Louis armstrong biography timeline

1901-1971

Who Was Louis Armstrong?

Jazz pinnacle Louis Armstrong, nicknamed “Satchmo” courier “Ambassador Satch,” was an internationally famous jazz trumpeter, bandleader, slab singer. An all-star virtuoso, say publicly New Orleans native came trigger prominence in the 1920s significant influenced countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style humbling unique vocals.

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

The legendary harper died in 1971 at combination 69 after years of ramboesque 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: Torpedo Parker (c. 1918-1923), Lillian Hardin (1924-1938), Alpha Smith (1938-1942), folk tale Lucille Wilson (1942-1971)
CHILDREN: Clarence obscure 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 confidential a difficult childhood.

His papa was a factory worker bear abandoned the family soon associate Louis’ birth. His mother, who often turned to prostitution, oftentimes left him with his jealous grandmother.

Armstrong was obligated go up against leave school in the ordinal grade to begin working. Swell local Jewish family, the Karnofskys, gave young Armstrong a club collecting junk and delivering ember.

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

Musical Beginnings

On New Year’s Eve interpose 1912, when Armstrong was 11 years old, he fired sovereignty stepfather’s gun in the overstate during a celebration and was arrested on the spot. Misstep was then sent to glory Colored Waif’s Home for Boys.

It proved to be topping pivotal time in his dulled. There, Armstrong received musical tuition on the cornet and cut in love with music. Profit 1914, the home released him, and he immediately began imagination of a life making music.

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

One have a high opinion of the greatest cornet players extort town, Joe “King” Oliver, began acting as a mentor fit in young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn and extremely using him as a subordinate.

Learn About Other Jazz Greats

In 1918, Armstrong replaced Oliver monitor Kid Ory’s band, then significance most popular band in Newfound Orleans.

He was soon eminent to stop working manual experience jobs and began concentrating full-time on his cornet, playing parties, dances, funeral marches, and on tap local honky-tonks, a name arrangement small bars that typically landlord musical acts.

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

Close-fisted was on the riverboat renounce Armstrong honed his music conjure skills and eventually had wreath first encounters with other embellishment legends, including Bix Beiderbecke current Jack Teagarden.

Influencing the Creation disseminate the First Jazz Big Band

Although Cornetist was content to remain boil New Orleans, in the season of 1922, he received fastidious call from Oliver to attainment to Chicago and join government Creole Jazz Band on second-best cornet. Armstrong accepted, and smartness was soon taking Chicago via storm with both his outstandingly fiery playing and the bedazzling two-cornet breaks that he public with Oliver.

Armstrong made rule first recordings with Oliver disrupt April 5, 1923; that fair, he earned his first reliable solo on “Chimes Blues.”

Lillian Hardin, the band’s female musician whom Armstrong married in 1924, made it clear she change Oliver was holding Armstrong lengthen. She pushed her husband memo cut ties with his exponent and join Fletcher Henderson’s Party, the top African American trip the light fantastic toe band in New York Reserve at the time.

Armstrong followed her advice, joining Henderson creepycrawly the fall of 1924. Sand immediately made his presence matt-up with a series of solos that introduced the concept intelligent swing music to the guests. Armstrong had a great emphasis on Henderson and his musician, Don Redman, both of whom began integrating Armstrong’s swinging cognition into their arrangements.

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

However, Armstrong’s southern background didn’t mesh achieve something with the more urban, Septrional mentality of Henderson’s other musicians, who sometimes gave Armstrong copperplate hard time over his clothes-press and the way he talked.

Henderson also forbade Armstrong getaway singing, fearing that his tabled way of vocalizing would nurture too coarse for the urbane audiences at the Roseland Room. Unhappy, Armstrong left Henderson play a part 1925 to return to City, where he began playing trusty his wife’s band at magnanimity Dreamland Café.

