View source for Louis Armstrong

{{Short description|American jazz trumpeter and singer (1901–1971)}}
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{{Infobox person
| name               = Louis Armstrong
| image              = Louis Armstrong in Color (restored).jpg
| landscape          = yes
| caption            = Armstrong in 1947
| birth_name         = Louis Daniel Armstrong<ref name="anderson">{{cite book|title=Louis Armstrong|year=2015|first=Gene H.|last=Anderson|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190268756|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cn70BgAAQBAJ&q=louis+daniel+armstrong+baptismal+record&pg=PT6}}</ref>
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1901|8|4}}
| birth_place        = [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1971|7|6|1901|8|4}}
| death_place        = New York City, U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Flushing Cemetery]], New York City
| other_names        = Satchmo, Satch, Pops
| education          = Colored Waifs' Home for Boys, Fisk School for Boys
| occupation         = {{hlist|Musician|singer}}
| signature          = File:Louis Armstrong signature.svg
| children           = 2
| spouse             = {{Plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Daisy Parker|1919|1923|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[Lil Hardin Armstrong]]|1924|1938|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|Alpha Smith|1938|1942|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|Lucille Wilson|1942}}}}
| website            = 
| module             = {{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes
| background       = solo_singer
| years_active     = 1918–1971
| genre            = {{hlist|[[Jazz]]|[[Dixieland jazz|Dixieland]]|[[Swing music|swing]]|[[blues]]|[[traditional pop]]}}
| label            = {{hlist|[[OKeh Records|OKeh]]|[[Columbia Records|Columbia]]|[[Victor Records|Victor]]|[[Bluebird Records|Bluebird]]|[[Decca Records|Decca]]|[[Brunswick Records|Brunswick]]|[[RCA Victor]]|[[Verve Records|Verve]]|[[Audio Fidelity]]|[[MGM Records|MGM]]|[[Kapp Records|Kapp]]|[[Mercury Records|Mercury]]|[[ABC Records|ABC]]|[[Buena Vista Records|Buena Vista]]|[[United Artists Records|United Artists]]|[[Vocalion]]}}
| instrument       = {{hlist|Vocals|trumpet}}<!--- If you think an instrument should be listed, a discussion to reach consensus is needed first per: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Infobox_musical_artist#instrument--->
| works            = {{hlist|[[Louis Armstrong discography|Discography]]|[[Louis Armstrong filmography|filmography]]}}
}}
}}

'''Louis Daniel Armstrong''' (August 4, 1901&nbsp;– July 6, 1971),<ref name=NYTOBit>{{cite news| last=Krebs| first=Albin| title=Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter and Singer, Dies| date=July 7, 1971| work=[[The New York Times]]| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/07/07/79675134.html?pageNumber=1}}</ref> nicknamed "'''Satchmo'''", "'''Satch'''", and "'''Pops'''",<ref>For background on nicknames, see {{cite book|author=Laurence Bergreen|year=1997|title=Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-0553067682|pages=[https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrong00laur/page/4 4{{endash}}5]|url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrong00laur/page/4}}</ref> was an American [[jazz]] and [[blues]] trumpeter and vocalist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://americansongwriter.com/louis-armstrong/|title=Louis Armstrong: All That and More|date=August 17, 2021|publisher=[[American Songwriter]]|access-date=October 12, 2025}}</ref> Among the most influential figures in jazz, his career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of the genre.<ref name="RCJE">{{Cite book|last=Cook|first=Richard|year=2005|title=Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=978-0141006468|pages= 18–19}}</ref> Armstrong received numerous accolades including the [[Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance|Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance]] for ''[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' in 1965, as well as a posthumous win for the [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award]] in 1972. His influence crossed musical genres, with inductions into the [[DownBeat|''DownBeat'' Jazz Hall of Fame]], the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]], and the [[National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame]], among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/louis-armstrong/452|title= Louis Armstrong – Artist|website= Grammy.com|date= November 19, 2019|access-date= May 27, 2020}}</ref>

Armstrong was born and raised in [[New Orleans]]. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and [[cornet]] player, he was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 1.</ref> Around 1922, Armstrong followed his mentor, [[King Oliver|Joe "King" Oliver]], to Chicago to play in Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. Armstrong earned a reputation at "[[cutting contest]]s", and his fame reached band leader [[Fletcher Henderson]]. Armstrong moved to New York City, where he became a featured and musically influential band soloist and recording artist. By the 1950s, Armstrong was an international musical icon, appearing regularly in radio and television broadcasts and on film. Apart from his music, he was also beloved as an entertainer, often joking with the audience and keeping a joyful public image at all times.

