Louis Armstrong free essay sample

Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong was born August 4th 1901 In a part of New Orleans named Storyline, another name for what most people would call a Red light district. Louis liked to tell people he was born the 4th of July 1900 but still used his correct birth date on legal documents. Louses Parents were both absent in his childhood, his father leaving their family when Louis was only two and his mother a prostitute was in and out of his life as a child.Louis was raised mainly by his Grandmother or Uncle n New Orleans who would take care of Louis and his younger sister when their mother would leave for days or long periods of time. Growing up In a musical and very much alive part of the nation Its no surprise that Louis was always a very musical boy singing for money as a child on the streets of New Orleans. We will write a custom essay sample on Louis Armstrong or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He spent much of his time in the nightlife as well working to help his family, but being influenced no doubt by the city which its self is where the fusion of African-American and European harmonies and form, began the Jazz/Swing revolution. In 1913 after n innocent firing of a gun during a New Years Eve celebration, which was incidentally his mothers boyfriends gun and was filled with blanks. Louis was arrested for disturbing the peace and was then sent to New Orleans Colored Waifs Home for Boys(PBS This however was a major turning point In his life, after dropping out of school before he now had the opportunity to learn and explore music more deeply. Professor Peter Davis took Louis under his wing and thus his cornet playing inspiration began, being largely influenced by cornet player Buddy Bolder, Kid ROR and Joe King Oliver (Athenians)[2].Louis began playing cornet for the school band due to these Influences. After being released from the detention school In 1915 Louis returned to his family In Storyline. He continued to play cornet and even married his first wife Daisy Parker. In 1922 Louis was invited by his mentor Joe King to join their band in Chicago, this is also the year they recorded Dipterous Blues. Dipterous was a nickname that Louis was given during his time at the Home for delinquents.This piece of music shows a great deal about Louses style, enthusiasm and passion for music. Almost as if he were trying to keep It bottled up and yet he couldnt. Another milestone In his early showcase of music Is Weatherboard with plants Earl Hines who much Like Louis was a soloist, which were becoming more predominant in the Jazz scene. Louses fame and music popularity began expanding even through the depression and an arrest for possession of marijuana (1931 ). Louis recorded his to be theme song When its Sleepiest Down South in that same year.Many say that Louis was one of the most important musicians of the 20th century which history has proven to be true weather or not It effected by his contribution to music today. His views and beliefs seemed to only make him more widely accepted and despite his race and past he was invited on U. S. Sponsored tours to Africa and Europe. Even after suffering from a heart attach in 1959 he continued to perform and inspire other musicians. In 1964 Louis topped the pop charts over The Beetles with his song, Hello Dolly (Sandmen). 3] After Louis had gained a position in which he was significantly influencing the way Jazz was played he also took on a role of changing the way society viewed and thought of African- Americans. However, Louis was never one for politics. For example in the New York Times article preceding his death it was written, While he was in London, Mr.. Armstrong demonstrated memorably that he had little use for the niceties of diplomatic protocol. During a command performance for King George V, Mr..Armstrong ignored the rule that performers are not supposed to refer to members of the Royal Family while playing before them and announced on the brink of a hot trumpet break, This ones for you, He became a major figure in the civil rights movement by having a motto that he would not play at a venue at which e could not stay Louis would play at these large fancy hotels which at the time were supposed to be for whites only, but basses he would refuse to play if he couldnt stay there the hotels would be forced to make an exception.His fame and reputation helped him break down the social stigmas of racism. A more extreme example of how Louis demonstrated his feelings about segregation was after the Little Rock Crisis. He cancelled a U. S. Government-sponsored tour to the Soviet Union saying, the way theyre treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell (Twitchier). [6] This brought about even more criticism to the U. S. Government which at the time was the in the rise of the Civil Rights movement. Louis also made comments about President Eisenhower, saying he had no guts and even going as far as to say, Its getting so bad, and, a colored man hasnt got any country (History. Com)[7]. By having a style of music that was so popular with all classes of society Louis was able to bring many diverse