Louis Armstrong Lives On

Some people seem to live long after their deaths. An amazing example for me is Louis Armstrong, who I was surprised to learn has been gone for over 40 years. One reason he seems to be very much alive even now is all of the extremely popular sites on YouTube where we can still see and hear him sing and play his trumpet.

His recording of a favorite song of mine, “It’s a Wonderful World,” has been watched over 35 million times, for example. And others of his recordings, including “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Go Down Moses,” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen,” “Moon River” and “When You’re Smiling” are also still regularly heard - and loved - by millions. 

Also known as “Satchmo” and “Pops,” Louis Armstrong had an extremely difficult childhood. Not only was he a grandchild of slaves and born to a poor family in New Orleans back in 1901, but in addition, his father left the family when Louis was just an infant. His mother, out of desperation, became a prostitute, and poor little Louis was moved back and forth between his separated parents and also spent a lot of time with his grandmother.

This kind of insecurity in childhood causes many people to become bitter and unsuccessful in life, but that was certainly not the case with Louis Armstrong.

Even as a young boy he tried to help his relatives by delivering newspapers, selling discarded food to restaurants and even hauling coal. He was sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs for various issues of delinquency, but that turned out to be fortunate, for he got some musical training on the cornet while there. Most of his music training, however, was achieved simply by observing other musicians’ techniques and teaching himself.

As a young man he joined a band which toured up and down the Mississippi River on a steamboat and later described the value of that experience as being almost equivalent to going to a university.

He later moved to Chicago, where he was extremely popular. My father, along with thousands of others, loved hearing him perform there in the 20s. And my mother, also from Chicago, actually did the same part-time job playing as Armstrong, playing music in theatres for silent films.

It is very unusual for musicians to sing as well as performing on instruments professionally, but Armstrong was equally famous for both. In addition, he was a master of “scat” singing, which he was the first to record. You can hear a combination of his playing, singing scat as well as words on the YouTube recording of his song called “Heebie Jeebies.”

In 1930, Armstrong moved to Los Angeles, temporarily, where he played with Lionel Hampton and even appeared in his first film, “Ex-Flame.”

He eventually performed in 20 different films, the most famous ones being “Hello Dolly, “High Society,” and “The Glenn Miller Story.”

Besides performing thousands of times all over this country, he also toured Africa, Europe and Asia, sponsored by the US State Department. It was during those experiences that he earned the fun nickname, “Ambassador Satch.”

For all of these reasons, I would say that the amazing Louis Armstrong is still very much alive in our minds and hearts.