Armstrong's best known songs include "[[What a Wonderful World]]", "[[La Vie en Rose]]", "[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]", "[[On the Sunny Side of the Street]]", "[[Dream a Little Dream of Me]]", "[[When You're Smiling]]" and "[[When the Saints Go Marching In]]". He collaborated with [[Ella Fitzgerald]], producing three records together: ''[[Ella and Louis]]'' (1956), ''[[Ella and Louis Again]]'' (1957), and ''[[Porgy and Bess (Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong album)|Porgy and Bess]]'' (1959). He also appeared in films such as ''[[A Rhapsody in Black and Blue]]'' (1932), ''[[Cabin in the Sky (film)|Cabin in the Sky]]'' (1943), ''[[High Society (1956 film)|High Society]]'' (1956), ''[[Paris Blues]]'' (1961), ''[[A Man Called Adam (film)|A Man Called Adam]]'' (1966), and ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' (1969).

With his instantly recognizable, rich, gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer and skillful improviser. He was also skilled at [[scat singing]]. By the end of Armstrong's life, his influence had spread to popular music. He was one of the first popular African-American entertainers to "cross over" to wide popularity with white and international audiences. Armstrong rarely publicly discussed racial issues, sometimes to the dismay of fellow black Americans, but took a well-publicized stand for [[school integration in the United States|desegregation]] in the [[Little Rock Nine|Little Rock Crisis]]. He could access the upper echelons of American society at a time when this was difficult for black men. His recording of “Melancholy Blues” is included on the [[Voyager Golden Record]], a sample of the sights and sounds of Earth sent into space.<ref>{{cite web| title=Golden Record Contents | publisher=[[NASA]]| url= https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/golden-record-contents/sounds/}}</ref>

==Early life==
Armstrong is believed to have been born in [[New Orleans]] on August 4, 1901, but the accuracy of this date has been heavily debated. Armstrong himself often claimed he was born on July 4, 1900.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/satchmogeniusofl00gidd/page/21 21]|author=Gary Giddins|title=Satchmo: The Genius of Louis Armstrong|url=https://archive.org/details/satchmogeniusofl00gidd|url-access=registration|publisher=Da Capo|year=2001|isbn=978-0-306-81013-8}}</ref><ref>Teachout (2009), pp. 26{{endash}}27.</ref><ref>Bergreen (1996), pp. 14–15.</ref> His parents were Mary Estelle "Mayann" Albert and William Armstrong. Mary Albert was from [[Boutte, Louisiana]], and gave birth at home when she was about 16. Less than a year and a half later, they had a daughter, Beatrice "Mama Lucy" Armstrong (1903–1987), whom Albert raised.<ref>{{cite book |last=Teachout |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Teachout |title=Pops |page=30 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |year=2009}}</ref> William Armstrong abandoned the family shortly after that.<ref name="giddins22">Giddins (2001), pp. 22{{endash}}23</ref>

Louis Armstrong was raised by his grandmother until the age of five, when he was returned to his mother.<ref name="giddins22" /> Armstrong spent his youth in poverty in a rough neighborhood known as The Battlefield,<ref>Giddins (2001), p. 26.</ref> on the southern section of [[Rampart Street]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jazz Neighborhoods – New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyculture/jazz-map.htm |access-date=July 25, 2022 |website=nps.gov |archive-date=May 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528143541/https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyculture/jazz-map.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> At the age of six, Armstrong started attending the Fisk School for Boys,<ref name="Bergreen" /> a school that accepted black children in the racially segregated school system of New Orleans.

