LOUIS ARMSTRONG 1900-1971

              The time was New Year’s Eve of 1913. The place was New Orleans, Louisiana. A boy of 13 pulled a gun from his shirt. He fired six shots into the air. He and his companions continued to laugh and sing as they walked along. Then the boy reloaded his gun and prepared to fire again. Suddenly a stranger came up behind him. His companions ran and the boy quickly turned around. A po­lice detective stood behind him. The boy pleaded with the man, but it was of no use. He had to spend the night in jail and the next year in an orphan’s home for boys. Years later that same boy-now a man looked back on that holiday celebration as one of the most important events in his life. For it he had taught him to play the trumpet.

              The man was Daniel Louis Armstrong, a gi­ant among American jazz musicians. To most people he was just “Satchmo”, a name he received by accident, when a British newspaper editor misunderstood the name, “satchel-mouth”, originally given to him be­cause of his large, laughing mouth. But what ever he was called, his trumpet, his gravel-voice, and his ever-present white handker­chief endeared Louis Armstrong to millions the world over.

              Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1900. His father worked in a tur pentine plant and his mother was a domestic serv­ant. By the time Louis was five, his parents had separated and his life-never an easy one-soon became even more difficult. At times he lived with his grandmother, at others with his mother. As a member of a strolling side­walk quartet he often sang for pennies in the streets of New Orleans. Even as a child he showed musical interests. Frequently he listened to the bands that played outside the neighbourhood cafes. And then came New Year’s Eve of 1913. His life as a musician began at the Orphan’s Home for Boys. He was invited to join the school band. At first, Louis played the tambourine and the drums. Soon he became playing the bugle. Finally he tried the cornet. Within a few weeks the eager, young musician was leading the brass band. “It was sure the greatest thing that ever happened to me”, Armstrong said lat­er. “Me and music got married at the Home”.

              After one year at the Home, Louis was still too young to play his horn professionally. And so in order to support himself coal, ran errands, and sold newspapers. As payment for the errands he ran for Mrs Joe Oliver, “her husband, King” Oliver* gave Louis mu­sic lessons.

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*Oliver Joseph, called King (1895-1938) — American jazz mu­sician.

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              Oliver was a great jazz cornetist and the leader of the famous Creole Jazz Band. Soon, however, Oliver moved to Chi­cago. Louis stayed behind in New Orleans band for three years, Louis played with Fate Marable’s band on a Mississippi river boat. Then he wrote songs and learned the ways of the world of music. And then in 1922, Oliver asked Louis to join him in Chicago. Many consider their brief associative during those next two years as one of the epochal moments in American jazz history.

               In 1924 Louis joined Fletcher Henderson’s* orchestra in the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

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* Henderson, Fletcher (1898-1952) — American pianist and bandleader.

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              For the first time, he found him­self with musicians who had been educated in a music school. With Henderson’s orches­tra, Louis improved his skills on the trum­pet (to which he switched in 1925) and made several classic recordings with the great blues singer, Bessie Smith*.

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* Smith, Bessi, in full Elizabeth (1894 or 1898—1937)— Amer­ican singer

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             During the same period, he also invented “scat” singing, us­ing his voice to sing wordless variations on the melody.

             In 1925, Armstrong returned to Chicago where he recorded a series of jazz classics with his “Hot Fire” and “Hot Seven” bands. These recording soon earned him a world­wide reputation and a position as the un­challenged leader of the world of jazz.

             Because of Satchmo, the style of jazz changed. Not only did his influence bring about a new rhythmic freedom for the per­former, but the accent in a jazz perform­ance was now on the soloist instead of on the group. This influence lasted for many years, extending even into the “cool” jazz of the 1950s and early 1960s.

             Armstrong’s achievements as an ambassa­dor of American culture are well-known. In 1932, he made his first trip abroad to Lon­don. There, during a performance for King George VI Satch displayed his lively per­sonality and his unaffected style to the start of a hot trumpet tune, he announced the dedication of her trumpet solo to the King by saying simply. “This one’s for you, Rex!”

            During the summer and winter of 1933, Armstrong travelled in Scandinavia, Hol­land, Berlin, France and Italy. After World War II, his travels took him all over the world — notably to Japan in 1954, to Afri­ca in I960, and to Eastern Europe in 1965. In East Berlin, he received one of the great­est receptions ever for a popular entertain­er there. In Budapest 91,000 people gath­ered to hear “Ambassador Satch” play his horn.

             Armstrong’s contributions to the develop­ment of American jazz were little short of monumental. His fellow musicians have described them best. According to Dizzi Gillespie*, “Never before in the history of black music has one individual so complete­ly dominated an art form as the Master, Daniel Louis Armstrong.

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* Smith Gillespie, John Birks, known as Dizzi (1917-1993) — Ameri­can jazz musician.

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              His style was equally copied by saxophonists, trumpet players, pianists and all of the instrumen­talists who make up the jazz picture”. But perhaps the most memorable tribute came from Duke Ellington*, himself a great jazz artist: “It anybody was Mr Jazz it was Lou­is Armstrong. He was the epitome of jazz and always be. He is what I call an Ameri­can standard, an American original.”

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* Ellingtone, Edward Kennedy (Duke) (1899-1974) — Ameri­can jazz musician and piano player.

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             In short, Satchmo revolutionized jazz. Be­came of his peculiar genius, the classic mu­sic of black American became music of all Americans. Finally there was Louis Arm­strong, the man. Although wealthy, Arm­strong lived a comparatively simple life. His home in Queens, Long Island, was a small house in the working man’s section of the city. Its plain appearance was surprising for a person of Armstrong’s financial position. And yet his home reflected the simple qual­ities of a man who was a friend to his neighbours and a favourite with the children in his neighbourhood.

            Similarly, his generosity was often quiet and unassuming. In addition to his concern for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Louis gave generously to the Home for Boys of his early childhood. He also helped many other individuals. According to Ebony magazine, the widow of an old-time musician friend re­ceived $50 a week for year from Armstrong. Louis escaped from the poverty of his child­hood, but he never forget others. Making people happy, whether as a musical or as a friend, was a hallmark of Sathcmo’s life. In his own words, “A man’s satisfaction in better than all the dough in the world”.

            Armstrong’s music, which the French called “le jazz hot,” inspired musicians from around the world. Whether in Europe, Af­rica, South America, or Asia, one can still hear the off beat Armstrong style influenc­ing its music of jazz, blues, or soul.

            When Louis Armstrong died peacefully in his sleep, June 6, 1971, tributes came from all over the world. The audience for his music was global; his influence is timeless.