Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, was an American jazz and blues trumpeter, vocalist, and Broadway performer whose career extended from the 1920s through the late 1960s. Known by the nicknames "Satchmo," "Satch," and "Pops," Armstrong died on July 6, 1971, leaving behind a body of work that spanned five decades and multiple eras of jazz history.

Armstrong grew up in poverty in a New Orleans neighborhood called The Battlefield, on the southern section of Rampart Street. He was raised initially by his grandmother until age five, when he returned to live with his mother, Mary Estelle "Mayann" Albert, and his sister Beatrice, known as "Mama Lucy." His father, William Armstrong, had abandoned the family shortly after Beatrice's birth in 1903. As a child, Armstrong worked for the Karnoffsky family, Lithuanian Jews who employed him helping their sons Morris and Alex collect rags and bones and deliver coal. Morris Karnoffsky provided Armstrong an advance to purchase a cornet from a pawn shop, an act Armstrong later described as foundational to his musical life. In 1969, while hospitalized at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, Armstrong wrote a memoir titled Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, LA., the Year of 1907, recounting his time with the family. As an adult, he wore a Star of David given to him by his manager, Joe Glaser, in part as a tribute to the Karnoffskys.

At age eleven, Armstrong dropped out of school. On December 31, 1912, he was arrested after firing a blank from his stepfather's gun into the air and was sentenced to detention at the Colored Waif's Home, where he developed his cornet skills playing in the institution's band. Peter Davis became his first formal teacher there and appointed him bandleader. By age thirteen, Armstrong had attracted the attention of cornetist Kid Ory. Around 1922, Armstrong followed his mentor Joe "King" Oliver to Chicago to play in Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. His reputation grew through cutting contests, eventually reaching bandleader Fletcher Henderson, which led Armstrong to New York City, where he became a featured soloist and recording artist.

Armstrong's Broadway career ran from 1929 to 1939, during which he appeared in the musicals Hot Chocolates and Swingin' the Dream. Beyond the stage, his recording output produced some of the most recognized songs in American popular music, among them "What a Wonderful World," "La Vie en Rose," "Hello, Dolly!," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "When You're Smiling," and "When the Saints Go Marching In." He collaborated with Ella Fitzgerald on three records: Ella and Louis in 1956, Ella and Louis Again in 1957, and Porgy and Bess in 1959.

Armstrong's film appearances included A Rhapsody in Black and Blue in 1932, Cabin in the Sky in 1943, High Society in 1956, Paris Blues in 1961, A Man Called Adam in 1966, and Hello, Dolly! in 1969. By the 1950s he was an international figure, appearing regularly in radio and television broadcasts. His recording of "Melancholy Blues" was selected for inclusion on the Voyager Golden Record, a collection of Earth's sights and sounds sent into space.

His accolades included the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for "Hello, Dolly!" in 1965 and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972. Armstrong was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. Widely credited with shifting jazz from collective improvisation toward solo performance, Armstrong was among the first African American entertainers to achieve broad popularity with both white and international audiences. He took a public stand for desegregation during the Little Rock Crisis, one of the few occasions on which he addressed racial issues openly.