The New Grove Dictionary of

Second Edition

Volume One

CAU-

Armstrong, Louis, §1: Life

(Armstrong, Louis^Dippermouth, Pops, Satchelmouth,satefamo] (b Ncuf-effeans, 4 Aug 1901; d New York, 6 July1971). Trumpeter, singer, and leader. Unquestionably one ofthe most influential and profound innovators in jazz history,he enjoyed phenomenal commercial success and became acultural icon.1. Life. 2. Musical style and influenced C/) fljf £ /V~F>^

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}hough Armstrong himself believed that he wasuly 1900 - a date still cited in some jazz histories -

a baptismal certificate compellingly indicates that he wasborn on 4 August 1901. He grew up in stark poverty and livedprimarily with his paternal grandmother until he was five,then shared a two-room house with his mother and sister. Asa child he had several nicknames - Dippermouth, Gate-mouth, Satchelmouth - each of which refered to hisprominent oral cavity. In turn-of-the-century New Orleans,Armstrong was soon familiar with honky-tonks, dance halls,brass bands, funeral parades, churches, parties, opera, andragtime, as well as various immigrant musics, and by the ageof eight he was singing in a street-corner vocal quartet fortips. Already aware of the great New Orleans cornetistsBuddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson, and JoeOliver (later known as King Oliver), he purchased a usedcornet from a pawn shop and learned to play it by ear.

In January 1913 Armstrong was incarcerated at theColored Waifs Home for Boys for firing a pistol to celebrateNew Year's Eve. At the home he received instruction fromthe band director Peter Davis and was eventually madeleader of the band. When it paraded through Armstrong's oldneighborhood, the rough Back o' Town section of NewOrleans, the residents, who were delighted to discover "littleLouie" leading the band, passed the hat around and collectedso much money that the group was able to buy newinstruments and new uniforms. This event marked anauspicious beginning for Armstrong's career.

Armstrong was released from the home in June 1914 andspent the next several years working at various jobs(including unloading boats and delivering coal) and per-forming occasionally with local bands. The teenager, nowrecognized as a prodigy, was befriended by Oliver, whobecame his mentor. When Oliver left for Chicago in early1919 Armstrong replaced him in Kid Dry's band. From May1919 until September 1921 he performed with Fate Marable'sorchestra on the Streckfus line riverboats. His tenure withMarable, a successful society bandleader whose musiciansused written arrangements, compelled Armstrong to im-prove his sight reading and allowed him to observe thedecorum required for upper-class audiences. In August 1922he moved to Chicago to play second cornet in Oliver's CreoleJazz Band, and the two men's cornet breaks amazed theiraudiences. Armstrong made his recording debut on 5 April1923 as a member of Oliver's band, and in February 1924 hemarried the group's pianist, Lil Hardin, who became hissecond wife.

Encouraged by Lil, who recognized that her husband wasdestined for greater achievements than playing secondcornet with King Oliver, Armstrong moved to New York in

2. Louis Armstrong (right) with Earl Hines, c!949

nities to take solos and was not allowed to sing on the band'srecordings. In November 1925 he returned to Chicago.

On 12 November 1925 Armstrong entered the OKehstudios with a newly assembled group called Louis Arm-strong and his Hot Five, and between that year and 1928 theHot Five (later the Hot Seven) made recordings that becamesome of the most influential in jazz. The group's membershipchanged occasionally; among the musicians who performedin it were Lil Armstrong, Ory, Johnny Dodds, Earl Hir.es,Johnny St. Cyr, Baby Dodds, Lonnie Johnson, and ZuttySingleton. Apart from his work with the Hot Five/Hot Seven,which was almost exclusively a studio group, Armstrongfrequently performed in public with other bands. FromDecember 1925 through much of 1926 he appeared regularlyat the Vendome Theatre as a featured soloist with ErskineTate's orchestra, whose repertory included operatic excerpts,classical overtures, and other such music to accompanysilent films. In 1926 he joined Carroll Dickerson's orchestraat the Sunset Cafe; there he became acquainted with thevenue's manager, Joe Glaser, who later assumed a prominentrole in Armstrong's career. The following year he leftDickerson, briefly led Louis Armstrong and his Stompers atthe Sunset Cafe, and also worked with Clarence Jones'sorchestra at the Metropolitan Theater. Between 1925 and1928 he recorded with the singers Chippie Hill, Lillie DelkChristian, Sippie Wallace, and Nolan Welsh, among others.

From 1929 Armstrong worked principally as the featuredsoloist with big bands; although they were often organizedby musicians such as Luis Russell, Dickerson, or ZilnerRandolph, these bands were usually billed as Louis Arm-strong and his Orchestra. Between 1929 and 1931 he playedat major African-American venues in Detroit, St. Louis,Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Dallas, Hous-ton, Memphis, and New Orleans. He appeared in the showHot Chocolates in New York in 1929, and in California in1930 he was top of the bill at Frank Sebastian's Cotton Clubin Culver City and recorded with Jimmie Rodgers, the"Father of Country Music," in Hollywood. His mesmerizingrecordings of popular songs, including I can't give you