Black History Month Music: Louis Armstrong

Tweet

Happy February! And happy Black History Month! This month I’m going to present 28 great musicians from all over the spectrum, which is great because it shows just how influential blacks have been throughout music history. Since these are alphabetical, it’s not intentional that one of the best-known performers in music starts us off…just the luck of the alphabetical draw. Louis Armstrong Here’s an example of Louis Armstrong’s greatness in music: he has TWELVE songs in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Well, asterisk: eleven, plus “Blue Yodel #9” by Jimmie Rodgers (the “Father of Country Music” Jimmie Rodgers), which Armstrong played trumpet on. Satchmo. How do you describe him. He was a jazz trumpet player. And a jazz scat vocalist. AND a pop performer. AND a blues musician. Since Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans, the genre of music didn’t matter nearly as much as the quality. He had the influences of the blues and Dixieland swing in the area and even traditional Jewish music that he heard in the home of a Jewish family he worked for as a child. Put it all together, and you had incredible music. As with many of the artists of the time, Armstrong’s music reached across racial boundaries (as evidenced by the fact that a white man from Mississippi — Jimmie Rodgers — used Armstrong in a recording session in 1930!), in terms of popularity and influence. When Armstrong died of a heart attack in July 1971 it was front-page headline news. His music is remembered today and still used in movies and commercials (remember the juxtaposition of “What a Wonderful World’ against the montage of violence in Good Morning, Vietnam). You just can’t be sad listening to Satchmo. Louis Armstrong Born Louis Daniel Armstrong, August 4, 1901*, New Orleans, Louisiana (*birth date disputed) Died July 6, 1971, New York City (heart attack) (age 70) HALLS OF FAME: Rock and Roll, 1990; National Rhythm & Blues, 2017; DownBeat Jazz, 1952 (first inductee); Louisiana Music, 2007 Here’s “Weather Bird,” one of the 12 Armstrong recordings honored by the Grammy Hall of Fame, also featuring the great Earl “Fatha” Hines on piano: