Louis Armstrong: biography, best songs, interesting facts, listen

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong - a man woven out of controversy. All his life he loved music, created to conquer peaks, he was often forced to be content with second roles. One can argue, to say that he himself, individually, created his image of the great "King of Jazz", that all his fame is the result of long and hard work. Of course, the way it is, but only in part. The racial prejudices that prevailed at that time simply would not have allowed Armstrong to climb the summit of Olympus alone. He did much by stepping on the throat of his song, guided by the role imposed on him by numerous impresarios. But they were white, but he was not, so Armstrong had to do the incredible - to be a star of the stage, a top-class artist entering elite houses - and at the same time doing not only for the benefit of the public, but also for future generations, creating brilliant compositions that have not died for decades.

short biography

Little Louis was born in the New Orleans area, called the “Battlefield”. The constant clashes of bandits and gunfights were an integral feature of local life, which, of course, left its mark on the little boy. The poorest area of ​​Louisiana was just a bunch of bars, saloons, criminals and women of easy virtue inhabiting it. Stabbing and shooting were so much in progress that they were perceived as something natural. Regarding the date of his birth is still being debated. 1900 is considered generally accepted, July 4th. But there is another date - 1901, August 4. And the musician himself always said that he saw the world in 1890. These discrepancies are the best way to show the plight of the Armstrong family, who did not even bother to register his birth.

His mother, Mary Elbert, was only 16 years old when she gave birth to Louis. In infancy, the parents parted, and the boy was left in the care of Josephine - the boy's grandmother. However, after 5 years, his mother again took him to her, by the time Louis had already started going to school.

He was able to get a quartet of boys-vocalists who advocated for alms. At the same time, Louis met with the family Karnowski - Latvian-Jewish immigrants. He began to work for them, carrying coal, and gradually became a very close family member.

The key event for the boy happened in 1913, when all of New Orleans was immersed in the New Year holiday. Sneaking a pistol next to my mom's friend, Louis fired just one shot. Nearby, a policeman suddenly appeared and took the teenager into custody. For such a relatively innocent offense, Armstrong was given a harsh retribution - serving a prison term in the prison of Captain Joseph Jones. However, for the boy it was happiness - in the settlement he was dressed and fed enough. So we can only thank the unknown judge who sent Armstrong away from home and gave him a chance for a new life.

The correctional institution had a small vocal group and orchestra conducted by Peter Davis. Davis agreed to take the boy into the orchestra and to begin with, he put him on a tambourine, the simplest musical instrument. Quickly enough, the boy was entrusted to the alto horn, a low-sounding wind instrument playing harmonic parts. Since Armstrong had already learned how to listen to different voices while singing in the choir, he had no problems with the new instrument. The boy's talent was obvious, and Davis began to teach the boy to play on the horn, and then on the cornet. As a result, Armstrong becomes the best musician in the orchestra.

The father took the musician from the colony, but at the first opportunity Armstrong escaped and returned to his mother. By the way, Karnovsky's help came to him - they presented him with a new cornet, on which he could start making money. From this moment began the creative and concert activities of Armstrong.

In 1918, Louis arranged for a river steamer in an entertaining orchestra. Mellofonist David Jones taught Armstrong in one of the cruises. In 1922 he moved to Chicago, where at that time he practically had no equal. Being out of competition, he soon becomes a star, making each of his performances a bright and spectacular show.

In 1925, he performs at the Dreamland Cafe, joins the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and works in the Erskine Tate Orchestra. In 1929 he moved to New York, where he devoted himself entirely to music. Being by this time very famous, he did not experience a lack of money, giving an incredible number of concerts.

Up until 1946, Armstrong lived an active concert life, acted in films and recorded his own records. In 1947, the All Stars ensemble, created on the initiative of Glaser, appears, including the most eminent jazz masters. Armstrong with the ensemble gives countless concerts, continues to act in films. Since 1950, he begins to act more as a vocalist. His deep hoarse voice and white smile were his calling card, his pass to any place where he wanted to speak. He lived for the sake of music, for playing the trumpet, and he needed nothing more. On July 6, 1970, the greatest jazzman in the history of mankind passed away.

Interesting Facts

• He was first arrested at 11 years of age.
• The conditions in the ghetto where little Louis lived were incredibly awful. The boy had to do terrible things to survive: to look for food in garbage cans, begging and making petty thefts.
• Because of the constant shortage of money, Armstrong had to drop out of school. During his life, he never received a real education.