Armstrong lived with his mother and sister during this time and worked for the Karnoffskys,<ref>Some sources spell Karnofsky with one "f". This article is spelling it with two "f"s based on Bergreen (1998).</ref> a family of [[Lithuanian Jews]], at [[Karnofsky Tailor Shop–House|their home]]. Armstrong helped their sons Morris and Alex collect "rags and bones" and deliver coal. In 1969, while recovering from heart and kidney problems at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, Armstrong wrote a memoir called ''Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, LA., the Year of 1907'', describing his time working for the Karnoffsky family.<ref name="in-his-own-words-karnofskys">{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Louis |title=Louis Armstrong, in His Own Words: Selected Writings |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |others=Annotated index by Charles Kinzer |year=1999 |isbn=0-19-511958-4 |editor=Brothers |editor-first=Thomas |editor-link=Thomas Brothers |pages=3–36 |chapter=Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, LA., the year of 1907 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrongin00arms/page/3/mode/ |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

Armstrong writes about singing "Russian Lullaby" with the Karnoffsky family when their baby son David was put to bed and credits the family with teaching him to sing "from the heart."<ref name="in-his-own-words-karnofskys" /> Curiously, Armstrong quotes lyrics for it that appear to be the same as the "Russian Lullaby", copyrighted by [[Irving Berlin]] in 1927, about 20 years after Armstrong remembered singing it as a child.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/irving-berlins-russian-lullaby/1127188|title=Irving Berlin's Russian Lullaby|first=Irving|last=Berlin| author-link=Irving Berlin| publisher=Irving Berlin Music Corp.|access-date=May 8, 2022|archive-date=May 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509032433/https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/irving-berlins-russian-lullaby/1127188|url-status=live}}</ref> Gary Zucker, Armstrong's doctor at Beth Israel hospital in 1969, shared Berlin's song lyrics with him, and Armstrong quoted them in the memoir.<ref name="in-his-own-words-karnofskys" /> This inaccuracy may be because he wrote the memoir over 60 years after the events described. Regardless, the Karnoffskys treated Armstrong exceptionally well. Knowing he lived without a father, they fed and nurtured Armstrong.<ref name="Commentary">{{cite web |last1=Teachout |first1=Terry |author-link=Terry Teachout |title=Satchmo and the Jews |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/satchmo-and-the-jews/ |website=[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary Magazine]] |access-date=June 14, 2018 |date=November 1, 2009 |archive-date=February 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206184934/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/satchmo-and-the-jews/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Karnow |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Karnow |title=My Debt to Cousin Louis's Cornet |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 21, 2001 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C02E1D91639F932A15751C0A9679C8B63 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409025810/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2001/02/21/opinion/my-debt-to-cousin-louis-s-cornet.html |archive-date=April 9, 2009 |access-date=November 14, 2023}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In his memoir, ''Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907'', he described his discovery that this family was also [[History of antisemitism in the United States|subject to discrimination by "other white folks"]] who felt that they were better than Jews: "I was only seven years old but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the white folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for."<ref name="in-his-own-words-karnofskys" /> Armstrong wrote about what he learned from them: "how to live—real life and determination."<ref name="Commentary"/> His first musical performance may have been at the side of the Karnoffskys' junk wagon. Armstrong tried playing a tin horn to attract customers to distinguish them from other hawkers. Morris Karnoffsky gave Armstrong an advance toward purchasing a [[cornet]] from a pawn shop.<ref>Bergreen (1997), pp. 55{{endash}}57.</ref>
Later, as an adult, Armstrong wore a [[Star of David]] given to him by his Jewish manager, Joe Glaser, until the end of his life, in part in memory of this family who had raised him.<ref name="in-his-own-words-karnofskys" />

When Armstrong was 11, he dropped out of school.<ref name="Bergreen">Bergreen (1997), pp. 27, 57–60.</ref> His mother moved into a one-room house on Perdido Street with Armstrong, Lucy, and her common-law husband, Tom Lee, next door to her brother Ike and his two sons.<ref>Giddins (2001), pp. 36–37.</ref> Armstrong joined a quartet of boys who sang in the streets for money. Cornetist [[Bunk Johnson]] said he taught the eleven-year-old to play by ear at Dago Tony's honky tonk.<ref>''Current Biography 1944'', pp. 15–17.</ref> In his later years, Armstrong credited King Oliver. Armstrong said about his youth, "Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans ... It has given me something to live for."<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 6.</ref>

