"Satchmo" was a defining figure in the American music form known as Jazz (as a solo trumpet player) and a somewhat greater influence with respect to his singing style. It is difficult to overestimate his importance in the history of popular Western entertainment.
Born about 1900 (uncertain), he was the son of a New Orleans factory worker. Working for a junk dealer sometime after age 10, he taught himself to play a cornet that the dealer helped him buy (possibly a horn found in the store stock). He was sent to a "reform school" called the Colored Waifs Home at about age 12 for shooting a pistol on New Years' Eve and joined the school band, beginning as bugler and winding up bandleader. Not long after his release in 1914, he met Joe "King" Oliver and played with him in the Kid Ory Band. Later catching up with Oliver in Chicago, Armstrong played on records made with the Oliver group in 1923. Two years later, OKeh records (the ethnic arm of Columbia) signed him as a soloist and studio musician with the Hot Fives (the record company house band). In July 1926 The Hot Fives' version of "Muskrat Ramble" made it into the top ten. In 1929 the version on which he was the vocalist for "Ain't Misbehavin'" went into the top ten as well. In 1932 he signed with Columbia Records proper and made number 1 singing "All Of Me" in March of that year. By 1939 he'd changed to Decca and had several hits on that label including "You Won't Be Satisfied" (with Ella Fitzgerald) and "When The Saints Go Marching In".
After 1945, Armstrong toured the world with groups smaller than the big-band-era organizations most swing musicians were used to and in 1951 was in the charts again with "I Get Ideas" and "A Kiss To Build A Dream On", this last used in the film "Sleepless In Seattle". "What A Wonderful World" was a 1968 top ten hit in Britain and it found later fame in "Good Morning Vietnam". Most importantly, the next year he appeared with Barbara Streisand in her film "Hello Dolly" singing the title song with her, and a bit later recording his own version; this latter version is perhaps his signature number.
Two of the most influential singers in midcentury/postwar pop have cited Armstrong as a major influence: Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra (who cited both Crosby and Armstrong). Since all popular singers before Armstrong hewed to the formal operatic approach, it's probably fair to credit all contemporary movements in vocal style to Armstrong's foundation, who with his conversational delivery, coaxes us to, shall we say, "lighten up".
Bio written by: Pete_Jamison |
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