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| He strode onto the world in the ] as a giant, easily eclipsing his mentor Joe "King" Oliver and all of his New Orleans and Chicago contempories. The ] were to see a flowering of jazz genius like the world had never seen before and since. Although subject to the visissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the music business and gangsterism of the era he continued to provide fantastic solos in front of famous named orchestras. Not only that but continued to tour for the next 30 years on a gruelling 300+ days a year on one-night stands. He also appeared in over 30 films. | He strode onto the world in the ] as a giant, easily eclipsing his mentor Joe "King" Oliver and all of his New Orleans and Chicago contempories. The ] were to see a flowering of jazz genius like the world had never seen before and since. Although subject to the visissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the music business and gangsterism of the era he continued to provide fantastic solos in front of famous named orchestras. Not only that but continued to tour for the next 30 years on a gruelling 300+ days a year on one-night stands. He also appeared in over 30 films. | ||
| In his early years, Armstrong was known for his virtuosity with the trumpet, but as his music progressed and popularity grew, he was more noted for his distinctive, gravely voice | In his early years, Armstrong was known for his virtuosity with the trumpet, but as his music progressed and popularity grew, he was more noted for his distinctive, gravely voice. | ||
| Armstrong was the creator of the form of singing known as ]. The story goes that he was in a studio recording one of his songs on the trumpet and at one point he dropped his music. At that time it was very expensive to record a song because each song went on a different disk that was engraved with grooves. It the musicians made an error and stopped the song, the record could not be used again (not unlike CD-Rs today). Armstrong knew this and rather than stopping the song he decided to simply sing the melody that he would have played on the trumpet. The sharp, syncopated style became known as skat and was later popularized by ]. | |||
| ⚫ | In his career he played and sang with the most important instrumentalists and vocalists; among the many, ], ], Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and |
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| ⚫ | In his career he played and sang with the most important instrumentalists and vocalists; among the many, ], ], Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald, with whom he recorded for ]'s ] the two famous "Ella & Louis" and "Ella & Louis again". | ||
| ⚫ | In the end he was revered all over the world as "Ambassador Satch" and had an international success with pieces like "Potato Head Blues", "Star Dust", "What a Wonderful World", "Oh, When the Saints Go Marchin' In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain’t Misbehavin’", "Stompin’ at the Savoy" and "Hello Dolly" (and really many others). Other uncommon performances (such as, e.g., in "Disney Songs the Satchmo Way") granted him a worldwide popularity. | ||
| ⚫ | In the end he was revered all over the world as "Ambassador Satch" and had an international success with pieces like "Potato Head Blues", "Star Dust", "What a Wonderful World", "Oh, When the Saints Go Marchin' In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain’t Misbehavin’", "Stompin’ at the Savoy" and "Hello Dolly" (and really many others). Other uncommon performances (such as, e.g., in "Disney Songs the Satchmo Way") granted him a worldwide popularity. | ||
| It has been said <I>(by whom?)</I> that Satchmo ''was the best ambassador of hot music and a wonderful human being''. | |||
Revision as of 16:51, 25 February 2002
Louis Armstrong - Satchmo - (1901-1971) was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist.
Born Louis Daniel Armstrong from a poor family in New Orleans, he was almost universally regarded as one of the most important musicians of the 20th century, influencing many genres of music, but particularly remembered as one of "founding fathers of Jazz".
He strode onto the world in the 1920s as a giant, easily eclipsing his mentor Joe "King" Oliver and all of his New Orleans and Chicago contempories. The next 10 years were to see a flowering of jazz genius like the world had never seen before and since. Although subject to the visissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the music business and gangsterism of the era he continued to provide fantastic solos in front of famous named orchestras. Not only that but continued to tour for the next 30 years on a gruelling 300+ days a year on one-night stands. He also appeared in over 30 films.
In his early years, Armstrong was known for his virtuosity with the trumpet, but as his music progressed and popularity grew, he was more noted for his distinctive, gravely voice.
Armstrong was the creator of the form of singing known as skat. The story goes that he was in a studio recording one of his songs on the trumpet and at one point he dropped his music. At that time it was very expensive to record a song because each song went on a different disk that was engraved with grooves. It the musicians made an error and stopped the song, the record could not be used again (not unlike CD-Rs today). Armstrong knew this and rather than stopping the song he decided to simply sing the melody that he would have played on the trumpet. The sharp, syncopated style became known as skat and was later popularized by Ella Fitzgerald.
In his career he played and sang with the most important instrumentalists and vocalists; among the many, Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald, with whom he recorded for Norman Grantz's Verve records the two famous "Ella & Louis" and "Ella & Louis again".
In the end he was revered all over the world as "Ambassador Satch" and had an international success with pieces like "Potato Head Blues", "Star Dust", "What a Wonderful World", "Oh, When the Saints Go Marchin' In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain’t Misbehavin’", "Stompin’ at the Savoy" and "Hello Dolly" (and really many others). Other uncommon performances (such as, e.g., in "Disney Songs the Satchmo Way") granted him a worldwide popularity.
External links:
- Quotes and tributes: http://www.satchmo.com/louisarmstrong/quotes.html
- Discography: http://www.satchography.com