Fellow musicians called him “stachelmouth” because of his
huge, wide grin. Later, it was shortened to “Sachmo”. The
nickname belonged to Louis Armstrong,
possibly the greatest jazz musician of all time, but certainly the most
influential of them all. Perhaps if he hadn’t fired that borrowed
pistol into the air to
celebrate New Year's 1913, Armstrong might have never been a
professional musician at all. The frightened 12-year-old boy was
arrested by a very annoyed police officer and sent to the New Orleans
Colored Waifs' Home for Boys to ponder his infamy. Fortunately for
Louis, and the musical world as well, he fell under the influence of
Peter Davis, the home’s musical instructor. Davis recognized the
talent in the young black boy. He taught him singing, percussion and,
finally, the trumpet. Fortune turned her back on him at first. Louis
Daniel Armstrong was
born on August 4, 1901, in the Storyville District of New Orleans. It
was a rough and tumble neighborhood, populated by street toughs and so
crowded that one could barely find standing room. His father was a
laborer who abandoned the family soon after Louis’ birth. His
mother was a part-time prostitute.
Young Louis was desperately poor. His only way to earn a living -
other than stealing, which he never resorted to - was to sing on
street corners for nickels. The gun incident in 1913, and his
subsequent incarceration, made Louis determined to wiggle from the
grasp of poverty. Louis was released from the boy’s home when he was 14. He worked
at any honest job that would provide food for his aching belly. At
night, he haunted the dive bars that dotted the Storyville District,
listening to the jazz bands that were just coming into prominence. His
favorite musician was Joe “King” Oliver with the Kid Ory
Band. Oliver took a liking to the friendly, earnest young man and
became his mentor as Peter Davis had done a few years before. By the
age of 17, Armstrong and his horn sat with several of the numerous
bands that played New Orleans. In 1919, Armstrong was so deft that he moved to St. Louis to join Fate
Marable’s band. It was an exciting two years for young Louis
because Marable’s band played on paddlewheelers owned by the
Streckfus Mississippi Boat Lines. The young musician spent most of his
time playing the river and playing to appreciative riverboat passengers.
In the meantime Louis’ mentor, King Oliver, left Kid Ory and had
formed his own ensemble. After Oliver moved to Chicago, Louis returned
to New Orleans and replaced him in Kid Ory’s Band. Three years
later, with speakeasies booming in the Windy City, Oliver sent for
Armstrong to join his Creole Jazz Band. It was there that Armstrong
fell in love with, and married, Lillian Hardin, Oliver’s pianist. By the
middle 1920s, Louis Armstrong’s star was rapidly rising.
He formed a band called the “Hot Five” and cut his first
records for Okeh in 1925, including the famous rendition of “St.
Louis Blues” with Bessie Smith. The Hot Five - later the Hot
Seven - existed for three years, but never played a live date. Rather
it was formed for recording purposes only. In the meantime, Armstrong
continued playing in other bands. By 1929, Louis Armstrong was becoming a
very big jazz star. Now he had
his own performance group - Louis Armstrong and the Stompers. He also
toured with the show “Hot Chocolates”. But small bands were
on their way out. It was the 1930s and swing was in vogue. That meant
bands had to be larger. Armstrong moved to Los Angeles and organized a
group called Louis Armstrong and his Sebastian New Cotton Club
Orchestra. But he was unwilling to settle in one place. He and Lillian
Hardin had divorced so he was footloose.
Armstrong traveled to Chicago where he organized a touring band. Their
first stop was New Orleans. His friends from the old days remembered
him well and welcomed him with open arms, but elements of the white
population greeted the conquering hero with less enthusiasm. Armstrong
got a bitter taste of racism when a white radio announcer refused to
announce his name on the air in connection with a free concert -
simply because he was black. Nevertheless, Armstrong’s touring band was an immense success.
Not only did he extensively tour the United States, but Europe as well.
When he returned in 1935, he hired Joe Glaser as his manager. Glazer
remained until Armstrong’s death in 1971. By the end of World War II, swing music was on its way out and bands,
again, became smaller. At a Town Hall concert in New York, he
introduced the six piece group that he would use off and on for the
rest of his life - the All Stars. They complimented his style
perfectly. In the 1950s, Armstrong teamed up with other singers to make recordings
- Bing Crosby, Louis Jordan and Gary Crosby. Then in 1957, he made
some tracks with Ella Fitzgerald, backed up by the Oscar Peterson trio.
While working with Peterson, Armstrong took to opportunity to record
his first big hit to feature his famous throaty voice - “Mack
The Knife”.
Other hits followed - “Hello, Dolly” and “What A
Wonderful World”. His popularity had now reached its zenith.
Armstrong toured the world as an unofficial goodwill ambassador for
America. Then his health began to fail him. For the last three years of his life he was in and out of the hospital,
but he continued recording and performing until July 6, 1971 when he
died in his sleep at home in Queens, New York. With Louis
Armstrong’s death, jazz had lost its greatest master.
