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VOICE ONE:
This is Gwen Outen.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember withPeople in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about LouisArmstrong, one of the greatest jazz musicians. His voice,trumpet-playing skill and creativity continue to influence jazzartists today. One of Louis Armstrong’s biggest hits was “HelloDolly.”
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VOICE ONE:
Louis Armstrong played jazz, sang jazz and wrote jazz. Herecorded hit songs for fifty years and his music is still heardtoday on television, radio and in movies.
Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on Augustfourth, nineteen-oh-one. New Orleans is a port city at the mouth ofthe Mississippi River. It is a city where the customs of manydifferent people mixed together.
Louis Armstrong grew up in Storyville, one of the poorest areasof New Orleans. His father left the family shortly after he wasborn. His mother worked to support him and his sister. But Armstrongspent most of his time with his grandmother.
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Jazz was just beginning to developwhen Louis was a boy. It grew out of the blues songs and ragtimemusic that had been popular at the turn of the century.
Louis discovered music early in life. He was surrounded by it.The music of churches, bands, parades and drinking places were all adaily part of New Orleans culture. Louis sang with other boys on thestreets for money. There he began to develop his musical skills.
VOICE ONE:
When he was eleven years old, Louis was sent to a reform schoolfor firing a gun outside to celebrate New Year’s Eve. At the school,he learned to play the trumpet in the school’s brass band.
Louis spent eighteen months at the reform school. Then he wentback to work. He sold newspapers, unloaded boats and sold coal froma horse and cart. He also listened to bands at popular clubs inStoryville. Joe “King” Oliver played with the Kid Ory Band. He soonbecame young Louis’s teacher. As Louis’s skills developed, he beganto perform professionally.
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At the age of eighteen, Armstrong joined the Kid Ory Band, one ofthe finest bands in New Orleans. The experience helped him develophis music skills. Armstrong later replaced King Oliver in the bandwhen Oliver moved to Chicago, Illinois. In nineteen-nineteen,Armstrong joined Fate Marable’s band in St. Louis, Missouri.Marable’s band played on steamboats that traveled up and down theMississippi River. Working with Marable helped prepare Armstrong toplay for white audiences.
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In nineteen-twenty-two, Armstrong left the Marable Band to playwith King Oliver in Chicago. By then, Chicago had become the centerof jazz music.
A year later, Armstrong made his first recordings as a member ofKing Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. He later moved to New York City,where he influenced the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra with hiscreativity.
Armstrong returned to Chicago innineteen-twenty-six and formed his own group. They were called theHot Five and later the Hot Seven. Their recordings are consideredsome of the most influential in jazz history.
Armstrong could make his voice sound like a musical instrument.He could make an instrument sound like a singer’s voice. The song”Heebie Jeebies” is said to be the first recorded example of whatbecame known as scat singing. He recorded it with the Hot Five.
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By nineteen-twenty-nine, Armstrongwas becoming very popular. He returned to New York to play in anall-black Broadway musical called “Hot Chocolates.” The showincluded the music of Fats Waller. Armstrong’s version of Waller’ssong, “Ain’t Misbehavin’, was a huge hit.
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VOICE ONE:
By the end of the nineteen-twenties, Armstrong had formed his ownband. In nineteen-thirty-two, he sailed to England, and had greatsuccess. A reporter there called him “Satchmo,” and he kept thatnickname for the rest of his life. For the next three years,Armstrong played in cities across the United States and Europe.
Louis Armstrong returned to the United States innineteen-thirty-five. He hired Joe Glaser to be his manager. Glaserproved to be a great manager and friend.
Glaser organized a big band called Louis Armstrong and hisOrchestra. It was one of the most popular groups of the “swing”music period. Swing was a style of jazz played by big bands in thenineteen-thirties.
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The group played together for the next ten years. During thattime, Armstrong became one of the most famous men in America. Heexperienced racial unfairness during his life. But he rarely madepublic statements. One time, however, he criticized the way thegovernment treated blacks in the American South in thenineteen-fifties. Newspapers accused him of being a troublemaker forspeaking out.
In the nineteen-forties, Armstrong grew tired of leading a largegroup. For the remaining years of his life, he led a six-membergroup called the All Stars. The group included some of the bestmusicians in America. They performed extensively in Africa, Asia,Europe and South America.
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Over the years, Armstrong recorded with many famous musicians.For example, he worked with singers Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosbyand the great composer Duke Ellington. Armstrong was known asfriendly and easy to work with.
Armstrong’s biggest hits came later in his life. The song “Mackthe Knife” was a big hit in nineteen-fifty-five. Innineteen-sixty-four, his version of the song “Hello Dolly” was thetop hit around the world. It even replaced a top-selling hit by thehugely popular British rock group, the Beatles. Three years later,he appeared in the motion picture version of “Hello Dolly” withsinger Barbra Streisand.
The song “What a Wonderful World,” recorded innineteen-sixty-eight, was his final big hit.
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VOICE TWO:
Louis Armstrong never finished the fifth grade in school. Yet hewrote two books about his life and many stories for magazines. Heappeared in more than thirty movies. He composed many jazz pieces.He won several gold records and many other awards. Armstrongperformed an average of three-hundred concerts each year, travelingall over the world. He became known as the ambassador of AmericanJazz.
Louis Armstrong was married four times. Lucille Armstrong was hisfourth wife. They married in nineteen-forty-two and stayed togetherfor the rest of his life. They had no children.
Louis Armstrong died in nineteen-seventy-one. His death was frontpage news around the world. In nineteen-seventy-seven, his home inQueens, New York, was declared a national historic place. It is nowa museum. For more information about Louis Armstrong and his house,you can go to the museum’s Internet Web site. The address is w-w-wdot s-a-t-c-h-m-o dot n-e-t.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written and produced by Cynthia Kirk. This isGwen Outen.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Listen again next week for People inAmerica in VOA Special English.