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Louis Armstrong | |
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Born: August 4, 1901 Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana Instrument: Trumpet, Vocalist Music Training: Peter Davis at the Colored Waif's Home for Boys Bands and Orchestras: Fate Marable, Kid Ory's Band, Joe "King" Oliver Signature Song: "Hello Dolly" Louis Armstrong biography: Undoubtedly the most influential musician of the jazz age. A product of one of the poorest sections of New Orleans, his technical ability, spontaneity and inventive musical mind would help define what Jazz music was all about. He earned the nickname "Satchmo" for his satchel sized mouth. He worked as a child to help support his family including singing on street corners. At the age of 7 he bought his first musical instrument a cornet. In 1923 he fired off a borrowed pistol into the air on New Year's Eve which got him arrested and sentenced to a home for wayward children. There he got his first formal music training. After that he earned his living playing in small pickup bands mostly with Joe "King" Oliver. Oliver was one of a handful of local musicians responsible for combining the Blues, Dixie and Ragtime into a new music form, Jazz. His popularity exploded when he and Oliver moved to Chicago and finally on to New York City where he was influential on bandleader Fletcher Henderson. He returrned to Chicago in 1926 becoming a headliner on radio, records and in Jazz clubs. He became famous for his free style of playing and singing. In 1929 he returned to New York to headline at Connie's Inn in Harlem. In 1930 he moved to Los Angeles, CA where he fronted his own band moving back to Chicago the following year to assemble his own touring band. In 1931 he returned to New Orleans to rejoin "King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. In 1932 he returned to California before leaving for England where he was a great success. For the next 3 years he crisscrossed the the U.S. and Europe playing in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland and England. After returning to the U.S. in 1935 he hired former Al Capone associate Joe Glaser as his manager. This proved to be an outstanding move on his part as Glaser proved adept at running the business end of the relationship leaving the entertaining to "Satchmo." Glaser hired the Luis Russell Orchestra, which was composed of many former "King" Oliver musicians, which he renamed Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra to back up "Satchmo." Armstrong continued to tour with the band for the next 10 years. By the late 40s the public's music tastes were moving away from big band Jazz and Swing to a new form of small intimate Jazz known as bebop as well as a Dixieland Jazz revival. Seeing the shift in tastes Glaser fired the orchestra and put together a small intimate band known as the Louis Armstrong Allstars which became one of the most successful bands in history. The group featured some of the great names of the Jazz world like Jack Teagarden, Sidney Catlett, Barney Bigard and Earl Hines. The group was so popular that on its world tours Armstrong became known as an American goodwill ambassador. In 1963 he scored a huge international hit with his version of "Hello Dolly." In 1968 he had another major hit with "What A Wonderful Life." After this his health began to fail and he died in his sleep at his home in Queens, NY. Died: July 6th 1971
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