Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. Chicago Tribute. , Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong , Jazz Musician , 1898 - 1971, One of the most gifted musicians in the history of jazz, Louis Armstrong spent his most inventive years, 1925 to 1929, playing the clubs of Chicago’s Black Belt, especially the Sunset Cafe. During that time, his bands the Hot Five and Hot Seven recorded 60 performances that transformed jazz, including “Potato Head Blues,” “West End Blues” and “Heebie Jeebies.”, Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans into extreme poverty. He learned to play the cornet while serving a sentence for delinquency. After eight years of playing in clubs and on riverboats, Armstrong moved to Chicago to join Joe “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band., In Chicago, Armstrong switched from cornet to the more brilliant-sounding trumpet. He created a sophisticated form of improvisation whose uninhibited tone, range and rhythm revolutionized modern music. He also began his trademark “scat” singing, using his voice as an instrument with nonsense syllables., In 1925, he married pianist and composer Lil Hardin and they bought a home at 421 East 44th Street. Hardin-Armstrong was a pianist and bandleader as well as a member of Armstrong’s Hot Five. Together, Louis and Lil composed many classic jazz tunes., By the late 1920s, Armstrong began touring internationally. He spent the next few decades as a soloist and singer with various big bands, and appeared in more than 50 films. ,