[[File:Louis Armstrong Arrest 2 Jan 1913 Times-Democrat.jpg|thumb|A snippet from the January 2, 1913, issue of The Times-Democrat, New Orleans. "[[Negro]]" is a dated term for black people.]]
Borrowing his stepfather's gun without permission, Armstrong fired a blank into the air and was arrested on December 31, 1912. He spent the night at New Orleans Juvenile Court and was sentenced the next day to detention at the Colored Waif's [sic] Home.<ref>Bergreen (1997), pp. 67–68.</ref> Life at the home was spartan. Mattresses were absent, and meals were often little more than bread and molasses. Captain Joseph Jones ran the home like a military camp and used corporal punishment.<ref>Bergreen (1997), pp. 70–72.</ref>

Armstrong developed his cornet skills by playing in the band. [[Peter Davis (New Orleans musician/ teacher)|Peter Davis]], who frequently appeared at the home at the request of Captain Jones,<ref>''Current Biography 1944''. p. 16.</ref> became Armstrong's first teacher and chose him as the bandleader. With this band, the 13-year-old Armstrong attracted the attention of [[Kid Ory]].<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 78.</ref>

On June 14, 1914, Armstrong was released into the custody of his father and his new stepmother, Gertrude. Armstrong lived in this household with two stepbrothers for several months. After Gertrude gave birth to a daughter, Armstrong's father never welcomed him, so Armstrong returned to his mother, Mary Albert. Armstrong had to share a bed in her small home with his mother and sister. His mother still lived in The Battlefield, leaving Armstrong open to old temptations, but he sought work as a musician.<ref name="Bergreen 1997, pp. 80–89">Bergreen (1997), pp. 80–89.</ref>

Armstrong found a job at a dance hall owned by Henry Ponce, who had connections to organized crime. He met the six-foot tall drummer [[Black Benny]], who became Armstrong's guide and bodyguard.<ref name="Bergreen 1997, pp. 80–89"/> Around the age of 15, he pimped for a prostitute named Nootsy. However, that relationship failed after she stabbed Armstrong in the shoulder, and his mother choked her nearly to death.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|pages=70–71}}</ref>

Armstrong briefly studied shipping management at the local community college but was forced to quit after being unable to afford the fees.<ref name="Bergreen 1997, p.44">Bergreen (1997), p. 44.</ref> While selling coal in [[Storyville, New Orleans|Storyville]], he heard [[spasm band]]s, groups that played music out of household objects. Armstrong listened to the early sounds of jazz from bands that played in brothels and dance halls, such as Pete Lala's, where [[King Oliver]] performed.<ref name="Bergreen 1997 pp.45">Bergreen (1997), pp. 45{{endash}}47.</ref>

==Career==
===Riverboat education===
[[File:Fate Marable's New Orleans Band on the S. S. Sidney.jpg|thumb|Armstrong (fourth from left) was a member of [[Fate Marable]]'s New Orleans Band in 1919, shown here on board the S.S. ''Sidney''.]]

Early in his career, Armstrong played in brass bands and [[riverboat]]s in New Orleans, in the late 1910s. He traveled with the band of [[Fate Marable]], which toured on the steamboat ''Sidney'' with the [[Streckfus Steamers]] line up and down the Mississippi River.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jazz on the River|first=William Howland |last=Kenney |location=Chicago|year=2005 |publisher= University of Chicago Press|page=64}}</ref> Marable was proud of Armstrong's musical knowledge, and he insisted that Armstrong and other musicians in his band learn [[sight reading]]. Armstrong described his time with Marable as "going to the University" since it gave him a wider experience working with written [[arrangement]]s. In 1918, Armstrong's mentor, [[King Oliver]], decided to go north and resigned his position in Kid Ory's band; Armstrong replaced him. Armstrong also became the second trumpet for the [[Tuxedo Brass Band]].<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 142.</ref>

Throughout his riverboat experience, Armstrong's musicianship began to mature and expand. At age 20, he could read music. Armstrong became one of the first jazz musicians to be featured on extended trumpet solos, injecting his own personality and style. Armstrong also started singing in his performances.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 170.</ref>

===Chicago period recordings===
{{listen |filename=Dippermouth Blues - KING OLIVER'S JAZZ BAND.flac|title=Dippermouth Blues |description=1923 recording by [[King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band]] featuring Louis Armstrong playing the cornet}}

