Biography of Louis Armstrong and Analysis of His Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings
Louis Armstrong
“The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings”
Louis Armstrong
Courtesy of
Sony Music Entertainment
“Little Louis” Armstrong was born — like so many who shaped American music — poor, black, and on the far side of the American Dream. His date of birth was August 4, 1901, although he believed that he was born on the Fourth of July, 1900. He never knew his father, who abandoned the family when Armstrong was an infant, and his mother, Maryann, worked at whatever jobs she could find, including prostitution. He grew up in Storyville, the violent red light district of the Crescent City, and learned about life from the pimps, gamblers, prostitutes, thieves, and other denizens of the streets who inhabited his childhood world. He went to the Fisk School for Boys, the same school that Buddy Bolden, the man credited with inventing jazz, had attended. He stayed in school until he was eleven, but finally abandoned academic pursuits to try and make his way on the streets. He worked for a Jewish merchant named Morris Karnofsky who showed the boy kindness and even advanced him five dollars to buy his first cornet from a pawnshop. Karnofsky understood that Armstrong had “music in his soul” and thought the boy might be able to become a musician.
Music was a central fact of life in New Orleans and Armstrong was fascinated by the extraordinary diversity and wonder of it all. Funky Butt Hall, where dances were held on weekends, was just around the corner from where his mother lived. Ragtime and early blues were played in the bars and clubs that surrounded the bordellos of Storyville and could be heard at all hours of the night. Some musicians were following the lead of Buddy Bolden and were “playing hot” in those bars and clubs. In time, “playing hot” would be called jazz.
On New Years Eve of 1913, Armstrong fired a pistol that he had stolen from one of his “stepfathers” on Rampart Street — not in threat or anger, but as a noisemaker.
“The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings”
Louis Armstrong
Courtesy of
Sony Music Entertainment
“Little Louis” Armstrong was born — like so many who shaped American music — poor, black, and on the far side of the American Dream. His date of birth was August 4, 1901, although he believed that he was born on the Fourth of July, 1900. He never knew his father, who abandoned the family when Armstrong was an infant, and his mother, Maryann, worked at whatever jobs she could find, including prostitution. He grew up in Storyville, the violent red light district of the Crescent City, and learned about life from the pimps, gamblers, prostitutes, thieves, and other denizens of the streets who inhabited his childhood world. He went to the Fisk School for Boys, the same school that Buddy Bolden, the man credited with inventing jazz, had attended. He stayed in school until he was eleven, but finally abandoned academic pursuits to try and make his way on the streets. He worked for a Jewish merchant named Morris Karnofsky who showed the boy kindness and even advanced him five dollars to buy his first cornet from a pawnshop. Karnofsky understood that Armstrong had “music in his soul” and thought the boy might be able to become a musician.
Music was a central fact of life in New Orleans and Armstrong was fascinated by the extraordinary diversity and wonder of it all. Funky Butt Hall, where dances were held on weekends, was just around the corner from where his mother lived. Ragtime and early blues were played in the bars and clubs that surrounded the bordellos of Storyville and could be heard at all hours of the night. Some musicians were following the lead of Buddy Bolden and were “playing hot” in those bars and clubs. In time, “playing hot” would be called jazz.
On New Years Eve of 1913, Armstrong fired a pistol that he had stolen from one of his “stepfathers” on Rampart Street — not in threat or anger, but as a noisemaker.