Louis Armstrong

The Founding Father of Jazz

Present by Penny Chang

a.k.a. one cent

Quick Facts
Name: Louis Armstrong Nickname: Satchmo Occupation: Singer, Trumpet Player Birth Date: August 4th, 1901 Death Date: July 6th, 1971 Education: Fisk School for Boys Place of Birth: New Orleans, Lousiana Place of Death: New York, New York

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong.

Best Known for

Louis Armstrong was a trumpeter, bandleader, singer, soloist, film star, and comedian. He is considered one of the most influential artists in jazz history, and he taught the world to SWING.

Louis Armstrong

Nicknames
Louie Armstrong Satchmo, or Satch are short for Satchelmouth When Armstrong was a young boy dancing for pennies in the streets of New Orleans, he would scoop up the coins off the streets and stick them into his mouth to avoid having the bigger children steal them from him. Someone dubbed him satchel mouth for his mouth acting as a satchel. Another tale said that was because he had a big mouth.
Louis Armstrong

Early Life of Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was born into a very poor family, and he spent his youth in poverty. As a child he worked at odd jobs and sang in a boys quartet. In 1912, he fired a pistol in the street to celebrate New Years Eve. A nearby policeman arrests him and the next day, he is confined to the Colored Waifs Home for Boys as a juvenile delinquent.
Louis Armstrong

Early Life of Louis Armstrong

There he learned to play cornet in the homes band, and eventually became leader of the band. After released from the Waifs Home in 1914, Joe Oliver, one of the finest trumpet players in New Orleans, became Louis teacher and mentor.

Louis Armstrong

Early Life of Louis Armstrong

In 1918, Joe Oliver decided to move to Chicago, and Louis replaced him in Kid Orys Band. He also became the second trumpet for the Tuxedo Brass Band, a society band. In 1922, Louis moved to Chicago and played second cornet in the band of Joe Oliver. In 1923, Louis made his first recording as a member of King Olivers Creole Jazz Band.
Louis Armstrong

Early Life of Louis Armstrong

In 1924, Louis moved to NY, but he returned to Chicago in 1925. After moving back to Chicago, Louis made his first recordings as a leader of his own group, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five.

Louis Armstrong

Importance of Armstrong
Wowing audiences with the utter fearlessness and freedom of his groundbreaking trumpet solos. One of the inventors of scat singing. His scat singing transformed vocal tradition and musicians studied his recordings to hear what a horn could do. It has been said that Armstrong used his horn like a singers voice and used his voice like a musical instrument.
Louis Armstrong

Importance of Armstrong
One of the most significant artists by the late 1930s. His music has had a major effect on swing and the big band sound. The greatest of all Jazz musicians. He defined what it was to play Jazz.

If you have to ask what Jazz is, youll never know. -Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong

Armstrong and Race

Armstrong was largely accepted into white society. For many years, Armstrong kept silence on the issues of race. He never marched or made appearances with civil rights leaders. When criticized for not taking any public stand, he would simply reply, I dont get involved in politics. I just blow my horn.
Louis Armstrong

Armstrong and Race

Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in civil rights movement. Few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out. President Eisenhower called him two-faced and gutless because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news.
Louis Armstrong

Armstrong and Race

As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people. The FBI kept a file on Armstrong, for outspokenness about integration.

Louis Armstrong

Harlem Renaissance
Proclaimed in a collection of prophetic black tracts and manifestos, and distinguished by the iconic bodies. It was a cultural and psychological watershed, an era in which black people were finally liberating themselves from a past fraught with self-doubt to an unprecedented optimism. Louis Armstrong was one of the great black artists who appeared during this cultural movement in that era.
Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrongs Achievements

Was widely recognized as a founding father of jazz- a uniquely American art form. Developed a way of playing jazz, as an instrumentalist and a vocalist, which has had an impact on all musicians to follow. Recorded hit songs for five decades, and his music is still heard today on TV and radio and films.
Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrongs Achievements

Wrote two autobiographies, more than ten magazine articles, hundreds of pages of memoirs, and thousands of letters. Appeared in more than thirty films as a gifted actor with superb comic timing and an unabashed joy of life.

Louis Armstrong

Armstrongs Famous Songs

1. Hello Dolly! His biggest-selling record. The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong (age 63) the oldest person who ever accomplished that feat. This song beat The Beatles from the #1 position which they occupied for 14 weeks.

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Armstrongs Famous Songs

2. What a wonderful world His one last popular hit song. Topped the British charts for a month.

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrongs autograph

Louis Armstrong

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/louis_armstrong (Wikipedia) www.redhotjazz.com (Red Hot Jazz Archive) http://www.biography.com/people/louis-armstrong9188912 (famous biographies & TV shows biography.com) www.louisarmstronghouse.org (Louis Armstrong house museum) http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/armstrong/ (National Portrait Gallery)

Louis Armstrong

References
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_armstron g_louis.htm (PBS-JAZZ) http://michaelminn.net/armstrong/index.php (The Louis Armstrong Discography) Hello Dolly video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmfeKUNDDYs (Youtube) What a wonderful world video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2VCwBzGdPM (Youtube)

Louis Armstrong

References-Images
http://www.spclarke.com/?page_id=137 http://theseconddisc.com/2011/07/13/hellolouis-massive-10-cd-armstrong-box-coming-fromuniversal/ http://www.frenchcreoles.com/MusicEvents/loui s%20armstrong/louis%20armstrong.htm http://mcgonnigle.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/h ot-five-bismark-and-bix/ http://www.wikipedia.org http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-armstrong
Louis Armstrong