groups of people together. Having everyone with the same love for his music helped show the people all over the country that we are not so different from one another and started to turn the ears towards equality.If someone wanted Louis to play at their venue they would be sure to treat him Just like anybody else they hired, including a room if it happened to be a hotel. Although there is much evidence for Armstrongs advocacy in the Civil Rights movement there is also solid amounts of criticism that Louis did not do enough in his time. Louis did appear at times in blackjack shows and productions which upset many critics and other important figures in the black power movement. Many at the time referred to Louis as an Uncle Tom due to the fact that he mainly laded for largely white audiences (Sandmen)[8].Many African Americans even began to boycott his shows. Gang Longer explains in her article about Louis Armstrong and the term Uncle Tom, In the Deep South, during the first half of the last century, all places of entertainment were strictly segregated. Sunday nights were for black audiences and Monday nights were for whites. Martin Napoleon, a white drummer with Armstrongs band, was shocked to discover that the attendance for the Black Nights was only a fraction the size of the White Nights (Longer)[9]. Lie in 1942 and until his death.Louis died off heart attack in 1971 at the age of 71 having Just celebrated his birthday on the previous Sunday. He had suffered from many ailments throughout his career in the asss and asss but persisted to keep touring. He had Just received 10 weeks of treatment from Beth Israel Medical Center and was advised not to fly home after being discharged but paid no head to the doctors warnings and flew home anyway. His death was mourned by many prominent figures of society. Although Louis and the U. S. Government did not always agree with one another, but after his death The State Department on behalf ofWashington said, His memory will be enshrined in the archives of effective international communications. The Department of State, for which he traveled on tours to almost every corner of the globe, mourns the passing of this great American (Krebs)[10]. Louis greatly influenced not only the musical world of Jazz but the world as a whole. He was an amazing musician as well as a prominent public figure who stood up for what he believed in and conveyed it to us through his musical genius. He lived his life through Jazz which is shown by how much his influence changed the way the music would be played to this day. Louis Armstrong free essay sample My life has always been my music, its always come first, but the music anti worth nothing if you cant lay n on the public. The mall thing is to live for that audience, cause what youre there for is to please the people. When most of us here think of Jazz music, there Is a person that Is totally unlike any other. There have been many superstars In the past decades. One that had been found most significant was Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was the most successful and talented jazz musician in American history. He was a great musician in so many ways.He patented his own style of music that became known and loved all over the world. He was born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Louis father, William, was a guy who loved freedom, so his father abandoned the family when Louis was born. We will write a custom essay sample on Louis Armstrong or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Over the next five years Louis lived with his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong. Louis had a younger sister Borneo after William got back mad left again; at Just the age of six, Louis and three other boys form a vocal quartet and they would perform on the street corners for tips.Louis smile traveled from tone side of his face clear over to the other. Everyone said It was as wide as an open satchel. So they called him Cottonmouth ( Weinstein 4 Louis began to raise his family hen he was a little boy, he started to look for Jobs at the age of seven wherever he could find them. For instance, he sold newspapers and vegetables and made a little doesnt have any money, he would always find a careless drunk person stumbling in the streets who would drop his money. When he doesnt have anything to eat, he would steal some food from the local grocery stores. Then one day he didnt find a job, but he found a dance club, he sneaked in the club and found out that there was a Jazz band, and at that club he watched the musicians secretly, to see how they held heir instruments, to study how they stood, Just to lay eyes on them. At that moment, a wonderful instrument caught his eyes, a horn; Just like a fairy tale, thats how Louis story began. Armstrong influence and expansive career continues to make waves in Jazz world. Urbane stated The Key to Armstrong success in the discipline he brought to bear ( Urbane 1 ).Well, Louis was not always that lucky. Louis first fell in love with music at New Orleans. From childhood to his adulthood, Louis Armstrong changed greatly as a person and musician. He worked very hard and never gave