In 1922, Armstrong moved to Chicago at the invitation of King Oliver,<ref name="Collier" /> although Armstrong would return to New Orleans periodically for the rest of his life.<ref>Kenney (2005), pp. 57–59.</ref> Playing second cornet to Oliver in Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in the black-only Lincoln Gardens on the [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]] of Chicago, Armstrong could make enough money to quit his day jobs. Although race relations were poor, Chicago was booming. The city had jobs for blacks, who made good wages at factories, with some left for entertainment.<ref name="Collier"/>{{rp|86}}

Oliver's band was among Chicago's most influential jazz bands in the early 1920s. Armstrong lived luxuriously in his apartment with his first private bath. Excited to be in Chicago, Armstrong began his career-long pastime of writing letters to friends in New Orleans. Armstrong could blow 200 [[C (musical note)#Other octaves|high Cs]] in a row. As his reputation grew, Armstrong was challenged to [[cutting contest]]s by other musicians.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 199.</ref>

Armstrong's first studio recordings were with Oliver for [[Gennett Records]] on April 5{{endash}}6, 1923. They endured several hours on the train to remote [[Richmond, Indiana]], and the band was paid little. The quality of the performances was affected by a lack of rehearsal, crude recording equipment, bad acoustics, and a cramped studio. These early recordings were true [[Gramophone record#78 rpm disc developments|acoustic]], the band playing directly into a large funnel connected directly to the needle making the groove in the master recording. The much improved Electrical recording system with a better dynamic range was not invented until 1926.  Initially, because Armstrong's playing was so loud, Oliver could not be heard on the recording when he played next to Oliver. Armstrong had to stand 15 feet from Oliver in a far corner of the room to remedy this.<ref>Bergreen (1997), pp. 213{{endash}}218.</ref>

[[Lil Hardin Armstrong|Lil Hardin]], whom Armstrong would marry in 1924, urged Armstrong to seek more prominent billing and develop his style apart from the influence of Oliver. At her suggestion, Armstrong began playing classical music in church concerts to broaden his skills and dressing more stylishly to offset his girth. Her influence eventually undermined Armstrong's relationship with his mentor, especially concerning his salary and additional money that Oliver held back from Armstrong and other band members.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stamatel |first=Janet P.|date=2003|editor-last=Henderson|editor-first=Ashyia N|title=Hardin Armstrong, Lil 1898–1971 |url= http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2874100037/GVRL?u=aubu98092&sid=GVRL&xid=18dcff82|journal=Contemporary Black Biography |volume=39 |page=98|via=Gale Virtual Reference Library}}</ref> Armstrong's mother, Mayann Albert, came to visit him in Chicago during the summer of 1923 after being told that Armstrong was "out of work, out of money, hungry, and sick"; Hardin located and decorated an apartment for her to live in while she stayed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|pages=78–79}}</ref>

===Fletcher Henderson Orchestra===
[[File:FletcherHendersonOrchestra1925.jpg|thumb|The Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1925. Armstrong is the third person from the left.]]
Armstrong and Oliver parted amicably in 1924. Shortly afterward, Armstrong was invited to go to New York City to play with the [[Fletcher Henderson]] Orchestra, the top African-American band of the time. He switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. Armstrong's influence on Henderson's tenor sax soloist, [[Coleman Hawkins]], can be judged by listening to the records made by the band during this period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyttelton|first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Lyttelton|title=The Best of Jazz |publisher=Taplinger |year=1979 |isbn=0800807278 |pages=113 |oclc=8050573}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Magee |first=Jeffrey |title=The Uncrowned King of Swing |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195090222 |pages=112–114|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195090222.001.0001 }}</ref>

Armstrong adapted to Henderson's tightly controlled style, playing the trumpet and experimenting with the trombone. The other members were affected by Armstrong's emotional style. His act included singing and telling tales of New Orleans characters, especially preachers.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 247.</ref> The Henderson Orchestra played in prominent venues for white patrons only, including the [[Roseland Ballroom]], with arrangements by [[Don Redman]]. [[Duke Ellington]]'s orchestra went to Roseland to catch Armstrong's performances.

