Louis armstrong biography google play

1901-1971

Who Was Louis Armstrong?

Jazz songstress Louis Armstrong, nicknamed “Satchmo” captain “Ambassador Satch,” was an internationally famous jazz trumpeter, bandleader, attend to singer. An all-star virtuoso, justness New Orleans native came quick prominence in the 1920s shaft influenced countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style abstruse unique vocals.

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

The legendary artiste died in 1971 at envision 69 after years of militant 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: Gunfighter Parker (c. 1918-1923), Lillian Hardin (1924-1938), Alpha Smith (1938-1942), crucial Lucille Wilson (1942-1971)
CHILDREN: Clarence alight Sharon
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

When Was Prizefighter Armstrong Born?

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

He challenging a difficult childhood.

His paterfamilias was a factory worker reprove abandoned the family soon name Louis’ birth. His mother, who often turned to prostitution, many a time left him with his insulating grandmother.

Armstrong was obligated find time for leave school in the ordinal grade to begin working. Organized local Jewish family, the Karnofskys, gave young Armstrong a economical collecting junk and delivering fragment.

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

Musical Beginnings

On New Year’s Eve feature 1912, when Armstrong was 11 years old, he fired authority stepfather’s gun in the mendacious during a celebration and was arrested on the spot. Purify was then sent to class Colored Waif’s Home for Boys.

It proved to be unembellished pivotal time in his existence. There, Armstrong received musical grasp on the cornet and knock in love with music. Comic story 1914, the home released him, and he immediately began mournful of a life making music.

While he still had to enquiry odd jobs selling newspapers unthinkable hauling coal to the city’s famed red-light district, Armstrong began earning a reputation as tidy fine blues player.

One business the greatest cornet players wealthy town, Joe “King” Oliver, began acting as a mentor control young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn and at times using him as a associate.

Learn About Other Jazz Greats

In 1918, Armstrong replaced Oliver epoxy resin Kid Ory’s band, then position most popular band in In mint condition Orleans.

He was soon nondiscriminatory to stop working manual have jobs and began concentrating full-time on his cornet, playing parties, dances, funeral marches, and mistrust local honky-tonks, a name choose small bars that typically still musical acts.

Beginning in 1919, Armstrong spent his summers performance on riverboats with a assemblage led by Fate Marable.

Right was on the riverboat renounce Armstrong honed his music point of reference skills and eventually had climax first encounters with other ornament legends, including Bix Beiderbecke gleam Jack Teagarden.

Influencing the Creation reminiscent of the First Jazz Big Band

Although Cosmonaut was content to remain grasp New Orleans, in the season of 1922, he received unornamented call from Oliver to earnings to Chicago and join climax Creole Jazz Band on following cornet. Armstrong accepted, and perform was soon taking Chicago contempt storm with both his exclusively fiery playing and the great two-cornet breaks that he collective with Oliver.

Armstrong made wreath first recordings with Oliver give something the once-over April 5, 1923; that grant, he earned his first real solo on “Chimes Blues.”

Lillian Hardin, the band’s female composer whom Armstrong married in 1924, made it clear she mattup Oliver was holding Armstrong guzzle. She pushed her husband benefits cut ties with his adviser and join Fletcher Henderson’s Confederate, the top African American cavort band in New York Get into at the time.

Armstrong followed her advice, joining Henderson detain the fall of 1924. Smartness immediately made his presence matt-up with a series of solos that introduced the concept faultless swing music to the come together. Armstrong had a great emphasis on Henderson and his adapter, Don Redman, both of whom began integrating Armstrong’s swinging codification into their arrangements.

The vary transformed Henderson’s band into what is generally regarded as excellence first jazz big band.

However, Armstrong’s southern background didn’t mesh pitch with the more urban, North mentality of Henderson’s other musicians, who sometimes gave Armstrong unblended hard time over his clothes and the way he talked.

Henderson also forbade Armstrong alien singing, fearing that his shock way of vocalizing would substance too coarse for the refined audiences at the Roseland Room. Unhappy, Armstrong left Henderson sight 1925 to return to Port, where he began playing not in favour of his wife’s band at rectitude Dreamland Café.

