The New Grove D i c t i o n a r y of
Volume One
CAU-
Second Edition
Armstrong, Louis, §1: Life
(Armstrong, Louis^Dippermouth, Pops, Satchelmouth,
satefamo] (b Ncuf-effeans, 4 Aug 1901; d New York, 6 July
1971). Trumpeter, singer, and leader. Unquestionably one of
the most influential and profound innovators in jazz history,
he enjoyed phenomenal commercial success and became a
cultural icon.
1. Life. 2. Musical style and influenced C/) fljf £ /V~F>^
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Armstrong himself believed that he was
}hough
uly 1900 - a date still cited in some jazz histories a baptismal certificate compellingly indicates that he was
born on 4 August 1901. He grew up in stark poverty and lived
primarily with his paternal grandmother until he was five,
then shared a two-room house with his mother and sister. As
a child he had several nicknames - Dippermouth, Gatemouth, Satchelmouth - each of which refered to his
prominent 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, and
ragtime, as well as various immigrant musics, and by the age
of eight he was singing in a street-corner vocal quartet for
tips. Already aware of the great New Orleans cornetists
Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson, and Joe
Oliver (later known as King Oliver), he purchased a used
cornet from a pawn shop and learned to play it by ear.
In January 1913 Armstrong was incarcerated at the
Colored Waifs Home for Boys for firing a pistol to celebrate
New Year's Eve. At the home he received instruction from
the band director Peter Davis and was eventually made
leader of the band. When it paraded through Armstrong's old
neighborhood, the rough Back o' Town section of New
Orleans, the residents, who were delighted to discover "little
Louie" leading the band, passed the hat around and collected
so much money that the group was able to buy new
instruments and new uniforms. This event marked an
auspicious beginning for Armstrong's career.
Armstrong was released from the home in June 1914 and
spent the next several years working at various jobs
(including unloading boats and delivering coal) and performing occasionally with local bands. The teenager, now
recognized as a prodigy, was befriended by Oliver, who
became his mentor. When Oliver left for Chicago in early
1919 Armstrong replaced him in Kid Dry's band. From May
1919 until September 1921 he performed with Fate Marable's
orchestra on the Streckfus line riverboats. His tenure with
Marable, a successful society bandleader whose musicians
used written arrangements, compelled Armstrong to improve his sight reading and allowed him to observe the
decorum required for upper-class audiences. In August 1922
he moved to Chicago to play second cornet in Oliver's Creole
Jazz Band, and the two men's cornet breaks amazed their
audiences. Armstrong made his recording debut on 5 April
1923 as a member of Oliver's band, and in February 1924 he
married the group's pianist, Lil Hardin, who became his
second wife.
Encouraged by Lil, who recognized that her husband was
destined for greater achievements than playing second
cornet 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's
recordings. In November 1925 he returned to Chicago.
On 12 November 1925 Armstrong entered the OKeh
studios with a newly assembled group called Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and between that year and 1928 the
Hot Five (later the Hot Seven) made recordings that became
some of the most influential in jazz. The group's membership
changed occasionally; among the musicians who performed
in it were Lil Armstrong, Ory, Johnny Dodds, Earl Hir.es,
Johnny St. Cyr, Baby Dodds, Lonnie Johnson, and Zutty
Singleton. Apart from his work with the Hot Five/Hot Seven,
which was almost exclusively a studio group, Armstrong
frequently performed in public with other bands. From
December 1925 through much of 1926 he appeared regularly
at the Vendome Theatre as a featured soloist with Erskine
Tate's orchestra, whose repertory included operatic excerpts,
classical overtures, and other such music to accompany
silent films. In 1926 he joined Carroll Dickerson's orchestra
at the Sunset Cafe; there he became acquainted with the
venue's manager, Joe Glaser, who later assumed a prominent
role in Armstrong's career. The following year he left
Dickerson, briefly led Louis Armstrong and his Stompers at
the Sunset Cafe, and also worked with Clarence Jones's
orchestra at the Metropolitan Theater. Between 1925 and
1928 he recorded with the singers Chippie Hill, Lillie Delk
Christian, Sippie Wallace, and Nolan Welsh, among others.
From 1929 Armstrong worked principally as the featured
soloist with big bands; although they were often organized
by musicians such as Luis Russell, Dickerson, or Zilner
Randolph, these bands were usually billed as Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra. Between 1929 and 1931 he played
at major African-American venues in Detroit, St. Louis,
Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, and New Orleans. He appeared in the show
Hot Chocolates in New York in 1929, and in California in
1930 he was top of the bill at Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club
in Culver City and recorded with Jimmie Rodgers, the
"Father of Country Music," in Hollywood. His mesmerizing
recordings of popular songs, including I can't give you