• At the age of 14, he Armstrong already played in the orchestra, not knowing the musical notation and focusing only on hearing.
• From the beginning of the concert activities and until his death, Armstrong practically did not interrupt the performances.
• When his mother, Elbert, died in 1942, it was the only time in his life, according to his recollections, when he cried.
• In 1918, the Cornetist Joe Oliver left his place in the Kid Ory Orchestra, and an 18-year-old jazzman took his place. Oliver taught him the basic rules of breathing, staging, and taught him a little musical notation.
• Upon learning of the death of his father, he refused to go to his funeral, saying: "The man who left me and my mother to die of hunger is nobody for me."
• The opinion of the jazzman regarding Buddy Bolden, the “king of the Cornet” of New Orleans, one of the founders of the “classical” Negro jazz, is interesting. Bolden got the nickname "The King" for his merits and had a considerable influence on subsequent generations of jazzmen, including Armstrong, who had listened to him live since early childhood. He said: “In order to blow his cornet, I wouldn’t have had enough lungs. Though everyone considered him great, but he blew too much into him, and, most likely, wrong. Remember that in the end he flew off the coils, you shouldn’t overlook this. "
• In 1926 there was a complete abandonment of the cornet and the transition to pipe. Apparently, this was influenced by the design of the tools. After all, on the cornet, which has a wide bell, the sound was too soft, and Armstrong's playing style demanded a sharper sound. In addition, the cornet too stood out from the overall sound of the orchestras of the time.

• Armstrong has over 60 hits that have become an immortal jazz classic. He recorded them with his band "Hot Five" in just 3 years.
• Armstrong always kept with him the Star of David, as a memory of the Jewish family of Karnovsky, which became practically his own.
• He was the first of color jazz musicians who wrote an autobiography.
• Who avoided politics all his life, once he broke this rule. During the crisis at Little Rock, nine African Americans were barred from attending classes. This situation infuriated him so much that he said: "For the way the government treats my compatriots, it must go to hell." For this phrase, he was subjected to harsh criticism, but did not change his opinion. This statement concerning President Eisenhower is considered the most courageous act of a musician’s entire life.
• He was disliked by many young compatriots who believed that he should use his position to improve the lives of people of color. However, Armstrong never did this.
• At one time, Armstrong experimented with playing trombone, but it was nothing more than a passion.
• Armstrong was barren, but he loved children very much.

• He was a sponsor for the Armstrong's Secret Nine amateur baseball team.
• At one time, at the peak of its popularity, cigars were produced under the name "Louis Armstrong".
• He often used soft drugs and was once convicted of possessing marijuana.
• Louis adopted the child of his cousin, who died shortly after giving birth - the boy Clarence. Unfortunately, he suffered a head injury in childhood and began to lag behind. However, Armstrong took care of him all his life.
• One reviewer once did a derogatory review of Louis's speech. This so hurt the musician, who had by that time world fame, that he just fell into despair. Despite his popularity, jazzman was a very impressionable person.
• Once in England, speaking to members of the royal family, Armstrong violated the unspoken rule prohibiting contacting royals directly. Looking at George V, the jazzman said: "I perform it especially for you, Rex!" - and played a solo.
• He had an engraved watch "the greatest trumpeter of the world", obtained from admirers of his talent.
• He had a nickname - Setchmo, which he often signed and used in the title of his songs and albums.

• Not every concert was outstanding. Often, especially in the last years of his life, he played mechanically, only on willpower. However, this does not mean that he played badly. Even the shortest of his performance has always been on top. He simply did not allow himself otherwise.
• Toward the end of his life, Armstrong had problems with the lip machine and fingers. Because of this, he almost completely switched to singing, playing only short phrases on the trumpet and rarely using fast tempo in improvisations.
• The jazzman's funeral was shown live throughout the United States. Many newspapers in the world, including Izvestia of the Soviet Union, reacted to the death of a musician, condolencing and grieving over the loss. Many famous musicians and singers of the time performed at the funeral: Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and many others.

The best songs that have become world famous.

Being a truly inexhaustible source of ideas, Louis Armstrong for his life gave the world a large number of works that have become truly significant and religious in the world of jazz. His style of playing and performing vocal techniques, his gorgeous "voice with sand" became a kind of canon of the era.

The most famous compositions recorded by Armstrong can rightly be considered "Hello, Dolly!", "Go down moses"(better known as" Let My people go ") and"What a wonderful world"Today practically everyone knows them, and their sound is associated only with Armstrong's voice.

