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The Static TimesExtra
Louis Armstrong
American jazz trumpeter and singer (1901–1971)
Louis Daniel Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American jazz and blues trumpeter and vocalist. Among the most influential figures in jazz, his career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of the genre.
Armstrong received numerous accolades, including the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for "Hello, Dolly!" in 1965, as well as a posthumous win for the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972. His influence crossed musical genres, with inductions into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, among others.
labels: ABC Records, Audio Fidelity, Columbia Records, Decca
genres: jazz
awards: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
plays: trumpet, cornet, voice
member of: Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
jazzdixielandswingvocal jazzgospeltraditional pop
The Dial Tone DailyExtra
Early life
Armstrong is believed to have been born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901, but the accuracy of this date has been heavily debated. Armstrong himself often claimed he was born on July 4, 1900. His parents were Mary Estelle "Mayann" Albert and William Armstrong. Mary Albert was from Boutte, Louisiana, and gave birth at home when she was around age 16. Less than a year and a half later, they had a daughter, Beatrice "Mama Lucy" Armstrong (1903–1987), whom Albert raised. William Armstrong abandoned the family shortly after that. Louis Armstrong was raised by his grandmother until the age of five, when he was returned to his mother. Armstrong spent his youth in poverty in a rough neighborhood known as the Battlefield, on the southern section of...
After spending many years on the road, Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York, in 1943 with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, as well as anti-black prejudice, Armstrong continued to develop his playing.
The nicknames "Satchmo" and "Satch" are short for "Satchelmouth". The nickname origin is uncertain. The most common tale that biographers tell is the story of Armstrong as a young boy in New Orleans dancing for pennies. He scooped the coins off the street and stuck them into his mouth to prevent bigger children from stealing them. Someone dubbed Armstrong "satchel mouth" for his mouth acting as a satchel. Another tale is that because of his large mouth, Armstrong was nicknamed "satchel mouth", which was shortened to "Satchmo".
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. Along with his "clarinet-like figurations and high notes in his cornet solos", Armstrong was also known for his "intense rhythmic 'swing', a complex conception involving accented upbeats, upbeat to downbeat slurring, and complementary relations among rhythmic patterns. The most lauded recordings on which Armstrong plays trumpet include the Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions, as well as those of the Red Onion Jazz Babies. Armstrong's improvisations, while unconventionally sophisticated for that era, were also subtle and highly melodic. The solo that Armstrong plays during the song "Potato Head Blues" has long been considered his best solo of that...
American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, singer and bandleader, nicknamed "Satchmo" or "Pops". Along with Fletcher Henderson he was the instigator of the second wave of jazz, Swing.
Inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990 (Early Influence).
For his writing credits, do not use those of his wife Lil Hardin-Armstrong ("Struttin' With Some Barbecue", "Bad Boy", "Just For A Thrill", "Perdido Street Blues", "The King Of The Zulu's" among others)
Born 4 August 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (often also noted as 4 July 1900, based on erroneous information from Armstrong himself).
Died 6 July 1971 in New York City, New York, USA.
Winner of 1 Grammy Award:
- Best Vocal Performance, Male for 232350
Also known as: Armstong, Armstron, Armstrong, Armstrong L., Armstrong Louis
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Louis Armstrong, the records, oldest first
Louis and Earl
1941 album
Paris 1934
1947 album
Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy
1954 album
Satch Plays Fats: A Tribute to the Immortal Fats Waller
1955 album
Ella and Louis
1956 album
Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson
1957 album
Ella and Louis Again
1957 album
Porgy & Bess
1957 album
Ella and Louis Again, Volume Two
1957 album
Louis and the Angels
1957 album
A Day With Satchmo
1957 album
Satchmo in Style
1958 album
Louis Under the Stars
1958 album
Louis and the Good Book
1958 album
Louie and the Dukes of Dixieland
1960 album
I’ve Got the World on a String
1960 album
Bing & Satchmo
1960 album
Recording Together for the First Time
1961 album
The Great Reunion
1963 album
Hello, Dolly!
1964 album
wanted
Satchmo Sings Evergreens
1966 album
I Will Wait for You
1968 album
Disney Songs the Satchmo Way
1968 album
What a Wonderful World
1968 album
wanted
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"A Kiss to Build a Dream On" is a song composed by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II. In 1935, Kalmar and Ruby wrote a song called "Moonlight on the Meadow" for the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera (1935) but the song was not used.
Hammerstein later adapted the lyrics to be "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" and it was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1951.
Other recordings
Another popular recording was made by one of The Strip film's guest-stars, Monica Lewis, and in early 1952, the version by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra, with vocalist Johnny Parker, made it to the Pop 20 chart in the United States.
In popular culture
An instrumental version is heard in the background in the 1950 film Mister 880 at 21:39 minutes.
"Hello, Dolly!" is the title song of the popular musical of the same name, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.
In popular culture
In 1984, Carol Channing sang a parody of the song on Sesame Street called "Hello, Sammy!", a love song to a character known as Sammy the Snake (as voiced by its creator, Jim Henson). Carol tells Sammy just how much she loves and adores him while Sammy coils himself around Carol's arms. They are soon joined by four giant, swaying letter S's wearing a top hats. Carol ends the song by telling Sammy how much she'd miss his hisses if they ever parted.
"La Vie en rose" is the signature song of French singer Édith Piaf, written in 1945, popularized in 1946, and released as a single in 1947. The song became popular in the United States in 1950, when seven versions reached the Billboard charts.
These recordings were made by Tony Martin, Paul Weston, Bing Crosby, Ralph Flanagan, Victor Young, Dean Martin, and Louis Armstrong.
Background and release
The song's title can be translated as "Life in happy hues", "Life seen through rose-coloured glasses", or "Life in rosy hues"; its literal meaning is "Life in Pink".
"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong on August 16, 1967.
In April 1968, it topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poorly in the United States because Larry Newton, the president of ABC Records, disliked the song and refused to promote it.
Composition and production
Thiele, using the pseudonym George Douglas, co-wrote the song with George Weiss. Thiele's real name has been used for the composer credits from 1988 onward. Thiele said the following regarding his inspiration for the song: "[I]n the mid-1960s during the deepening national traumas of the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, racial strife, and turmoil everywhere, my co-writer George David Weiss and I had an idea to write a 'different' song specifically for Louis Armstrong that would be called 'What a Wonderful World.'" Thiele also produced the original recording of the song, using his real name for the production credit. In Graham Nash's book Off the Record: Songwriters on Songwriting, George Weiss says he wrote the song specifically for Louis...
Release and reception
Because Newton refused to promote the song, it initially sold fewer than 1,000 copies in the US. It was a major success in the United Kingdom, reaching number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, it eventually reached number 116 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Chart. It was also the biggest-selling single of 1968 in the UK, where it was among the last pop singles issued by His Master's Voice before it became an exclusively classical music label. The song made Armstrong the oldest male to top the UK Singles Chart. (His record was broken in 2009 when a remake of "Islands in the Stream" recorded for Comic Relief—which included the 68-year-old Tom Jones—reached number 1.)
"When You're Smiling" is a popular song written by Larry Shay, Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin, published in 1928. Popular recordings were made by Seger Ellis (1928), Louis Armstrong (1929), Ted Wallace & His Campus Boys (1930), and Louis Prima (1957).