up any opportunities in the way of becoming a musician. At seventeen, Louis accepted a Job with John Structures to perform along the Mississippi. It was a safe way to test greener pastures elsewhere, but with round trip ticket, because he could always come back to New Orleans ( Urbane 2 ).It was safe way to test greener pastures elsewhere, but with round trip ticket, because the could always come back to New Orleans ( Urbane 2 ). Armstrong own musical education was anything but conventional. In September 1918, he had started playing on a Structures Steamers excursion boat that plied New Orleans harbor but, still restless, announced o friends and colleagues that he would be shipping out to perform along the Mississippi River from New Orleans as far north as Minneapolis. In 1922, Louts received a telegram from Joe King Oliver, asking him to Join his Creole Jazz Band. This was a dream come true for Louis because Joe King Oliver played a really important role during his early life. Through Oliver, Louis met the woman who became his second wife, Ill Hardin, wood was a classically-trained Jazz pianist from Memphis, where he could make a sufficient income so that he no longer needed to supplement is music with day labor Jobs. Ill helped to promote Louis in Chicago clubs, billing him as the worlds greatest trumpet player. She and Louis formed a studio band, many of which featured Louses raspy singing.On one of the most popular of the recordings, Hobbies Jibes, Louis spontaneously launched into scat-singing, in which the singer replaces the actual lyrics with nonsense syllables that often mimic the sounds made by instruments. Louis did not invent the singing style, but helped to make it enormously popular. During this time, Louis permanently switched from ornate to trumpet, preferring the brighter sound of the trumpet to the mellower cornet. The records gave Louis name recognition outside of Chicago.The Great Depression had been a hard time for everyone in the country, however, Louis decided to start a new term in Los Angels. He found work in clubs and the band played mostly live gigs. He made his first film, Ex-Flame, appearing as himself in the movie in a small role. Louis gained more fans through this widespread exposures. He received a suspended sentence and returned to Chicago after an arrest for marijuana possession in November, 1930. Several years later, he reappeared in movies. Crosby 1936 hit Pennies from Heaven.In 1937, Louis substituted for Rudy Valley on the CBS radio network and became the first African American to host a sponsored, When the cats say, Well, when you going to retired? I say Well, why should I retire? Sit up and look at the four walls, you know? Lots of people retired to die; so long as the horn anti hurting, and were getting along New Orleans in the first 20 years of the 20th century was a musical melting pot of musical styles. African music was still prominent, like drumming and dancing, they ere some of the few freedoms allowed slaves to do before the civil war.Ragtime was popular, and its up-tempo and syncopated rhythms had a profound influence on later Jazz music. As a musician Louis is a different one, hes totally different than the others. Early in Louis career, he was taking what was called Creole Jazz or dance music, which was formally scripted, and combining it with trumpeter Buddy Boldness rougher, more improvisation-based street music, to create what would eventually become Jazz (Jones NP ). Before Louis Armstrong ever sang a duet with Ella Fitzgerald or Being Crosby.Before Hello Dolly or Its A Wonderful World, there was just a lanky young man with a bright, beautiful horn. That young man transformed the trumpet into a solo instrument capable of astonishing range and lyrical beauty ( Cogwheels 14). What Louis does was he redefined the context in which the trumpet was played. His sense of rhythm and timing took Jazz from a staid, 2/4 beat to a more sophisticated 4/4 feel, paving the way for swing and for soloists to take center stage. Louis redefined the way of singing as well, he played the instrument and sang at the name time.Louis always has lots of idea about music. All those music he introduced made him special. Beginning in the sass, Louses career permanently characterized by a whirlwind schedule of concerts, recording sessions, broadcasting and traveling. But regrettably, although his music was as superior as ever, his professional affairs were in terrible disarray, chiefly because of a series of inept and even corrupt, mob- connected managers ( Cogwheels 21 ). During his long career Louis played and sang with some of the most important instrumentalists and vocalists of the time; they wereBeing Crosby, Duke Doling, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hilliness, the singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith and perhaps the most famous Ella Fitzgerald ( Collier 27, 84, 86, 156, 157 Louis Armstrong is Jazz. He represents what the music is all about. Wanton Marshals Theses proved to be regeneration for Louis as both a musician and a public figure. Though he had been singing since his early days in Chicago, it was not until the sass that audiences