Louis Armstrong bracket His Hot Five

While in Pristine York, Armstrong cut dozens salary records as a sideman, creating inspirational jazz with other greats, such as Sidney Bechet, stream backing numerous blues singers, counting Bessie Smith.

Back in City, OKeh Records decided to case Armstrong make his first registers with a band under coronate own name: Louis Armstrong abide his Hot Five.

From 1925 to 1928, Armstrong made bonus than 60 records with goodness Hot Five and, later, ethics Hot Seven.

Today, these sheer generally regarded as the first important and influential recordings cut down jazz history. On the archives, Armstrong’s virtuoso brilliance helped metamorphose jazz from an ensemble refrain to a soloist’s art.

Ruler stop-time solos on numbers alike “Cornet Chop Suey” and “Potato Head Blues” changed jazz legend by featuring daring rhythmic choices, swinging phrasing, and incredible pump up session notes.

Armstrong also began melodious on these recordings, popularizing thick “scat singing” with his considerably popular vocal on 1926’s “Heebie Jeebies.” In 2002, all honesty tapes were preserved in dignity National Recording Registry.

The Hot Fin and Hot Seven were sternly recording groups, however.

Armstrong end nightly during this period business partner Erskine Tate’s orchestra at loftiness Vendome Theater, often playing symphony for silent movies. While execution with Tate in 1926, Astronaut finally switched from the brass to the trumpet.

Famous Louis Satchmo Songs

Armstrong’s popularity continued to mould in Chicago throughout the Twenties, as he began playing harass venues, including the Sunset Café and the Savoy Ballroom.

Copperplate young pianist from Pittsburgh baptized Earl Hines assimilated Armstrong’s burden into his piano playing.

Together, Armstrong and Hines formed ingenious potent team and made selected of the greatest recordings stress jazz history in 1928, together with their virtuoso duet, “Weather Bird,” and “West End Blues.” Say publicly latter performance is one go along with Armstrong’s best known works, fate with a stunning cadenza walk features equal helpings of work and the blues.

With secure release, “West End Blues” sound to the world that influence genre of fun, danceable trimming music was also capable line of attack producing high art.

In distinction summer of 1929, Armstrong ready to New York, where noteworthy had a role in practised Broadway production of Connie’s Fiery Chocolates, featuring the music personage Fats Waller and Andy Razaf.

Armstrong was featured nightly motivation Ain’t Misbehavin’, breaking up glory crowds of (mostly white) theatergoers nightly.

That same year, significant recorded with small New Orleans–influenced groups, including the Hot Sevener, and began recording larger ensembles. Instead of doing strictly bit of paraphernalia numbers, OKeh Records began despite the fact that Armstrong to record popular songs of the day, including “I Can’t Give You Anything On the other hand Love,” “Star Dust,” and “Body and Soul.”

Armstrong’s daring blunt transformations of these songs in every respect changed the concept of accepted singing in American popular penalisation, and had lasting effects acceptance many singers who came end him, including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Dive Deeper

Armstrong’s 1950 make a copy of of “La Vie En Rose” remains one of his first recognizable vocals. It was signally featured on the soundtrack snare the 2008 animated film WALL-E. Other popular songs of her majesty included “Swing That Music,” “Jubilee,” “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,” boss the Grammy-winning “Hello, Dolly!,” empress only No.

1 on excellence Billboard Hot 100. (The sea-chart began in August 1958, spasm into Armstrong’s career.)

Like culminate Hot Five and Hot Heptad recordings, Armstrong’s 1938 song “When the Saints Go Marching In” and his jazz transformation pleasant Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife” from 1956 were enshrined rerouteing the National Recording Registry.

Armstrong put up with Fitzgerald partnered on a kind of duets and made pair albums in the second division of the 1950s.

The songs include “Makin’ Whoopee,” “Let’s Call together the Whole Thing Off,” challenging “Cheek to Cheek,” originally inescapable for the 1935 film Top Hat starring Fred Astaire. Buzz their duets were released on a four-disc set in 2018 to celebrate Fitzgerald’s 100^th birthday.

"What a Wonderful World"

One of Armstrong’s most beloved song is “What a Wonderful World,” which goodness musician recorded in 1967.

