by Maurice Sassoon

Created on: October 24, 2008

Louis Armstrong was the greatest jazz trumpeter that ever lived. He is credited for developing the Negro music of New Orleans into an art form that became famous all over the world. He was born in New Orleans on July 4, 1900. His father deserted the family when Louis was a child because of which, he grew up in extreme poverty. While still a child, he had to support his mother, sister and himself by singing on the streets of New Orleans for pennies, and by doing other odd jobs. At the age of 13 he was sent to a boys' home where he met Peter Davis who taught him to play the bugle and the cornet. He later became a member of a boys' home band and played at funerals, picnics and social gatherings. After a year and a half, he left the boys' home. The only schooling he had was equivalent to a 5th grade education.

Armstrong worked as a junkman and sold coal in order to support himself, but in the meantime, he seized every opportunity to continue to play in small, local bands. Around this time, while he was with Fate Marable's band on the Mississippi river boat, Sidney, he was taught to read music by one of the players. At the age of 22, he became second cornetist in "King" Oliver's famous jazz band in Chicago, at which time, he made his first recordings. A pianist in that band, by the name of Lilian Hardin who was a trained musician, gave him his first real musical education. They were married in 1924. She was his source of inspiration and was instrumental in getting him to make considerable headway in music. She advised him to leave the band and join the Fletcher Henderson orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, where he was introduced to many professional musicians from whom he gathered a great deal of knowledge and experience.

In 1925, Louis Armstrong returned to Chicago where he gave up playing the cornet and concentrate on playing the trumpet, in which he excelled. At this time, he began making records under his own name. By the year 1929, he was world famous, and in 1932, he toured Europe. While he was in London, a music magazine editor nicknamed him "Satchmo," which was a garbled version of his earlier nickname, "Satchelmouth."

During the next 30 years, Armstrong made extensive tours of Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, South America, and Africa, where he was highly regarded and enthusiastically received. He remarked that he felt "at home" in Africa. Nobody, not even Armstrong himself, knew how many recordings he made. It is estimated that the number is about 1,500, many of which have become rare, collectors' items. He died in New York, in July, 1971. A jazz museum was built in New Orleans, around the remains of the shack where he was born.

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