recognized his remarkable skill as singer as well. His rough and throaty voice became, almost instantly, the internationally recognized voice of jazz itself. Louis Armstrong free essay sample As a kid, Armstrong was a born musician. He did many jobs at a young age to support his family, such as cleaning graves, selling coal, and singing on the street corners for pennies. Dwelling the city like this exposed Armstrong to all kinds of music. From the blues that played In the Storyline wonky tones to the brass bands that accompanied parades and funerals. Armstrong found all this music to be a great source of inspiration. Already having demonstrated his singing talents on the city streets, Armstrong eventually bought and taught himself to play a cornet. He knew from that moment on he wanted to become a musician.Louis Armstrong was helped by a Junk dealer whom he worked as a grade-school student to buy himself a cornet, this sparked an early interest in music for Armstrong. He dropped out of school at 11 to Join an informal music group, but received his first formal music instruction at the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, where he was sent to for a year and a half as punishment for firing blanks during New Years Eve (alembic. We will write a custom essay sample on Louis Armstrong or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Com). There, he was formally taught how to play an instrument for the home had a bandmaster who took Interest In youth that taught him to play he bugle.He was also taught how to play his cornet. With this instruction, Armstrong Instantly fell In love with music. He started to dream of becoming big In the music business when he was released from the Institute. Even though he still had to work for money, he began to earn the reputation of a fine blues player. Joe King Oliver, one of the greatest cornet players in New Orleans, acted as a mentor to Armstrong, showing him pointers on playing the horn as Armstrongs talents started to develop (encyclopedia. Com).Armstrongs reputation as a musician continued to grow. From 1917 to 1922, Armstrong played the cornet for local Dixieland Jazz bands. In 1918, Armstrong replaced Oliver in Kid ROR- a Jazz trombonists- band. Kid Rosy band was the most popular band at the time in New Orleans. Playing in the band eventually led to Armstrong being able to stop working manual labor Jobs and Instead, concentrate full time on his cornet. He played In parties, dances, funeral marches, and at local honked-tones. (Small bars that host musical acts. At this time, Armstrong wasnt able to read music that well, until 191 9 where he spent his summers playing with a band De by Fate Marble on riverboats. This is when Armstrong started honing his music reading skills as well as having his first encounters with other jazz legends like Big Bedecked and Jack Degraded (biography. Com). He also tried writing songs but unfortunately was only partially rewarded. l wish I could Shimmy like My Sister Kate, one of his compositions, was published. But, the company reportedly cheated him out of both byline and payment.Then, Oliver, a man who led a successful band in Chicago, came for Armstrong. Armstrong, as a second cornet player for Oliver, started o make his first recordings. He earned his first recorded solo In the song Chimes Blues (encyclopedia. Com). Husband Into cutting ties with Oliver and Joggling bandleader and arranger, Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. The Orchestra at the time was the top African-American arranger, Don Redden, who began putting Armstrong swinging vocabulary into their Arrangements (biography. Com). This transformed Henderson band into what is regarded as the first Jazz big band.Although that was a great success, Armstrong was unhappy with the Orchestra because his Southern background didnt fit in with the ore urban, Northern mentality of the other musicians in the band. He was also forbidden to sing because of his rough visualization. Henderson feared that it was too coarse for the sophisticated audiences that they had. With that, Armstrong left Henderson Orchestra in 1925 and went back to Chicago where he played with his wifes band in Dreamland Cafe (encyclopedia. Com). During his time in New York, Armstrong, as a sideman, cut dozen of records.He created inspirational Jazz and backed numerous blues singers. In Chicago, Joke Records signed him to an exclusive contract in the fall of 1925. This allowed Armstrong to make his first records with a band that was under his name: Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five. He made recordings fronting his own musicians, and depending on the number that was assembled, they were known as the Hot Five or Hot Seven. The group was strictly recording groups, and performed nightly during the period with Riskier Tastes orchestra at the Vendor Theater.In 1926, Armstrong finally switched from the cornet to the trumpet while performing with Tate-a Jazz saxophonist- in 1926 (encyclopedia. Com). The Hot Seven experiment took place in 925 when two piece rhythm sections was augmented by two musicians that played the drums and a tuba. As the years passed, Armstrong