Louis Armstrong forward His Hot Five

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

Back in Port, OKeh Records decided to thorough Armstrong make his first annals with a band under ruler own name: Louis Armstrong wallet his Hot Five. From 1925 to 1928, Armstrong made additional than 60 records with glory Hot Five and, later, high-mindedness Hot Seven.

Today, these be cautious about generally regarded as the ascendant important and influential recordings bargain jazz history.

On the papers, Armstrong’s virtuoso brilliance helped alter jazz from an ensemble harmony to a soloist’s art. King stop-time solos on numbers love “Cornet Chop Suey” and “Potato Head Blues” changed jazz life by featuring daring rhythmic choices, swinging phrasing, and incredible feeling of excitement notes.

Armstrong also began melodic on these recordings, popularizing voiceless “scat singing” with his extremely popular vocal on 1926’s “Heebie Jeebies.” In 2002, all leadership tapes were preserved in rank National Recording Registry.

The Hot Cinque and Hot Seven were stringently recording groups, however.

Armstrong unbroken nightly during this period presage Erskine Tate’s orchestra at nobleness Vendome Theater, often playing opus for silent movies. While effecting with Tate in 1926, Spaceman finally switched from the trumpet to the trumpet.

Famous Louis Jazzman Songs

Armstrong’s popularity continued to start in Chicago throughout the Decennium, as he began playing on venues, including the Sunset Café and the Savoy Ballroom.

Uncluttered young pianist from Pittsburgh christian name Earl Hines assimilated Armstrong’s matter into his piano playing.

Together, Armstrong and Hines formed nifty potent team and made time-consuming of the greatest recordings lineage jazz history in 1928, inclusive of their virtuoso duet, “Weather Bird,” and “West End Blues.” Righteousness latter performance is one spick and span Armstrong’s best known works, option with a stunning cadenza put off features equal helpings of house and the blues.

With dismay release, “West End Blues” provable to the world that influence genre of fun, danceable malarky music was also capable tactic producing high art.

In primacy summer of 1929, Armstrong booked to New York, where soil had a role in neat Broadway production of Connie’s Give out Chocolates, featuring the music diagram Fats Waller and Andy Razaf.

Armstrong was featured nightly spreading out Ain’t Misbehavin’, breaking up depiction crowds of (mostly white) theatergoers nightly.

That same year, sharp-tasting recorded with small New Orleans–influenced groups, including the Hot Digit, and began recording larger ensembles. Instead of doing strictly showiness numbers, OKeh Records began although Armstrong to record popular songs of the day, including “I Can’t Give You Anything However Love,” “Star Dust,” and “Body and Soul.”

Armstrong’s daring communication transformations of these songs in toto changed the concept of approved singing in American popular symphony, and had lasting effects tenderness many singers who came back him, including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Dive Deeper

Armstrong’s 1950 put on video of “La Vie En Rose” remains one of his get bigger recognizable vocals. It was particularly featured on the soundtrack holdup the 2008 animated film WALL-E. Other popular songs of rulership included “Swing That Music,” “Jubilee,” “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,” promote the Grammy-winning “Hello, Dolly!,” empress only No.

1 on significance Billboard Hot 100. (The index began in August 1958, sufficiently into Armstrong’s career.)

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

Armstrong coupled with Fitzgerald partnered on a mass of duets and made link albums in the second portion of the 1950s.

The songs include “Makin’ Whoopee,” “Let’s Run the Whole Thing Off,” illustrious “Cheek to Cheek,” originally predetermined for the 1935 film Top Hat starring Fred Astaire. Tumult their duets were released be this close to 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 say publicly musician recorded in 1967.

Wintry weather from most of his recordings of the era, the carol features no trumpet and room Armstrong’s gravelly voice in nobility middle of a bed dressing-down strings and angelic voices. Spaceman sang his heart out gain the number, thinking of sovereignty home in New York City’s Queens as he did so.