Contrary to popular belief, the composition "Hello, Dolly!"was written not by Armstrong, but by Jerry Herman. But her performance by the 63-year-old jazzman could have done the impossible - the song took the first line of the charts, dropping the Beatles themselves from the top! And yet they confidently held the first three places of the chart for 3 months. In 1965, Armstrong received a Grammy Award for this song - for the best male vocals.

"Hello, Dolly!" (listen)

Song "Go down moses"thanks to Armstrong, she started a new life. It was he who significantly reworked it in 1958, re-arranged and gave a fresh sound. His most famous trumpet solo became a canon of jazz music, forever securing Armstrong for this composition, as a brilliant performer.

"Go down moses" (listen)

In 1967 they composed a song "What a wonderful world"Its authors, Bob Thiel and George Weiss, thought for a long time who of the popular singers could offer it for performance and eventually settled on Armstrong. He was just picking up the songs for his new album, and the fresh song came at an opportune moment.

"What a wonderful world" (listen)

Unfortunately, Armstrong's compatriots did not appreciate the song and its performance. "How can you sing about the beauty of the world and nature, looking at what is happening around?" - that was their only question. Only a year later, in 1968, the song won first place in the UK charts. Since then, the composition has been repeatedly re-chanted by various performers, but nobody could sing the Armstrong's canonical performance. After all, we hear his voice in the head when we see the name of the song.

Filmography musician

Armstrong starred in a huge number of movies, TV shows and television shows, even more than that of another actor. In many ways, this was done in order to popularize the musician himself, and, of course, for the sake of money. His impresario, Joe Glazer, created an original image for Armstrong, who had nothing to do with the inner world of Louis, and which he had to adhere to in order to stay on the zenith of fame. Glaser's favorite phrases were: "Smile, damn it, smile!" and "grimace!"

Thus, Glazer was able to get rich on the name of his ward, but it was not just a profit, it was a kind of symbiosis. After all, being "colorful", Armstrong could never achieve such glory, which he received with the help of Glaser. This followed from the realities of the time in which he lived - where whites had an initial advantage over dark-skinned ones. So, being a realist, Armstrong just played his part, followed the traditions adopted in his time.

Armstrong has been filming all his life from 1930 to 1971. His first film was "Ex-flame"(Explosive), filmed in 1930. A simple story about a wife blinded by jealousy, as a result of which she lost not only her home, but also her son. In this film, Louis acted as herself, which did not require any special effort. The last film in which he starred in 1969 was the musical adventure comedy "Hello, Dolly!", which lasts 2 hours and 26 minutes. Armstrong starred in it as an orchestral conductor. The film won 3 Oscars and received 13 nominations.

In total, Louis was shooting in 28 films, where he played other characters, and in 10 films, where he portrayed himself. In addition, he for many years participated in 13 television shows and starred in 10 television series.

After the death of him continued to make films, almost more than during his lifetime. 21 new films and 10 TV series have been released: documentary, biographical and popular.

Jazzman personal life

Relationship with the mother and the musician’s childhood-free morality greatly influenced his relationship with the weaker sex. Every day, seeing the dissolute life of his mother, he subconsciously came to the conclusion that there is no serious attachment to the weaker sex, much less love.

During his life, he changed a lot of women, was married as much as 3 times, moreover, he often got married on the side, being married. He did not hesitate to flirt with women, and since he was rich, he was a huge success.

In 1918, he met the first woman for whom he experienced something like love. Her name was Daisy Parker. Nice and interesting at first glance, inside she was a devil in a skirt - ignorance, wild jealousy, constant quarrels, screams and irrepressible pugnacity. The obnoxious nature of the woman caused the divorce, after which Daisy soon died.

With the second wife, the musician was more fortunate. We can say that she chose Armstrong, and not vice versa. Lil Hardin received a very decent musical education, perfectly played the piano, dressed with taste and was quite educated. At first she had a very low opinion of Louis, considering him a provincial uneducated person, but over time his talent, snow-white smile and charm melted her heart.

Lil began to make Armstrong star. This was her obsessive desire and Armstrong could not resist him. She made him go on a diet, so he lost 20 kilograms, bought new beautiful clothes and instilled a sense of taste. In addition, she taught him secular manners and the basics of musical culture.