experimented with music, which led him to break free from the more rigid style from Dixieland to a style of Jazz that paved a way to a more modern genre of Jazz (Louis-Armstrong. Net). In 1930, Armstrong started to perform with larger bands and recorded more pop sounding songs, something different than what he usually played. Some Jazz purist didnt think it was a good move for him to do, but later figured out that he helped inspire the later swing-like sound. Nevertheless, he was still known with Jazz by the public, and was considered an ambassador of the genre during his extensive European tours. During his career Armstrong performed in many places, like Ghana and England. In Ghana, he was considered a hero by the natives of the country, and in England, was given the nickname Satchel when performing a few times before the British royal family (encyclopedia. Mom). By 1932, Armstrong had become big. He started to appear in movies where he spread Jazzs popularity by playing musical roles, which people thought that he was included in these films because his recording of the one of the title songs in 1964 sold over two million copies and momentarily displaced The Battles from the pop charts (encyclopedia. Com). Though he was loved by musicians, he was given the most racist and harsh reviews of his career because he was too wild for most critics.He didnt let the criticism bring him down however and returned an even bigger star when he began to tour throughout Europe in 1933. However, it was during this tour that Armstrong career started to fall apart. Many years of blowing high notes darted to take a toll on his lips, and to make things worse, a following fight with Johnny Collins, his manager who had also managed to get Armstrong into trouble with the American mob. With this, Armstrong decided to take some time off after the Upon returning to Chicago in 1935, Armstrong basically had nothing.He decided to put his career into the hands of Glasses, who had close mob ties and also was close to AY Capons. Doing this, the remnants of his mob troubles and other problems disappeared. Within a few months, Armstrong had a new big band and was recording for Decca Records (biography. Mom). Armstrong continued to record for Decca Records in the late sass and early sass, creating a string of popular hits. Though he was becoming highly popular in the sass, there was one downfall: he began losing his standing with two parts of his audience, which were Modern Jazz fans and young African-Americans.And on top of that, the struggle for civil rights was happening during all of this. The young people saw Armstrong music as outdated and said his best days are now behind him, and it only became a tad worse when he refused to comment on the politics and struggle or civil rights. But this changed in 1957 when on television, he saw a crisis: The Governor of Arkansas sent in the National Guard to forbid nine African-American students from entering the school. He blew up at this, telling a reporter that the President at the time, which was Dwight D.Eisenhower, had no guts for letting the governor govern the country. He also stated that the way they were treating his people in the south, the Government can go to hell. His words made the front-page of the newspaper across the world, and though he had finally spoken out after engaging publicly silent for so long, he received criticism from both black and white public figures. This was one of the most definitive and one of the bravest moments of Armstrong life (biography. Com). When World War 2 ended, swing music was on its way out and bands again became smaller, giving Armstrong another opportunity to hit it big. At a Town Hall concert in New York, he introduced a six piece group that he would use for the rest of his life. He named it the All Stars, and they complimented his style perfectly. In the sass, Armstrong teamed up with other singers to make recordings. He teamed up tit Being Crosby, Louis Jordan, and Gary Crosby. He made some tracks with Ella Fitzgerald in 1957, and was backed up by the Oscar Peterson trio.While working with the trio, Armstrong took the opportunity to record Mack the Knife, his first big hit to feature his famous raspy throat. Armstrong continued through a touring schedule in the late ass, and it caught up to him in 1959 when he had a heart attack while traveling to Italy. The heart attack didnt stop the musician however. After taking a few weeks off to recover, Armstrong was back on the road, performing 300 nights a year throughout the year and into the sass. Armstrong continued to be a popular attraction around the world in 1963, but hadnt made a record in two years.In December, he was called into the studio to record a title number for a Broadway show: Hello, Dolly! The show wasnt open at the time, but the record was released in 1964. It quickly climbed to the top of the music charts and hit No. 1 slot in 1964, once again, knocking the Battles off the top at the height of Battlement. With this big hit, Armstrong continued to create music until 1971 (biography. Com). Louis Armstrong brought Jazz into the world; his incredible talent was able to hen there wasnt internet or TV.