The History of a Legendary Musician - Essay Example

Emergence of a Legendary Musician Louis Daniel Armstrong, the greatest jazz trumpeter the world has ever seen was born in the Storyville District of New Orleans, America on August 4, 1901. His distinctive ability to play the jazz attributed him the nick name Satchmo or Pops. The legendary life of the greatest musician extended form 1901 to 1971. Armstrong was born into a very poor family with a slave hereditary. He spent his youth in poverty in a rather uncivilized neighborhood called “Back of Town”. With the broken parentage in the early childhood, Armstrong had to live with his younger sister under the care of his grand mother. Sometimes he lived with his uncle as well. He rejoined his mother only when he was five years old and had no contacts with his father later on. Armstrong’s childhood was probably the worst one can ever imagine because he had to run through the hardest hardships as he began to attend the Fisk School for boys where he had his first exposure to Creole must. He was a hard worker who craned money to accommodate himself to education and to assist the family in order to stop his mother from prostitution. The desire for earning more money lured him into the practice of hanging out in pubs and brothels to get calls from customers for paid assistance. During those had times, the boy was listening to the music and rhythm rather than concentrating on the evils of what he was doing. He skipped the Fisk School when he was eleven and joined the group of street singer boys that sand for money. Problems around Armstrong were growing faster than he was. His need for money was so crucial that he was tempted to pick up fights with his team mates. Every time he had a reference of his youth he had only miserably worst factors to remember. But he took inspiration from each of them and always believed that he was inspired to live every time he closed his eyes blowing his trumpet he looked right in the heart of good old New Orleans. Armstrong also worked for a Lithuanian family who had a junk hauling business. The merciful Jewish immigrant family gave him shelter and treated him as a family member. In fact the Karnofskys though being white and always against the ungodly treatment of the predominant whites of America were the first organizers for promotion of the enthusiasm the black children had in music. Louis Armstrong as a Musician All though the titillating experience life, his musicianship started to mature and expand in his early twenties. At that young age, Armstrong started reading music on jazz and performs extended trumpet solos. His music featured his personality and body language with additional spice. He had by then learnt to create unique sounds and started to sing along with his music. In 1922, he joined the music team to Chicago where he was invited by his mentor, Joe Oliver to join his Creole Jazz Band. He consumed that opportunity meaningfully and became a permanent member to make decent income from professional music. It was really a great time for him in Chicago that the city had employed blacks in all companies who earned lots and spent lots on entertainment. Chicago was the jazz universe in the early 1920s when Oliver’s band was the most influential hot jazz band in the city. The rise of his star had a multiplex effect that brought him immense income. Armstrong lived like a king in Chicago in his own apartment with the coziest comforts one could afford. His reputation as a musician in the city grew with his income and he was at the peak of a challenge to the music world. He made his first recordings on the Gennett and Okeh labels apart from his prime time work of continuing with the second cornet in Oliver’s band in 1923. Enormous popularity of his music helped him form a band called the “Hot Five” in 1925. He amalgamated his band with the famous rendition of “St. Louis Blues” with Blessie Smith and continued playing in other bands. The very short period of five years had seen him clicking up to the limelight of the greatest jazz star by 1929 by when he had formed his own band – Louis Armstrong and the Stompers. With demand for larger bands proposed by the spectators, he moved to Los Angeles and organized a very large band called “Louis Armstrong and his Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra”. As his nature was never of a settling kind he moved again to Chicago and organized a touring band for New Orleans which was made an immense success by his old time friends. His musical tour was not limited to the United State but it spread its route to Europe as well. The rise and fall of new era in jazz music Even as being the best known jazz player, Louis had a very bigger experience in his own town New Orleans where a White radio announcer refused to mention Armstrong’s name on the air. Subsequently, he was forced to cancel a free concert he promised for the African- American population of the city. The power to rise from the ashes as phoenix he had, he managed to easily overcome all his worries the separation of his wife brought to him. His almost collapsed career was rest with his playing in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, and England. In 1935, he came back to the US and hired Joe Glaser as his manager who remained a faithful associate to Louis till his death. The restoration of his career was a success thanks to the support of Glaser who took care of business affairs leaving Armstrong to completely dedicate to music. The black domination in jazz music was marked by his achievements in tours he undertook with the management of Glaser who formed a new band called Luis Russell Orchestra as Louis’ backup band with Russell as the musical director (Collier, 218-220). As a tribute to the New Orleans musicians, the band was renamed “Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra” and was one of the most popular acts of the Swing era. Thus, Glaser’s effort was worth everything to Armstrong as he was sure he was not without Glaser. His optimism was his greatest asset; the emergence of World Wars and the political and socio economic changes challenged the consistency of popularity of jazz music. But he was never to give up. He waited fro some fine time and in 1963, scored a huge international hit with his version of “Hello Dolly” followed by another massive hit-a touchingly optimistic “What a Wonderful World” in 1968 (Tanenhaus, 14-22). As any brave soldier deserves a brave death in a fierce battle after a mix of hospitalization and concert for over 3 years, Armstrong succumbed to his ill health. Thus, on July 6th, 1971 the world’s greatest Jazz musician passed away in his home in New York. Remarkable Works Armstrong was the name that defined and ruled the jazz music world. He made a number of musical hits to the credit of his everlasting popularity in the entertainment business. “Stardust, What a Wonderful World, When the Saints Go Marching In, Dream a Little Dream of me, Ain’t Misbehaving” etc are his master of touch. “Hello” composed in 1964, shot him up to the glory of being recorded as the oldest artist to have a number one song (Satchmo.com). Armstrong’s Distinguished Achievements Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In the year 1964, he got a Grammy award for best male vocal performance in the pop category. Apart from the Grammy awards, a long list of his compositions was inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame which is a special Grammy award established in 1973, to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have qualitative and historical significance. Some of them are St. Louis Blues, Blue Yodel, All of Me, Porgy and Bless, Hello Daddy, What a Wonderful World etc (Satchmo.com). Though they were composed in different years, the American government started inducting them into the Hall of Fame from 1993. In addition to these honors, the government of United States introduced a commemorative postage stamp with Armstrong’s photo printed on it in 1995. Works Cited Collier J L. Louis Armstrong: an American Genius. Oxford University Press, US. 1985. ‘Louis Armstrong Centennial’. Satchmo.com 6 April 2010, http://www.satchmo.com/louisarmstrong/props4pops.html Tanenhaus S. Louis Armstrong. Holloway House Publishing, 1980. Read More