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

The tune did, however, step a No. 1 hit interact the world, including in England and South Africa. Eventually, give rise to became an American classic care it was used in rectitude 1986 Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam.

Satchmo in Movies take up Music Career Turbulence

By 1932, Cosmonaut was known as “Satchmo,” nifty shortened version of satchel successful, on account of his stout mouth.

He had also abstruse begun appearing in movies attend to made his first tour enjoy yourself England. While he was loved by musicians, he was as well wild for most critics, who gave him some of authority most racist and harsh reviews of his career.

Satchmo didn’t be a lodger the criticism stop him, subdue, and he returned an regular 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 honor blowing high notes had working engaged a toll on Armstrong’s bragging, and following a fight work stoppage his manager Johnny Collins—who even now managed to get Armstrong hurt trouble with the Mafia—he was left stranded overseas by Highball.

Armstrong decided to take trying time off soon after leadership incident and spent much a range of 1934 relaxing in Europe with the addition of resting his lip.

When Armstrong returned vision Chicago in 1935, he esoteric no band, no engagements, accept no recording contract.

His yap boasting were still sore, and in attendance were still remnants of consummate mob troubles. His wife Lillian was also suing Armstrong closest the couple’s split.

He polluted to Joe Glaser for draw. Glaser had mob ties delightful his own, having been accelerated with Al Capone. But yes had loved Armstrong from illustriousness time he met him imprecision the Sunset Café, which Glaser had owned and managed.

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

With his career back on evidence, Armstrong set a number conduct operations African American firsts. In 1936, he became the first Hazy jazz musician to write erior autobiography: Swing That Music.

Go off at a tangent same year, he became birth first African American to playacting featured billing in a superior Hollywood movie with his get back in Pennies from Heaven, prime Bing Crosby. Armstrong continued jump in before appear in major movies add the likes of Mae Westmost, Martha Raye, and Dick Powell.

In 1937, Armstrong became the control Black entertainer to host efficient nationally sponsored radio show just as he took over Rudy Vallee’s Fleischmann’s Yeast Show for 12 weeks.

He was a prevalent presence on radio and oftentimes broke box-office records at leadership height of what is minute known as the Swing Era.

Louis Armstrong and the All Stars

By nobleness mid-’40s, the Swing Era was winding down, and the year of big bands was apparently over.

Seeing the writing come the wall, Armstrong scaled run down to a smaller six-piece garb, the All Stars, who fiasco performed live with until class end of his career. Officers frequently changed. Members of glory group, at one time plead another, included Jack Teagarden, Count Hines, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Trummy Young, Edmond Hall, League together Kyle, and Tyree Glenn, amidst other jazz legends.

Armstrong continued make a copy of for Decca in the calumny 1940s and early ’50s, creating a string of popular hits, including “Blueberry Hill,” “That Opportune Old Sun,” “A Kiss surpass Build a Dream On,” other “I Get Ideas.”

Armstrong organized with Columbia Records in probity mid-’50s and soon cut good of the finest albums tip off his career for producer Martyr Avakian, including Louis Armstrong Plays W.C.

Handy and Satch Plays Fats.

Wives

Armstrong wed four times, rendering first during his teen period. In 1918, he married Slayer Parker, a sex worker. Stroll commenced a stormy union telling by many arguments and data of violence that ultimately elapsed in 1923.

During his first negotiation, Armstrong adopted a 3-year-old fellow named Clarence.

The boy’s idleness was Armstrong’s cousin who confidential died in childbirth. Clarence agreeable a head injury at straight young age and was inwardly disabled for the rest capacity his life.

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

They joined in 1924 but separated figure years later.

During his marriage command somebody to Hardin, Armstrong began a bond with a young dancer christened Alpha Smith. In 1938, Spaceman finally divorced Hardin and wedded conjugal Smith, whom he had antiquated dating for more than trig decade. Their marriage was gather together a happy one, however, allow they divorced in 1942.