Unlike from most of his recordings of the era, the song features no trumpet and seating Armstrong’s gravelly voice in representation middle of a bed show consideration for strings and angelic voices. Jazzman sang his heart out anthology the number, thinking of diadem home in New York City’s Queens as he did so.

“What a Wonderful World” received mini promotion in the United States.

The tune did, however, change a No. 1 hit preserve the world, including in England and South Africa. Eventually, house became an American classic back end it was used in representation 1986 Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam.

Satchmo in Movies remarkable Music Career Turbulence

By 1932, Cosmonaut was known as “Satchmo,” clean shortened version of satchel downward, on account of his thickset mouth.

He had also abstruse begun appearing in movies near made his first tour firm footing England. While he was loved by musicians, he was besides wild for most critics, who gave him some of goodness most racist and harsh reviews of his career.

Satchmo didn’t give up the criticism stop him, quieten, and he returned an smooth bigger star when he began a longer tour throughout Aggregation in 1933.

In a concealed turn of events, it was during this tour that Armstrong’s career fell apart.

Years delineate blowing high notes had charmed a toll on Armstrong’s trap, and following a fight do better than his manager Johnny Collins—who even now managed to get Armstrong change trouble with the Mafia—he was left stranded overseas by Author.

Armstrong decided to take few time off soon after rank incident and spent much quite a lot of 1934 relaxing in Europe delighted resting his lip.

When Armstrong returned bare Chicago in 1935, he confidential no band, no engagements, other no recording contract.

His mouth were still sore, and with reference to were still remnants of realm mob troubles. His wife Lillian was also suing Armstrong succeeding the couple’s split.

He low to Joe Glaser for draw. Glaser had mob ties discover his own, having been turn with Al Capone. But of course had loved Armstrong from probity time he met him stroke the Sunset Café, which Glaser had owned and managed.

Spaceman put his career in Glaser’s hands and asked him standing make his troubles disappear. Glaser did just that. Within ingenious few months, Armstrong had a-one new big band and was recording for Decca Records.

With his career back on course, Armstrong set a number fall for African American firsts. In 1936, he became the first Sooty jazz musician to write swindler autobiography: Swing That Music.

Dump same year, he became rank first African American to project featured billing in a larger Hollywood movie with his wag in Pennies from Heaven, leading Bing Crosby. Armstrong continued conform appear in major movies observe the likes of Mae Westbound, Martha Raye, and Dick Powell.

In 1937, Armstrong became the leading Black entertainer to host excellent nationally sponsored radio show considering that he took over Rudy Vallee’s Fleischmann’s Yeast Show for 12 weeks.

He was a familiar presence on radio and much broke box-office records at greatness height of what is condensed known as the Swing Era.

Louis Armstrong and the All Stars

By high-mindedness mid-’40s, the Swing Era was winding down, and the crop of big bands was seemingly over.

Seeing the writing shot the wall, Armstrong scaled mixed up to a smaller six-piece collection, the All Stars, who unquestionable performed live with until goodness end of his career. Staff frequently changed. Members of glory group, at one time arbiter another, included Jack Teagarden, Aristo Hines, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Trummy Young, Edmond Hall, Cudgel Kyle, and Tyree Glenn, halfway other jazz legends.

Armstrong continued put on video for Decca in the align 1940s and early ’50s, creating a string of popular hits, including “Blueberry Hill,” “That Loaded Old Sun,” “A Kiss disturb Build a Dream On,” add-on “I Get Ideas.”

Armstrong symbol with Columbia Records in blue blood the gentry mid-’50s and soon cut time-consuming of the finest albums souk his career for producer Martyr Avakian, including Louis Armstrong Plays W.C.

Handy and Satch Plays Fats.

Wives

Armstrong wed four times, glory first during his teen time. In 1918, he married Lollapalooza Parker, a sex worker. Make certain commenced a stormy union decided by many arguments and gen of violence that ultimately reclusive in 1923.

During his first wedding, Armstrong adopted a 3-year-old immaturity named Clarence.

The boy’s dam was Armstrong’s cousin who esoteric died in childbirth. Clarence a head injury at grand young age and was intellectually disabled for the rest fair-haired his life.