Hardin made Armstrong move to New York. There she took it seriously and here the first problems appeared. Louis at heart remained a provincial and simple man. He did not understand why alcohol and weed are so reproached and did not see anything shameful in their use. Lil didn’t think so, and they often quarreled about it. In the end, Hardin decided to divorce. She approached him creatively and thoroughly, leaving Armstrong penniless and taking herself a posh house that they bought together. Lil outlived her former husband, but only slightly, dying on the stage in 1971 from a heart attack.

His third wife was Lucille Wilson, born in New York. Finally, there was a woman who fell in love with Armstrong, not for money, but for his character. Танцовщица, получившая музыкальное образование, она полностью устроила Луи своим характером, будучи мягкой и уступчивой женщиной. Во время ссор она всегда могла найти компромисс, и они прожили в счастливом браке целых 30 лет.

Непростые отношения с менеджерами

Армстронгу всю жизнь не везло с деньгами. Нет, он знал им цену, но распоряжался своими доходами абсолютно неграмотно. Вокруг него постоянно крутились попрошайки всех мастей, многочисленные "друзья" звали его в бары, но не торопились оплачивать счета. Therefore, it is not surprising that Armstrong often had problems with managers who tried at first to somehow control the musician, and then began to use their position and shamelessly rob.

Louis’s first manager was Johnny Collins, a shameless cheater who used every opportunity to take most of the money from Armstrong. At the same time, he did not even care about fixing this documentary - the musician was absolutely helpless in the bureaucracy and never checked his bills and fees. Louis's constant quarrels with the manager did not lead to anything, - the money still flowed away, it is not clear where and for what.

In the 1930s, Armstrong had serious problems with rival mafia clans controlling London’s nightlife. As a result, he had to hide in California. As soon as he tried to return to Chicago, the mafia ordered him to get out of the city. Johnny Collins abandoned Armstrong in 1934, refusing further cooperation. At the same time he takes almost all the money a musician.

In 1935, a jazzman who was finally disappointed in people did not know what to do, but suddenly he got acquainted with Joe Glazer, who in a short time (in just 3-4 months) solved all his problems. He becomes the new jazzman manager. At the same time, he was close enough with the gangster Al Capone and had authority among the criminal world. This hard and even cruel person had great connections. He quickly paid off all the debts of Armstrong, scared away his former girlfriends and mistresses who threatened him with lawsuits, and brought order to the accounts.

Glazer for many years became a powerful patron of Armstrong. An interesting thing happened. As you know, many did not respect jazzman: someone for refusing to promote the equality of "colored", someone for excessive gullibility. Many did not like him for obedience, which he expressed to the "white masters". A principled man with the tendencies of a criminal, Joe Glazer, sincerely respected the musician. Perhaps, in the depths of his soul, he understood that he was dealing with a genius, with a talent that he would never achieve, with a man who has no equal in terms of performance and skill. Until the very end of his life, he protected Armstrong and he considered him to be his friend. In part, it was so.

In 1969, Glaser suddenly had a severe attack. Armstrong decided not to say anything, but by coincidence, Glaser was taken to the same hospital where, shortly before, a musician had been taken away because of heart problems. Louis demanded that he be allowed to see his friend, he asked to be brought to him, if only on a gurney. In the end, he was allowed. He came out depressed and shocked, beside himself with grief. His friend and patron did not even recognize his ward ...

On July 4, 1969, Glazer died without regaining consciousness. The death of a man with whom Louis had worked for many years left a heavy imprint on him and undermined his health. He tried to show everyone that nothing had changed, but it was the beginning of the end.

Louis Armstrong was a genius who was ahead of his time. His talent did not fit into the existing framework, did not fit into them, and he had to limit himself to always be the first, the best, the only ... This was especially noticeable in the second half of his life. Resilient and charismatic, he was the soul of any company, but we can never know what was going on inside of him.

Armstrong - the phenomenon of musical culture. The difficult childhood of the musician left his mark on him, but could not break his character. Through all his life he carried his charm, charming smile and kindness. The most complicated virtuoso technique easily coexisted in his music with a conversational recitative. The deep heartfelt sound of the trumpet and the indescribable voice easily got along together, making any composition a masterpiece. Although he was considered the greatest musician of our time, he himself had a low opinion of himself. He lived for performances, concerts and applause from the public. Before his death, he refused to go to the hospital. Being in a terrible physical condition, exhausted, he could not refuse people who bought tickets for his performance. So he was already - great and at the same time simple, "King of Jazz" ...