b. Daniel Louis Armstrong, 4 August 1901; New
Orleans, LA
d. 6 July 1971; New York, NY
Trumpeter, singer. Jazz innovator Armstrong was one
of the most important musical figures of the twentieth
century, both for his pioneering role in the evolution of
instrumental soloing and as an enduring vocal influence who popularized horn-derived phrasing and scat
singing. A young Armstrong replaced the legendary
King Oliver in Kid Ory’s band in 1919 in New Orleans.
He moved to Chicago in 1922 to join Oliver’s Creole
Jazz Band and then to New York City in 1924 to work
with Fletcher Henderson. He backed blues singers
Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace, and Alberta
Hunter in recording sessions before revolutionizing
ensemble play with his Hot Five and Hot Seven landmark recordings. He formed his own band in 1927 in
Chicago and spent the next four decades as the most
popular and widely known figure in jazz.
MICHAEL POINT
Bibliography
Larkin; New Grove Jazz; Santelli
Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life In New Orleans. New
York: Prentice Hall, 1954.
Giddins, Gary. Satchmo. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
Discography: Lord