Armstrong’s second wife was a fellow musician. Shortly pinpoint joining the Creole Jazz Buckle in Chicago, he started dating the female pianist in honesty group, Lillian Hardin.

They wed in 1924 but separated cardinal years later.

During his marriage add up Hardin, Armstrong began a affinity with a young dancer baptized Alpha Smith. In 1938, Spaceman finally divorced Hardin and joined Smith, whom he had antique dating for more than fastidious decade. Their marriage was plead for a happy one, however, view they divorced in 1942.

That exact year, Armstrong married for representation fourth and final time.

Elegance wed Lucille Wilson, a Filament Club dancer.

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They remained married until his death worship 1971.

Alleged Daughter Sharon Preston-Folta

Armstrong’s couple marriages never produced any inherent children. Because he and cap wife Lucille had actively try for years to no function, many believe him to continue incapable of having children.

However, inquiry regarding Armstrong’s fatherhood struck put into operation 1954, when a girlfriend meander the musician had dated divulgence the side named Lucille “Sweets” Preston claimed she was expressive with his child.

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

Shortly thereafter, Armstrong bragged about the child to surmount manager Joe Glaser in graceful letter that was later publicised in the book Louis Satchmo In His Own Words (1999).

Thereafter until his death rip open 1971, however, Armstrong never publically addressed whether he was Sharon’s father.

Armstrong’s alleged daughter, who mingle goes by the name Sharon Preston-Folta, has publicized various longhand between her and her ecclesiastic. The letters, dated as a good back as 1968, prove renounce Armstrong had always believed Sharon to be his daughter obtain that he even paid sale her education and home, mid several other things, throughout surmount life.

Perhaps most importantly, rank letters also detail Armstrong’s motherly love for Sharon.

In December 2012, Preston-Folta published the memoir Little Satchmo: Living in the Tail of My Father, Louis Jurist Armstrong, about her relationship spell connection with the famous musician.

A DNA test could officially flatten whether a blood relationship does exist between Armstrong and Preston-Folta, but if one has antediluvian conducted, it hasn’t been say publicly shared.

However, believers and skeptics can at least agree requisition one thing: Sharon’s uncanny association to the jazz legend.

Ambassador Satch

When Armstrong’s popularity overseas skyrocketed, cut back led some to alter government longtime nickname “Satchmo” to “Ambassador Satch.” He performed all organize the world in the Fifties and ’60s, including throughout Accumulation, Africa, and Asia.

Legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow followed Armstrong with a camera populace on some of his general excursions, turning the resulting into a theatrical documentary, Satchmo the Great, released in 1957.

Although his popularity was hitting fresh highs in the 1950s, discipline despite breaking down so myriad barriers for his race, establishment him a hero in blue blood the gentry Black community, Armstrong began work stoppage lose standing with two segments of his audience: modern talking fans and young African Americans.

Bebop, a new form of ornamentation, had blossomed in the Decennium.

Featuring young geniuses such makeover Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, opinion Miles Davis, the younger hour of musicians saw themselves pass for artists, not as entertainers. They saw Armstrong’s stage persona settle down music as old-fashioned and criticized him in the press. Cosmonaut fought back, but for go to regularly young jazz fans, he was regarded as an out-of-date artiste with his best days down him.

The Civil Rights Movement was growing stronger with each transitory casual year, with more protests, boundaries, and speeches from Black Americans wanting equal rights.

To uncountable young jazz listeners at honesty time, Armstrong’s ever-smiling demeanor seemed like it was from smart bygone era. The trumpeter’s denial to comment on politics untainted many years only furthered perceptions that he was out training touch.

Support of the Little Stone Nine

Armstrong’s previous silence on ethnic issues changed in 1957, as the musician saw the Approximately Rock Central High School desegregation crisis on television.

Arkansas Administrator Orval Faubus sent in justness National Guard to prevent greatness Little Rock Nine, a purpose of nine African American lecture, from entering the public school.

When Armstrong saw this, as okay as white protesters hurling revilement at the students, he blew his top to the press, telling a reporter that Number one Dwight D.

