Louis Armstrong: Perhaps the Greatest Trumpeter that ever livedAug 29 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line My tribute to the King of Jazz. I have played the trumpet for about 10 years now, and through that time, I have been listening to many great jazz trumpeters: Miles Davies, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Chuck Mangione, Wynton Marsalis plus many other trumpeters. All these trumpet players have phenomenal talents. But if I had to choose my favorite jazz trumpeter, I would have to say it's Louis Armstrong. I'm pretty sure you all know who Armstrong is. He not only played amazing trumpet solos, but he was also renowned for his raspy singing voice. Because of these two things, Armstrong has gained worldwide success and has been remembered as a jazz pioneer, bringing jazz music to new levels. Born Louis Daniel Armstrong in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1900, Armstrong's childhood was far from what you would call a normal childhood. Armstrong spent his childhood days in absolute poverty. Being in poverty, Armstrong never did have a permanent home either. He and his family moved from saloon to saloon and while outside these places, Armstrong, along with other boys, would sing for tips off people in the saloon. Louis' early life was a far cry from what he would become. But in 1912, his life would change forever. During New Year's Eve celebrations, Louis was shooting a pistol. After seeing this happen, the police immediately arrested him and as a punishment, he had to spend two years at the Colored Waif Home for Boys in the New Orleans area. Soon, he made friends with a fellow burglar, Peter Davis, and he noticed that Armstrong could sing, so Davis helped him to sing harmonies. Soon after that, Armstrong's talent had broadened to percussion and not long after that, he became the home bugler. He soon graduated to the cornet. However, Armstrong was not a jazz musician yet. He only played ensemble music and music for structured marches. The 2 years was soon over, and Armstrong was left on the street again, but he soon found work at the Mahogany Hall in New Orleans, where many jazz gigs were played. This is where Armstrong got his first taste of jazz and he knew that this was for him. Soon, he found himself making good friends with Kid Ory's Band and started making good friends with Joe "King" Oliver, who would soon give Armstrong his opportunity by allowing him to join him along with Kid Ory's Band as 2nd trumpet behind Oliver. It was with Oliver that Armstrong would learn the importance of harmonies, straight leads and this is also where he developed an ear for music. Soon in 1919, Armstrong and Oliver formed their own band: King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with Armstrong still on 2nd trumpet. However, Armstrong would not stay at 2nd trumpet for long. He had always had the initiative to go one step further and he kept working hard at improving his talent on the trumpet. And the results? From all this hard work, Armstrong soon had developed his own style. His dazzling speed on the trumpet valves, his 3 1/2 octave range, ability to sustain long notes, clear tone, half pitched bends and his natural sense of rhythm were only part of what he would eventually become. Armstrong soon parted with Oliver to start his own band: Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five. This was where Louis would start experimenting with his music and start revolutionizing jazz. He started incorporating a blues scale with flattened 3rds, 5ths and 7ths and along with that, chromaticism and the frequent use of 9ths and 13ths. He also incorporated swing rhythms, a technique that would be emulated by many musicians up to today. It was not only the technical side that Armstrong was amazing for. Armstrong had a natural feel for his music, which is truly evident in any piece of music he played. I think that when you listen to his music, you can naturally feel the eloquence in his music.....well, it's hard to describe this. Anyway, mixing all these things together would help create the backbone for all jazz music, but the most important factor about playing jazz music is that it is played with feeling. It was not only his skills as a trumpeter that would lead him to success. His low, raspy voice was also a major factor in his success. He would sing the ocassional tune, such as Ain't Misbehavin' and When the Saints Go Marching In, but being the innovative mind he is, he created a new style of singing as well. This style was known as 'scat' singing. 'Scat' singing was what I would call "an accidental invention". During recordings, Armstrong's music would fall off the music stand and instead of stopping the whole recording, Louis would sing and try to sing as if he was a trumpet. This style would be copied, most notably by Ella Fitzgerald. All this would help establish Armstrong to become one of jazz's most talented musicians and certainly, one of its pioneers. Many of his songs showcase all of his ability, and some examples are West End Blues and Tight Like This. Armstrong not only made jazz popular, but he made one style of jazz, Dixieland Jazz, become popular during the 1920s. A typical Dixieland Jazz band is basically a band that consists of a trumpet, clarinet, trombone, bass and piano. Each of these instruments would have solos in every song they played. Armstrong also revolutionized Dixieland Jazz by experimenting with plunger mutes and virtuosic abilities on all the instruments. This created a unique sound that attracted many black people to listen to this. But despite all this happening, Armstrong remained a likeable guy. Not inflated by his ego, Armstrong would go out and play his music. Afterwards, his bubbly personality would allow him to socialize with his many friends. However in the early 1930s, soon after his success as a Dixieland musician, the numbers in Armstrong's band grew immensely. Louis' first big band was called Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra and later, it changed to Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars. This sudden increase in growth would create a new form of jazz: Big Band Jazz. Instead of solos from all the instruments, there would be whole sections doing a solo and the whole band would move together and create this big, fat sound that would even get whites attracted to this music. Armstrong had to compose all the parts for his "orchestra" and at the same time, move each instrument together to create the "big band" sound. There were many successful songs during this era of "big band" music. This included When the Saints Go Marching In and St. Louis Blues. But this age of new jazz would not last too long. By the early 1940s, this had died down and it would be the last of Louis Armstrong playing in a big band. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Armstrong's career went downwards. He would only play with sophisticated singers such as Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald. To make matters worse, this would rarely happen. However, by now people recognized Armstrong as a jazz revolutionary and that if it weren't for him, jazz would not have been as successful as it has become. By the late 1950s, it looked like Armstrong's career was over. But then in 1963, just when people started forgetting about Armstrong, he came up with an amazing song in Hello, Dolly!. Armstrong both sings and plays a trumpet solo in this song and doing this at 63 truly shows how great a musician he was. But it took another 3 years for Armstrong to make history books with What a Wonderful World. This song, although it only shows Armstrong on the vocals, brought Armstrong to No. 1 on the U.S. charts. Not only did it climb up to No. 1, this song made Armstrong the oldest person (67) to have a number one hit! A great tribute to Armstrong. The lyrics define how wonderful life is and despite the fact he began his life in poverty, his loveable personality shines through this song. This would be, however, Armstrong's last song. Armstrong suddenly died in 1971, while he was still enjoying success worldwide. The world mourned his death and the world had realized that it had lost one of music's greatest performers. I think that if it weren't for Armstrong, other musicians such as Miles Davies, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie plus many other musicians would not have enjoyed any success. Armstrong was the catalyst for this revolutionary change in jazz and I praise him for that. What a great musician and what a phenomenal talent! I hope this was helpful and I hope you guys enjoyed it.  |
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