Why Is Louis Armstrong Important

Louis Armstrong has always had a love for music. He attended Fisk School for Boys, where he had exposure to music. Although he dropped out of school at the age of eleven, he didn’t end his musical career. Armstrong preformed with many musicians including, Joe “King” Oliver, who acted as a father figure and mentor for the young inspiring musician. Eventually, Joe “King” Oliver soon became upset with the fact that Armstrong began to over play him during many of their performances. Much related to many events in history when the person under an apprenticeship soon becomes better and stronger than their teacher. Louis Armstrong nicknamed “Satchmo”, “Pops”, and then later “Ambassador Satch’ was born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The family also encouraged young Armstrong to begin singing. Soon Armstrong began to find himself in a whirl wind of trouble.
On New Year’s Eve in 1912, Armstrong fired a gun into the air at a celebration and was arrested immediately. He was sent to a home for boys named, Colored Waif’s Home for Boys. There he got his feet with musical instrument the cornet and began to fall in love with music. In 1914, he was released from the home, and he immediately began to dream of making music and becoming a professional jazz musician. Although, he still had other various side jobs such as selling newspapers and hauling coal to the city’s famed red-light district, he began to earning himself a reputation of as a fine blues player. Around that time one of the greatest cornet players around, Joe “King” Oliver, began acting as a mentor to the, at the time, young Louis Armstrong. Armstrong even saw Oliver as a father figure and began to call him “Papa Joe”. Oliver showed Armstrong pointers on the horn such as: the regular harmonic experience of playing second and most importantly the importance of playing straight lead in “whole notes”. The lessons “King” taught Armstrong were some of the most important lessons he would ever learn and would never forget. Although Oliver occasionally used him as a sub for/during performances, Armstrong
Armstrong’s work from the early 1930s should be credited way more than it is. With outstanding rarely heard recordings form this time include: I’m a Ding Dong Daddy from 1930, along with Shine, Lazy River, I Surrender Dear, Star Dust and Sweethearts on Parade from 1931. Armstrong relentlessly pushed forward to keeping building his fame and status, and despite the Great Depression, and charges for marijuana possession (in 1931), failed to harm his viable prospects and popular appearance. Armstrong traveled to Los Angeles at the start of the decade, where he lived briefly, and charming Hollywood just as he had New Orleans and