Tune in on Thursday, July 4 as we celebrate the chosen birthday of trumpeter, vocalist Louis Armstrong with 24 hours of his music beginning at midnight. In his autobiography, Swing That Music, Louis Armstrong titled the first chapter “Jazz and I Get Born Together.” Dating his birthday July 4, 1900 (as his mother had always told him), Armstrong created a mythology that linked his own birth to the birth of Jazz and the birth of America. While historians generally believe his actual birthday was on August 4th, 1901, Armstrong chose to celebrate his birthday on July 4th every year, which we also honor with an annual birthday broadcast.
Louis, who also went by “Satchmo”, “Satch”, and “Pops”, grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was raised by his mother. While he did a good job of avoiding trouble in a dangerous neighborhood, On New Year’s Eve 1912, he was arrested for firing a gun up into the air and sent to the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys. This turned out to be a life-changing event for Pops, as it is where he learned how to play the cornet, and decided on becoming a professional musician (eventually becoming the leader of the Waif’s Home Brass Band). With the top cornetist of the day, Joe “King” Oliver, recognizing Satchmo’s talent, and taking him under his wing, Armstrong steadily became more and more in-demand, eventually working on Mississippi Riverboats where he refined his technique and learned how to read music. In 1922, he joined Joe “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, the burgeoning epicenter of Jazz at the time. By 1924 he had quit Oliver's group, and moved to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (which then featured a young Coleman Hawkins).
In 1927, Louis created some of his most famous recordings with the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, which featured luminaries such as Kid Ory, Lil' Hardin, Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Johnny St. Cyr. In 1947, Louis' manager, Joe Glaser, formed a new smaller group titled Louis Armstrong's All Stars, which featured musicians such as Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Sid Catlett, and Trummy Young. For the remainder of his life, Louis would have a string of hits with this group, and would go on to record definitive versions of tunes such as "Hello, Dolly" and "What A Wonderful World".
Throughout his life, Louis Armstrong was not only a model for musicians looking to make it, but also a cultural model, known worldwide as “Ambassador Satch” for his role as the face of the jazz world at the time. Armstrong's distinct trumpet style and deep and gravelly voice became not only emblematic of the jazz age, but symbols of freedom as well. Louis was the father of jazz as we know it, and one of the largest cultural ambassadors of this incredible music.
Tune in to the WKCR birthday broadcast of Louis Armstrong on 89.9FM or stream it live on our website, wkcr.org. Follow WKCR on Instagram (@wkcr) and Twitter (@WKCRFM) for updates about the special broadcast and future events. Online listening is available 24/7 at wkcr.org via our web stream.
