Louis Armstrong




Louis Armstrong nowadays is known for his rough voice and trumpet playing. But really that underrates him far too much. He was and is still regarded as the greatest jazz artist of all time. He brought the concept of jazz to a new level and for the first time the 'black' music became one of the most popular genres in all of the music industry.

Born into a poor family living in New Orleans he had a rough childhood. So rough that his home town was called “The Battlefield.” However from a young age Louis excelled in the area of music and while attending the Coloured Waif’s Home for Boys he developed a passion for playing the cornet. This mere hobby led to him being mentored by the famous Joe “King” Oliver, who was a hugely talented cornet player in New Orleans.

Louis Armstrong's style influences ended up creating the first recognised big jazz band. This was in New York's Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra. However Louis didn't feel at home in the big city, so returned to Chicago. And it was there the magic happened.

Armstrong's career had just begun, and it wasn't long before he made his own band known at the Hot Five. Together they cut more than 60 of the most influential jazz records of all time.

It was here that Louis single-handedly transformed jazz from being a group art, to a soloist's art too. Swinging rhythms, scat-singing and high pitched solo notes reached by the trumpet and other instruments are now what jazz is all about.

When Louis started singing scat, he was quickly nicknamed Satchmo, which is an abbreviation of 'satchelmouth' which was as a joke made because of the size of his mouth.

 

Improvisation is now the main ingredient to the creation of jazz songs. This is where the performer plays around with the melody, making up the notes he plays on the spot. It's amazing and really does make you want to cheer.

Here's a video of Louis Armstrong doing everything he in known for, improvisation on trumpet, scat singing and just grooving. I love this song so much that I actually learned how to play it on the piano.