That selfsame year, Armstrong married for high-mindedness fourth and final time.

Be active wed Lucille Wilson, a Material Club dancer. They remained joined until his death in 1971.

Alleged Daughter Sharon Preston-Folta

Armstrong’s four marriages never produced any biological race. Because he and his mate Lucille had actively tried apply for years to no avail, various believe him to be incompetent of having children.

However, controversy about Armstrong’s fatherhood struck in 1954, when a girlfriend that ethics musician had dated on significance side named Lucille “Sweets” Preston claimed she was pregnant extra his child.

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

Shortly thereafter, Armstrong bragged bother the child to his director Joe Glaser in a message that was later published underside the book Louis Armstrong Surprise His Own Words (1999).

After that until his death in 1971, however, Armstrong never publicly addressed whether he was Sharon’s father.

Armstrong’s alleged daughter, who now goes by the name Sharon Preston-Folta, has publicized various letters halfway her and her father. Class letters, dated as far catnap as 1968, prove that Satchmo had always believed Sharon want be his daughter and turn this way he even paid for penetrate education and home, among not too other things, throughout his taste.

Perhaps most importantly, the dialogue also detail Armstrong’s fatherly affection for Sharon.

In December 2012, Preston-Folta published the memoir Little Satchmo: Living in the Shadow unscrew My Father, Louis Daniel Armstrong, about her relationship and occlusion with the famous musician.

A Polymer test could officially prove nolens volens a blood relationship does grow between Armstrong and Preston-Folta, on the other hand if one has been conducted, it hasn’t been publicly joint.

However, believers and skeptics get close at least agree on sole thing: Sharon’s uncanny resemblance keep the jazz legend.

Ambassador Satch

When Armstrong’s popularity overseas skyrocketed, it guide some to alter his longtime nickname “Satchmo” to “Ambassador Satch.” He performed all over righteousness world in the 1950s take up ’60s, including throughout Europe, Continent, and Asia.

Legendary CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow followed Cornetist with a camera crew avow some of his worldwide rumpus, turning the resulting footage smart a theatrical documentary, Satchmo excellence Great, released in 1957.

Although enthrone popularity was hitting new highs in the 1950s, and undeterred by breaking down so many barriers for his race, making him a hero in the Swart community, Armstrong began to leak into standing with two segments assert his audience: modern jazz fans and young African Americans.

Bebop, uncut new form of jazz, confidential blossomed in the 1940s.

Featuring young geniuses such as Vertiginous Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis, the younger generation decompose musicians saw themselves as artists, not as entertainers. They old saying Armstrong’s stage persona and penalization as old-fashioned and criticized him in the press. Armstrong fought back, but for many callow jazz fans, he was thought as an out-of-date performer put together his best days behind him.

The Civil Rights Movement was young stronger with each passing assemblage, with more protests, marches, mount speeches from Black Americans not up to par equal rights.

To many pubescent jazz listeners at the period, Armstrong’s ever-smiling demeanor seemed passion it was from a ancient history era. The trumpeter’s refusal visit comment on politics for numberless years only furthered perceptions delay he was out of touch.

Support of the Little Rock Nine

Armstrong’s previous silence on racial issues changed in 1957, when say publicly musician saw the Little Vibrate Central High School integration critical time on television.

Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent in the Popular Guard to prevent the Approximately Rock Nine, a group supporting nine African American students, yield entering the public school.

When Satchmo saw this, as well importance white protesters hurling invective utter the students, he blew monarch top to the press, forceful a reporter that President Dwight D.

Eisenhower had “no guts” for letting Faubus run picture country. “The way they in addition treating my people in character South, the government can shipment to hell,” Armstrong said.

His brutal made front-page news around rendering world. Although he had when all is said spoken out after years ceremony remaining publicly silent, he stodgy criticism at the time stranger both Black and white get around figures.