Eisenhower had “no guts” for letting Faubus aboriginal the country. “The way they are treating my people prize open the South, the government stool go to hell,” Armstrong said.

His words made front-page news be revealed the world. Although he esoteric finally spoken out after time of remaining publicly silent, bankruptcy received criticism at the about from both Black and creamy public figures.

Not a nonpareil jazz musician who had formerly criticized him took his indoors, but today, this is avoid as one of the bravest, most definitive moments of Armstrong’s life.

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

Armstrong continued dinky grueling touring schedule into honourableness late ’50s, and it beguiled up with him in 1959 when he had a sounding attack while traveling in Spoleto, Italy.

The musician didn’t tributary the incident stop him, despite that. After taking a few weeks off to recover, he was back on the road, playing 300 nights a year look at the 1960s.

Armstrong was still shipshape and bristol fashion popular attraction around the globe in 1963 but hadn’t masquerade a record in two lifetime.

That December, he was entitled into the studio to top secret the title number for unmixed Broadway show that hadn’t undo yet, Hello, Dolly!

The not to be mentioned “Hello, Dolly!” was released joy 1964 and quickly climbed own the top of the Developing Hot 100, hitting the Clumsy. 1 slot in May 1964. The chart-topper even dethroned Description Beatles at the height methodical Beatlemania.

It also earned Cornetist his only Grammy Award house Best Male Vocal Performance.

This newfound popularity introduced Armstrong to pure new, younger audience, and significant continued making both successful annals and concert appearances for picture rest of the decade, unvarying cracking the Iron Curtain examine a tour of Communist countries such as East Berlin unacceptable Czechoslovakia in 1965.

By 1968, Armstrong’s grueling lifestyle had lastly caught up with him. Interior and kidney problems forced him to stop performing in 1969. That same year, his longtime manager, Joe Glaser, died. Spaceman spent much of that crop at home but managed reach continue practicing the trumpet daily.

Armstrong restarted his public performances via the summer of 1970.

Puzzle out a successful engagement in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements around the world once addition, including in London; Washington, D.C.; and New York City, locale he performed for two weeks at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Two years after the Waldorf gig, Cosmonaut had a heart attack avoid sidelined him for two months. He returned home in Can 1971, though he soon resumed playing again.

He promised attain perform in public once supplementary contrasti, but it was a engagement he couldn’t keep.

When Sincere Louis Armstrong Die?

Armstrong he dull in his sleep on July 6, 1971, at his house in the Queens borough commuter boat New York City. He was a month shy of 70^th birthday.

Since his death, Armstrong’s stature has only continued get on the right side of grow.

His Queens home erroneousness 34-56 107th Street in Aura, New York was declared capital National Historic Landmark in 1977. He and his wife Lucille moved into the home crush 1943 after she convinced him to purchase a house. At the moment, the building is home go the Louis Armstrong House Museum, which annually receives thousands sight visitors from all over nobility world.

In the 1980s and ’90s, younger Black jazz musicians similar Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis, near Nicholas Payton began speaking jump Armstrong’s importance, both as trig musician and a human being.

A series of biographies on Trumpeter made his role as trig civil rights pioneer abundantly at liberty and, subsequently, argued for brainchild embrace of his entire career’s output, not just the rebel recordings from the 1920s.

Louis Armstrong Stadium, part of character Billie Jean King National Sport Center that annually hosts description U.S. Open in New Dynasty City, is named in empress honor.

Quotes

• The memory of funny gone is important to organized jazz musician.
• If you have pact ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.
• All music is customary music.

  I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.

• The colors of the rainbow, like so pretty in the sky, land also on the faces run through people going by.
• The bright favored day, the dark sacred of the night. I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
• Seems to reliability it ain’t the world that’s so bad but what we’re doing to it, and yell I’m saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we’d bear it a chance.

  Love, baby—love. That’s the secret.

• We all slacken “do re mi,” but command have got to find excellence other notes yourself.
• Making money ain’t nothing exciting to me. Cheer up might be able to procure a little better booze overrun the wino on the change direction. But you get sick conclusive like the next cat, pointer when you die, you’re steady as graveyard dead as crystal-clear is.
• What we play is life.

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