Essay On Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong or frequently called pops, satchmo, and dipper had a far from normal life. Louis was born August 4, 1901, in New Orleans Louisiana he was a son of Mary Albert and William Armstrong. Louis did not grow up wealthy, in fact the place where he lived was nicknamed the battlefield. His dad a factory worker and left soon after Louis was born. His mom who was regularly found on the corner as a prostitute usually left Louis with his grandmother. Louis only made it to the 5th grade before he was made to drop out and begin working as a man. A Jewish family gave Louis a job picking garbe and collecting coal. He then found out really soon that was not what he wanted to do the rest of his life.
One new year's eve Louis got in a bit of trouble
with the law. He was arrested and sent to Colored Waif’s Home for Boys. At this place he found out what a cornet, by taking an musical class, and fell in love with it. Two years later he returned home and went back to doing odd jobs living week to week. As he was at these jobs working he would often sit there and daydream about being a full time musician. Louis was playing his cornet here and there and some different places, then he met Joe “King” Oliver. Joe acted like Louis mentor and when Joe was unavailable they would call Louis and have him be a substitute.
By the time Louis was 17 he was married to Ms. Daisy Parker. During that time they adopted a three year old boy named Clarence. Clarence’s mom or Louis’s cousin died in birth and that's how Louis got to adopt him. As the days went on Louis earning a good reputation. He then joined Kid Ory’s band at the time the most popular band in New Orleans. When he joined this band he replaced Joe the King. He could now finally quit all of his other manual labor jobs to go full time with his new band. He played all over for parties, funerals, dances, and local “Honky Tonks.” In 1919 Louis went on to perform on riverboats and a better opportunity. He was with a new band and it was led by Fate Marable. On this riverboat it was his first time encountering a big name musician, including Bix Beiderbecke, and Jack Teagarden.
In the summer of 1922 he received an invitation from King Oliver to go to chicago and perform in his Creole Jazz band.
Of course Louis accepted this invitation and was quickly taking over Chicago. In Chicago he made his very first recording and it was called Chimes Blues. While in Chicago he got himself a new wife her name was Lilian Hardin. Lilian thought that Oliver was really holding back Louis’s potential and she convinced him to cut all ties with him and to join John Fletcher's orchestra. Louis pretty much turned this orchestra into one giant jazz band and everyone loved it. However one thing that did not mix well was that Louis was from the south and he acted like it. A Lot of his friends in New York would pick on him on the way he dressed and how he talked and they would never let him sing.
While in New York he made many songs by himself. Until OKeh let Armstrong make his own music with a band under his own name. From the time 1925 to 1928 him and his band had produced over 60 records. Today these records are recognized as some of the most important and influential recordings in jazz like cornet chop suey, and Potato head blues. Armstrong died in 1971 and left one heck of a legacy behind him he did a tremendous job on shaping and forming jazz as we know
it.