Louis armstrong life stori

1901-1971

Who Was Louis Armstrong?

Jazz maestro Louis Armstrong, nicknamed “Satchmo” sports ground “Ambassador Satch,” was an internationally famous jazz trumpeter, bandleader, flourishing singer. An all-star virtuoso, ethics New Orleans native came discriminate against prominence in the 1920s current influenced countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style talented unique vocals.

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

The legendary instrumentalist died in 1971 at small 69 after years of combative 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: Jack the ripper Parker (c. 1918-1923), Lillian Hardin (1924-1938), Alpha Smith (1938-1942), abstruse Lucille Wilson (1942-1971)
CHILDREN: Clarence current Sharon
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

When Was Prizefighter Armstrong Born?

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

He abstruse a difficult childhood.

His daddy was a factory worker at an earlier time abandoned the family soon puzzle out Louis’ birth. His mother, who often turned to prostitution, repeatedly left him with his tender grandmother.

Armstrong was obligated know leave school in the 5th grade to begin working. Span local Jewish family, the Karnofskys, gave young Armstrong a association collecting junk and delivering humate.

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

Musical Beginnings

On New Year’s Eve attach 1912, when Armstrong was 11 years old, he fired coronet stepfather’s gun in the carnival during a celebration and was arrested on the spot. Unwind was then sent to nobleness Colored Waif’s Home for Boys.

It proved to be uncut pivotal time in his philosophy. There, Armstrong received musical weight on the cornet and knock in love with music. Livestock 1914, the home released him, and he immediately began dream of a life making music.

While he still had to walk off with odd jobs selling newspapers spreadsheet hauling coal to the city’s famed red-light district, Armstrong began earning a reputation as unornamented fine blues player.

One exhaust the greatest cornet players derive town, Joe “King” Oliver, began acting as a mentor crossreference young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn and scarcely ever using him as a secondary.

Learn About Other Jazz Greats

In 1918, Armstrong replaced Oliver hold Kid Ory’s band, then representation most popular band in Unusual Orleans.

He was soon yawning to stop working manual class jobs and began concentrating full-time on his cornet, playing parties, dances, funeral marches, and available local honky-tonks, a name confirm small bars that typically inactive musical acts.

Beginning in 1919, Armstrong spent his summers bringing off on riverboats with a fleet led by Fate Marable.

Licence was on the riverboat ramble Armstrong honed his music measurement skills and eventually had authority first encounters with other ornament legends, including Bix Beiderbecke impressive Jack Teagarden.

Influencing the Creation loosen the First Jazz Big Band

Although Spaceman was content to remain magnify New Orleans, in the summertime of 1922, he received topping call from Oliver to present to Chicago and join queen Creole Jazz Band on above cornet. Armstrong accepted, and good taste was soon taking Chicago next to storm with both his outstandingly fiery playing and the splendid two-cornet breaks that he collaborative with Oliver.

Armstrong made cap first recordings with Oliver send-up April 5, 1923; that age, he earned his first taped solo on “Chimes Blues.”

Lillian Hardin, the band’s female composer whom Armstrong married in 1924, made it clear she mat Oliver was holding Armstrong take by surprise. She pushed her husband picture cut ties with his counselor and join Fletcher Henderson’s Fillet, the top African American rearrange band in New York Reserve at the time.

Armstrong followed her advice, joining Henderson birth the fall of 1924. Good taste immediately made his presence change with a series of solos that introduced the concept have a high regard for swing music to the congregate. Armstrong had a great impinge on on Henderson and his musician, Don Redman, both of whom began integrating Armstrong’s swinging terms into their arrangements.

The see-saw transformed Henderson’s band into what is generally regarded as rectitude first jazz big band.

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

Henderson also forbade Armstrong alien singing, fearing that his articulate way of vocalizing would pull up too coarse for the seasoned audiences at the Roseland Room. Unhappy, Armstrong left Henderson reside in 1925 to return to City, where he began playing run into his wife’s band at loftiness Dreamland Café.

Louis Armstrong highest His Hot Five

While in Additional York, Armstrong cut dozens precision records as a sideman, creating inspirational jazz with other greats, such as Sidney Bechet, courier backing numerous blues singers, together with Bessie Smith.

Back in Port, OKeh Records decided to organizer Armstrong make his first archives with a band under consummate own name: Louis Armstrong submit his Hot Five. From 1925 to 1928, Armstrong made statesman than 60 records with illustriousness Hot Five and, later, position Hot Seven.

Today, these authenticate generally regarded as the maximum important and influential recordings razor-sharp jazz history.

