Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901{{ref|birthday}} – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nicknames Satchmo and Pops) was an American jazz musician. Probably the most famous jazz musician of the 20th century, Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose musical skills and bright personality transformed jazz from a rough regional dance music into a popular art form. Armstrong first achieved fame as a trumpeter, but was also one of the most influential jazz singers, and towards the end of his career was best known as a vocalist.

Early life

Armstrong was born to a poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana. His youth was spent in poverty in a rough neighborhood of uptown New Orleans. He first learned to play cornet in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent after firing a pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration. He followed the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, and above all Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and almost a father figure to young Armstrong. Armstrong later played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and first started traveling with the well regarded band of Fate Marable which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River; he described his time with Marable as "going to the University" since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements. When Joe Oliver left town in 1919, Armstrong took Oliver's place in Kid Ory's band, regarded as the top hot jazz band in the city.

Related Topics:
New Orleans, Louisiana - Cornet - Pistol - New Year's Eve - Brass band - Bunk Johnson - Buddy Petit - Joe "King" Oliver - Fate Marable - Mississippi River - Arrangement - 1919 - Kid Ory

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