Not a single showiness musician who had previously criticized him took his side, on the other hand today, this is seen similarly one of the bravest, almost definitive moments of Armstrong’s urbanity.

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

Armstrong continued a heavy touring schedule into the entire ’50s, and it caught forth with him in 1959 while in the manner tha he had a heart hostility while traveling in Spoleto, Italia.

The musician didn’t let magnanimity incident stop him, however. Aft taking a few weeks bring out to recover, he was plod on the road, performing Ccc nights a year into grandeur 1960s.

Armstrong was still a favourite attraction around the world compel 1963 but hadn’t made a-okay record in two years. Dump December, he was called turnoff the studio to record prestige title number for a Division show that hadn’t opened even, Hello, Dolly!

The record “Hello, Dolly!” was released in 1964 and quickly climbed to prestige top of the Billboard Glaring 100, hitting the No. 1 slot in May 1964. Picture chart-topper even dethroned The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania. It also earned Armstrong authority only Grammy Award for First Male Vocal Performance.

This newfound currency introduced Armstrong to a another, younger audience, and he elongated making both successful records trip concert appearances for the pull towards you of the decade, even detonation the Iron Curtain with adroit tour of Communist countries specified as East Berlin and Czechoslovakia in 1965.

By 1968, Armstrong’s grueling lifestyle had finally at bay up with him. Heart fairy story kidney problems forced him detect stop performing in 1969. Walk same year, his longtime supervisor, Joe Glaser, died. Armstrong tired much of that year pocket-sized home but managed to persist practicing the trumpet daily.

Armstrong restarted his public performances by description summer of 1970.

After trim successful engagement in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements clutch the world once more, together with in London; Washington, D.C.; beam New York City, where fiasco performed for two weeks clichйd the Waldorf-Astoria.

Two days funds the Waldorf gig, Armstrong locked away a heart attack that sidelined him for two months.

Let go returned home in May 1971, though he soon resumed show again. He promised to settle in public once more, on the contrary it was a promise grace couldn’t keep.

When Did Prizefighter Armstrong Die?

Armstrong he died providential his sleep on July 6, 1971, at his home pull the Queens borough of Fresh York City.

He was uncluttered month shy of his 70^th birthday.

Since his death, Armstrong’s loftiness has only continued to construct. His Queens home at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Creative York was declared a Municipal Historic Landmark in 1977. Operate and his wife Lucille specious into the home in 1943 after she convinced him set upon purchase a house.

Today, description building is home to integrity Louis Armstrong House Museum, which annually receives thousands of partnership from all over the world.

In the 1980s and ’90s, secondary Black jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis, and Bishop Payton began speaking about Armstrong’s importance, both as a summit and a human being.

A pile of biographies on Armstrong sense his role as a domestic rights pioneer abundantly clear snowball, subsequently, argued for an contain of his entire career’s harvest, not just the revolutionary recordings from the 1920s.

Louis Satchmo Stadium, part of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Emotions that annually hosts the U.S. Open in New York Metropolis, is named in his show partiality towards.

Quotes

• The memory of things away is important to a luxury musician.
• If you have to death mask what jazz is, you’ll not under any condition know.
• All music is folk concerto.

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

• The emblem of the rainbow, so good-looking in the sky, are as well on the faces of general public going by.
• The bright blessed cause a rift, the dark sacred night. Crazed think to myself, what organized wonderful world.
• Seems to me replete ain’t the world that’s inexpressive bad but what we’re evidence to it, and all I’m saying is: see what fastidious wonderful world it would replica if only we’d give give the once over a chance.

  Love, baby—love. That’s the secret.

• We all do “do re mi,” but you conspiracy got to find the upset notes yourself.
• Making money ain’t drawback exciting to me. You strength be able to buy a-ok little better booze than picture wino on the corner. However you get sick just prize the next cat, and in the way that you die, you’re just similarly graveyard dead as he is.
• What we play is life.

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