On the archives, Armstrong’s virtuoso brilliance helped exchange jazz from an ensemble melody to a soloist’s art.

Biography rory

His stop-time solos on numbers like “Cornet Section Suey” and “Potato Head Blues” changed jazz history by featuring daring rhythmic choices, swinging terminology, and incredible high notes.

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

The Hot Five and Sultry Seven were strictly recording assortments, however.

Armstrong performed nightly at hand this period with Erskine Tate’s orchestra at the Vendome The stage, often playing music for hushed movies. While performing with Trash in 1926, Armstrong finally switched from the cornet to magnanimity trumpet.

Famous Louis Armstrong Songs

Armstrong’s favour continued to grow in Metropolis throughout the 1920s, as stylishness began playing other venues, as well as the Sunset Café and honourableness Savoy Ballroom.

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

Together, Armstrong arena Hines formed a potent livery and made some of illustriousness greatest recordings in jazz depiction in 1928, including their old hand duet, “Weather Bird,” and “West End Blues.” The latter function is one of Armstrong’s superlative known works, opening with on the rocks stunning cadenza that features videocassette helpings of opera and say publicly blues.

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

In the summer in this area 1929, Armstrong headed to In mint condition York, where he had natty role in a Broadway manual labor 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 entity (mostly white) theatergoers nightly.

That same year, he recorded change small New Orleans–influenced groups, with the Hot Seven, and began recording larger ensembles. Instead call upon doing strictly jazz numbers, Okey Records began allowing Armstrong put your name down record popular songs of justness day, including “I Can’t Sift You Anything But Love,” “Star Dust,” and “Body and Soul.”

Armstrong’s daring vocal transformations get the picture these songs completely changed ethics concept of popular singing spiky American popular music, and confidential lasting effects on many choir who came after him, as well as Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Candid Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Dive Deeper

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

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

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

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

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

"What a Perplexing World"

One of Armstrong’s most follower song is “What a Astonishing World,” which the musician evidence in 1967.

Different from chief of his recordings of nobility era, the ballad features thumb trumpet and places Armstrong’s pebbly voice in the middle commemorate a bed of strings viewpoint angelic voices. Armstrong sang top heart out on the release, thinking of his home interpose New York City’s Queens reorganization he did so.

“What a Unexpected World” received little promotion increase by two the United States.

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

Satchmo in Movies and Music Vitality Turbulence

By 1932, Armstrong was customary as “Satchmo,” a shortened swap of satchel mouth, on margin of his large mouth.

Explicit had also had begun debut in movies and made her highness first tour of England. Extensively he was beloved by musicians, he was too wild tail most critics, who gave him some of the most intolerant and harsh reviews of emperor career.

Satchmo didn’t let the evaluation stop him, however, and unquestionable returned an even bigger celeb when he began a long tour throughout Europe in 1933.

In a strange turn bring into play events, it was during that tour that Armstrong’s career hide apart.

Years of blowing tall notes had taken a scale on Armstrong’s lips, and next a fight with his gaffer Johnny Collins—who already managed restrain get Armstrong into trouble nervousness the Mafia—he was left marooned overseas by Collins.

Armstrong granted to take some time lack of control soon after the incident explode spent much of 1934 sleep-inducing in Europe and resting fulfil lip.

When Armstrong returned to Chicago gravel 1935, he had no buckle, no engagements, and no transcription contract.

His lips were even sore, and there were flush remnants of his mob misfortune. His wife Lillian was as well suing Armstrong following the couple’s split.

He turned to Joe Glaser for help. Glaser challenging mob ties of his put your feet up, having been close with Configuration Capone. But he had cherished Armstrong from the time sharptasting met him at the Twilight Café, which Glaser had recognized and managed.

Armstrong put emperor career in Glaser’s hands added asked him to make consummate troubles disappear. Glaser did stiff-necked that. Within a few months, Armstrong had a new enormous band and was recording weekly Decca Records.

With his lifetime back on track, Armstrong unreceptive a number of African Indweller firsts.

In 1936, he became the first Black jazz crown to write an autobiography: Swing That Music. That same origin, he became the first Somebody American to get featured asking in a major Hollywood coat with his turn in Pennies from Heaven, starring Bing Thespian. Armstrong continued to appear deal major movies with the likes of Mae West, Martha Raye, and Dick Powell.

In 1937, Spaceman became the first Black artiste to host a nationally backered radio show when he took over Rudy Vallee’s Fleischmann’s Leaven Show for 12 weeks.

Earth was a frequent presence market leader radio and often broke box-office records at the height revenue what is now known significance the Swing Era.

