Louis Armstrong: The early years
Louis Armstrong smoking a cigarette.
Born on August 4th, 1901 to the parents of William Armstrong and Mary "Mayann" Albert in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father William, abandoned their family for another woman which led to Mary leaving Louis and his sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins in the care of their grandmother Josephine Armstrong and his uncle Issac. growing up in the rough "back of the town" meant that Armstrong had to battle the troubles that came with the rugged streets. At the age of 11 he met Bunk Johnson who taught him how to play the trumpet by ear. Though his childhood wasn't the best situation in an interview for a biography on his life Armstrong said, "Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine-- I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans.. It has given me something to live for." Louis went on to become one of the most influential trumpet player in jazz music, being an inspiration to many up and coming jazz trumpeters. Unfortunately everyone has an amount of time here on this planet and Armstrong's death came in 1971 on July 6th when he suffered from a heart attack in his sleep.
Armstrong's Career
Louis Armstrong in process of singing on stage.
When he started to perform at small gigs around New Orleans, his style and talent was picked up by an interested Joe "King" Oliver who became Armstrong's mentor. Oliver was at the time playing in his own Creole Jazz Band, he invited Louis to join the group in Chicago in 1922 and Louis decided it was a good decision. Louis played in the band for a few years, but from advice from his second wife Lil Hardin Armstrong, he decided to go off on his own way to shape his own style without the influence of Oliver's own style. He started to play church concerts and performing in Fletcher Henderson's band in many recordings to broaden his style of music. Armstrong continued to play in Fletcher's Orchestra and developed a more tight style that set forth the accented solos that we hear today. Louis constantly adapted his tone and style to the type of music he was playing. As well as being talented on the trumpet Louis also had a signature raspy voice that caught many a listeners ears. He had big influence in scat music as well, being one of the first people to incorporate it into their music. He wrote many hit songs but none compare to his his song "What a Wonderful World", and his rendition of "Mack The Knife". In a follow up rendition of his hit song "What a Wonderful World", Louis says that although there are wars and pollution in the world, the world itself is still wonderful but it is what we as a whole are doing to the world. "Some of you young folks been saying to me," Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That ain't so wonderful either."
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