seven he worked for a Jewish family, and noticed how the whites treated them. It was not just the blacks in the early 1900’s that dealt with racial issues. But Louis saw one thing that left a long time mark on him. Many of the Blacks wanted Pity, but this family of Jews he worked for, did not, they made their way. This was something Louis would carry with him the rest of his life. Louis Armstrong’s influence was the style, structure, and joy of his art. It is something that can be seen in many musicians that listened to him. Listen to a Miles Davis cd, and you will hear the Great Satchmo. Yes it is Miles Davis, but the influence of Louis is there to be heard. Many of the musicians today you will also hear Louis’s influence, and not only in Jazz, Swing, Blues, but in any form. Louis Armstrong’s influence is one of the most powerful that has ever been, and may ever be.

Armstrong had elevated music and Jazz to a whole new level. “Armstrong’s contagious humor and flamboyant style made him an ideal goodwill ambassador for American music” (Copton, 632). His style encouraged soloist's art to assemble within jazz, which increased opportunities for black people. “People learned to appreciate both jazz, and African American music even more, because of this man... Armstrong played music up until the day he died at 70 years old, on July 6, 1971” (Musicians- The Harlem Renaissance). His ideas influenced millions of perspectives on African Americans and music, people started respecting his style of music and many also began acknowledging and admiring black people’s music to a new extent. Just like the others, Armstrong often faced racial inequality. However, a few others accompanied him and found a way to crack the racial barrier through music, art, and

     Joe Louis was born in Alabama on May 13, 1914. He was the son of an Alabama sharecropper, the great grandson of a slave, and the great great grandson of a white slave owner.

The person I chose to do my project on is Louis Armstrong. I chose Louis Armstrong because I wanted to do my project on a singer as well as a musician. I chose him because he was one of the few people that I knew about, also because I did some research on him and listened to his music and I thought that he was interesting to write about. My main three things that I’m going to discuss about Louis Armstrong will be his life, his music and influence on others. I’m going to describe how and where Louis Armstrong’s grew up and how he started out his career as a trumpeter. I’m also going to write about how he went through life and how that affected him in the future. Lastly, I’m going to discuss with you how he had an influence on others. I’m going to explain how he impacted the world with his music and how that affected so many people to this day. Louis Armstrong made a great impact in the world and I’m going to teach you all about it.

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.

Many great performers have come out of the jazz industry, but the most widely known is Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. Louis began playing at a young age when he was growing up in New Orleans. His greatest inspiration was Joe “King” Oliver. He began following him and eventually Oliver became Armstrong’s mentor. Armstrong practiced his instrument and eventually he became the jazz great everyone knows today. Armstrong’s unique singing and masterful improvisation transitioned jazz from the traditional style to a newer, more rhythmic style. He popularized scat singing and was the first musician to have his solo on a recording (Rodgers 85). The solos Armstrong performed along with his popular scat singing helped make jazz musicians more popular along with making the fans take notice of Armstrong and jazz itself (Rennert 8).

Many people knew Louis Armstrong as the “first real genius of jazz”(Shipton 26). He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 4, 1901. Louis was the illegitimate son of William Armstrong and Mary Est “Mayann” Albert. He was abandoned by his father, a boiler stoker, shortly after his birth and was raised by his paternal grandmother. Then, at the age of five, he was returned to the care of his mother, who at the time worked as a laundress. Together with his mom, they moved to a better area of New Orleans. This is where Armstrong first fell in love with music; he would listen to people playing any chance that he would get(Tirro). He would attend parades, funerals, churches and go to cheap cabarets to be able to hear some of the greats play

Before Armstrong had a great influenced on jazz music there was the Dixieland. So, before Louis Armstrong came around everyone was playing the Dixieland style of music. Dixieland style was more of the classical orchestrated structures. Within the bad everyone knew their roles and that wasn’t change. Everyone knew that the Bass was there for the low-pitched walking baseline which outlined the harmony. That the piano provided the syncopated commentary along with comping and the guitar provided the solos. While the drums provided things like swing, kicked of the solos and many more. Dixieland was

Watching Louis Armstrong’s live performance in Berlin during the year 1965 was a pleasure, especially because I am a great fan of his music. Throughout the concert in Berlin, Armstrong and his chamber orchestra played 13 different pieces. With the exception of Jewel Woods’ entrance on vocals for two songs, the makeup of the chamber orchestra did not change throughout the concert. As a result, the cello, clarinet, drums, piano, trombone, and trumpet remained vital parts of each song throughout the concert.

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

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.

On October 4th, I watched Louis Armstrong Live in Concert in Berlin in 1965. In this concert, I noticed Armstrong played a variety of songs with a variety of different tempos. The first song he played was more adagio and right after that his song picked up in tempo and changed to a more allegro with a vivace, lively feel to it. Each one of Armstrong’s songs had a different feel to it.