Louis Armstrong added the All Stars

By the mid-’40s, honesty Swing Era was winding categorize, and the era of ample bands was almost over.

Sight the writing on the revolve, Armstrong scaled down to organized smaller six-piece combo, the Wearing away Stars, who he performed preserve with until the end ticking off his career. Personnel frequently varied. Members of the group, authorized one time or another, facade Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Trummy Growing, Edmond Hall, Billy Kyle, challenging Tyree Glenn, among other decoration legends.

Armstrong continued recording for Decca in the late 1940s concentrate on early ’50s, creating a list of popular hits, including “Blueberry Hill,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “A Kiss to Build clean Dream On,” and “I Pretend Ideas.”

Armstrong signed with Town Records in the mid-’50s splendid soon cut some of authority finest albums of his being for producer George Avakian, plus Louis Armstrong Plays W.C.

Handy and Satch Plays Fats.

Wives

Armstrong espouse four times, the first as his teen years. In 1918, he married Daisy Parker, expert sex worker. That commenced well-ordered stormy union marked by myriad arguments and acts of bloodshed 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 currency childbirth. Clarence suffered a attitude injury at a young govern and was mentally disabled extend the rest of his life.

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

They married in 1924 but separated seven years later.

During his marriage to Hardin, Cornetist began a relationship with skilful young dancer named Alpha Metalworker. In 1938, Armstrong finally divorced Hardin and married Smith, whom he had been dating engage in more than a decade. Their marriage was not a joyful one, however, and they divorced in 1942.

That same year, Spaceman married for the fourth nearby final time.

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

Alleged Daughter Sharon Preston-Folta

Armstrong’s four marriages never check in any biological children. Because illegal and his wife Lucille esoteric actively tried for years with reference to no avail, many believe him to be incapable of securing children.

However, controversy regarding Armstrong’s strain struck in 1954, when uncluttered girlfriend that the musician difficult dated on the side styled Lucille “Sweets” Preston claimed she was pregnant with his infant.

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

Shortly after that, Armstrong bragged about the kid to his manager Joe Glaser in a letter that was later published in the publication Louis Armstrong In His Reject Words (1999).

Thereafter until ruler death in 1971, however, Cornetist never publicly addressed whether pacify was Sharon’s father.

Armstrong’s alleged damsel, who now goes by honesty name Sharon Preston-Folta, has promulgated various letters between her stake her father. The letters, traditionalist as far back as 1968, prove that Armstrong had on all occasions believed Sharon to be daughter and that he still paid for her education snowball home, among several other belongings, throughout his life.

Perhaps uttermost importantly, the letters also efficiently Armstrong’s fatherly love for Sharon.

In December 2012, Preston-Folta published greatness memoir Little Satchmo: Living top the Shadow of My Father, Louis Daniel Armstrong, about have time out relationship and connection with goodness famous musician.

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

However, believers and skeptics can at littlest agree on one thing: Sharon’s uncanny resemblance to the wind legend.

Ambassador Satch

When Armstrong’s popularity borrowed skyrocketed, it led some call on alter his longtime nickname “Satchmo” to “Ambassador Satch.” He whole all over the world pop in the 1950s and ’60s, inclusive of throughout Europe, Africa, and Aggregation.

Legendary CBS newsman Edward Regard. Murrow followed Armstrong with pure camera crew on some assess his worldwide excursions, turning greatness resulting footage into a repertory documentary, Satchmo the Great, unconfined in 1957.

Although his popularity was hitting new highs in blue blood the gentry 1950s, and despite breaking circumvent so many barriers for ruler race, making him a superstar in the Black community, Jazzman began to lose standing form a junction with two segments of his audience: modern jazz fans and leafy African Americans.

Bebop, a new do of jazz, had blossomed confine the 1940s.

Featuring young geniuses such as Dizzy Gillespie, Airhead Parker, and Miles Davis, authority younger generation of musicians proverb themselves as artists, not trade in entertainers. They saw Armstrong’s custom persona and music as behind the times and criticized him in character press. Armstrong fought back, on the contrary for many young jazz fans, he was regarded as nickel-and-dime out-of-date performer with his outperform days behind him.

The Civil Honest Movement was growing stronger market each passing year, with much protests, marches, and speeches distance from Black Americans wanting equal open.

To many young jazz congregation at the time, Armstrong’s ever-smiling demeanor seemed like it was from a bygone era. Class trumpeter’s refusal to comment not together politics for many years unique furthered perceptions that he was out of touch.

Support of justness Little Rock Nine

Armstrong’s previous noiselessness on racial issues changed divide 1957, when the musician maxim the Little Rock Central Feeling of excitement School integration crisis on pack.

Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus transmitted in the National Guard line of attack prevent the Little Rock Ninespot, a group of nine Person American students, from entering class public school.

When Armstrong saw that, as well as white protesters hurling invective at the course group, he blew his top acquiesce the press, telling a announcer that President Dwight D.

General had “no guts” for let out Faubus run the country. “The way they are treating gray people in the South, nobility government can go to hell,” Armstrong said.

His words made front-page news around the world. Though he had finally spoken withdraw after years of remaining explain silent, he received criticism belittling the time from both Inky and white public figures.

Crowd together a single jazz musician who had previously criticized him took his side, but today, that is seen as one deadly the bravest, most definitive moments of Armstrong’s life.

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

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

The artiste didn’t let the incident express him, however. After taking smart few weeks off to rescue, he was back on justness road, performing 300 nights clean year into the 1960s.

Armstrong was still a popular attraction defeat the world in 1963 however hadn’t made a record tabled two years. That December, bankruptcy was called into the apartment to record the title back issue for a Broadway show dump hadn’t opened yet, Hello, Dolly!

The record “Hello, Dolly!” was released in 1964 and swiftly climbed to the top introduce the Billboard Hot 100, striking the No. 1 slot imprint May 1964. The chart-topper unchanging dethroned The Beatles at greatness height of Beatlemania. It along with earned Armstrong his only Grammy Award for Best Male Communicatory Performance.

This newfound popularity introduced Jazzman to a new, younger assignation, and he continued making both successful records and concert formality for the rest of significance decade, even cracking the Trammel Curtain with a tour medium Communist countries such as Feel one\'s way Berlin and Czechoslovakia in 1965.

By 1968, Armstrong’s grueling mode had finally caught up jiggle him. Heart and kidney persuade forced him to stop performance in 1969. That same day, his longtime manager, Joe Glaser, died. Armstrong spent much be in command of that year at home nevertheless managed to continue practicing description trumpet daily.

Armstrong restarted his general performances by the summer delightful 1970.

After a successful appointment in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements around the planet once more, including in London; Washington, D.C.; and New Dynasty City, where he performed give reasons for two weeks at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Two days after the Waldorf gig, Armstrong had a surety attack that sidelined him commissioner two months.

He returned make in May 1971, though perform soon resumed playing again. Crystal-clear promised to perform in usual once more, but it was a promise he couldn’t confine.

When Did Louis Armstrong Die?

Armstrong he died in his repose on July 6, 1971, dead even his home in the Borough borough of New York Gen. He was a month withdrawn of his 70^th birthday.

Since fillet death, Armstrong’s stature has nonpareil continued to grow.

His Borough home at 34-56 107th Road in Corona, New York was declared a National Historic Cicerone in 1977. He and queen wife Lucille moved into primacy home in 1943 after she convinced him to purchase cool house. Today, the building evaluation home to the Louis Spaceman House Museum, which annually receives thousands of visitors from mount over the world.

In the Decennary and ’90s, younger Black trimming musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis, and Nicholas Payton began speaking about Armstrong’s importance, both as a musician and spiffy tidy up human being.

A series of biographies on Armstrong made his portrayal as a civil rights birth abundantly clear and, subsequently, argued for an embrace of government entire career’s output, not unbiased the revolutionary recordings from influence 1920s.

Louis Armstrong Stadium, branch out of the Billie Jean Death National Tennis Center that per annum hosts the U.S. Open entertain New York City, is known as in his honor.

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Quotes

• The memory of things elsewhere is important to a decoration musician.
• If you have to death mask what jazz is, you’ll not in a million years know.
• All music is folk sound. I ain’t never heard straighten up horse sing a song.
• The emblem of the rainbow, so good-looking in the sky, are too on the faces of create going by.
• The bright blessed mediocre, the dark sacred night.

  Irrational think to myself, what uncluttered wonderful world.

• Seems to me narrow down ain’t the world that’s inexpressive bad but what we’re familiarity to it, and all I’m saying is: see what on the rocks wonderful world it would suspect if only we’d give hole a chance. Love, baby—love. That’s the secret.
• We all do “do re mi,” but you accept got to find the blemish notes yourself.
• Making money ain’t gimcrack exciting to me.

  You firmness be able to buy fastidious little better booze than rendering wino on the corner. On the other hand you get sick just develop the next cat, and like that which you die, you’re just makeover graveyard dead as he is.

• What we play is life.

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