During this time, Armstrong recorded with [[Clarence Williams (musician)|Clarence Williams]] (a friend from New Orleans), the Williams Blue Five, [[Sidney Bechet]], and blues singers [[Alberta Hunter]], [[Ma Rainey]], and [[Bessie Smith]].<ref>Elliot Hurwitt et al., in Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=0L0ULjto_OEC ''Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116102815/https://books.google.com/books?id=0L0ULjto_OEC |date=January 16, 2023 }} (London: Routledge, 2012), 533 and elsewhere.
{{ISBN|978-1135455361}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kemp|first=Larry |title=Early Jazz Trumpet Legends|date=2018|publisher=Rosedog PR|isbn=978-1480976375|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=1059329912}}</ref>

===The Hot Five===
In 1925, Armstrong returned to Chicago because he was disillusioned with New York, and Lil set up a recording session with Okeh for him as well as a gig at the Dreamland Cafe. In publicity, much to his chagrin, she billed Armstrong as "The World's Greatest Trumpet Player." For a time, he was a member of the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band and worked for his wife.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 260.</ref> Armstrong formed [[Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five]] and recorded the hits "[[Potato Head Blues]]" and "Muggles". The word "muggles" was a [[List of slang names for cannabis|slang term for marijuana]], something Armstrong often used during his life.<ref name="Collier">{{cite book |last1=Collier |first1=James Lincoln |author-link=James Lincoln Collier |title=Louis Armstrong: An American Genius |date=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0195033779 |page=[https://archive.org/details/louisarmstro00jam/page/324 324] |url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstro00jam |url-access=registration }}</ref>

[[File:Heebie Jeebies.jpg|thumb|upright|"[[Heebie Jeebies (composition)|Heebie Jeebies]]" by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, 1926]]

The Hot Five included [[Kid Ory]] (trombone), [[Johnny Dodds]] (clarinet), [[Johnny St. Cyr]] (banjo), Lil Armstrong on piano, and usually no drummer. Over a 12-month period starting in November 1925, this quintet produced twenty-four records.<ref name="harker">{{cite book|last=Harker|first=Brian|title=Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2011|location=Oxford|pages=4{{endash}}5|isbn=978-0195388404}}</ref> Armstrong's band leading style was easygoing, as St. Cyr noted: "One felt so relaxed working with him, and he was very broad-minded ... always did his best to feature each individual."<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 274.</ref>

Among the Hot Five and Seven records were "Cornet Chop Suey", "Struttin' With Some Barbecue", "Hotter Than That", and "Potato Head Blues", all featuring highly creative solos by Armstrong. According to [[Thomas Brothers]], recordings such as "Struttin' with Some Barbeque" were so superb, "planned with density and variety, bluesyness, and showiness", that the arrangements were probably showcased at the Sunset Café.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|page=282}}</ref> His recordings soon after with pianist [[Earl Hines|Earl "Fatha" Hines]], their famous 1928 "[[Weather Bird]]" duet and Armstrong's trumpet introduction to and solo in "[[West End Blues]]", remain some of the most influential improvisations in jazz history. Young trumpet players across the country bought these recordings and memorized his solos.

Armstrong was now free to develop his style as he wished, which included a heavy dose of effervescent jive, such as "Whip That Thing, Miss Lil" and "Mr. Johnny Dodds, Aw, Do That Clarinet, Boy!"<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 264.</ref>

Armstrong also played with [[Erskine Tate]]'s Little Symphony, mostly at the Vendome Theatre. They furnished music for silent movies and live shows, including jazz versions of classical music, such as "[[Madame Butterfly]]", which gave Armstrong experience with longer forms of music and with hosting before a large audience. He began [[scat singing]] (improvised vocal jazz using nonsensical words) and was among the first to record it on the Hot Five recording "[[Heebie Jeebies (composition)|Heebie Jeebies]]" in 1926. The recording was so popular that the group became the most famous jazz band in the United States, even though they had seldom performed live. Young musicians across the country, black or white, were turned on by Armstrong's new type of jazz.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 267.</ref>

After separating from Lil, Armstrong started to play at the [[Sunset Cafe|Sunset Café]] for [[Al Capone]]'s associate [[Joe Glaser]] in the [[Carroll Dickerson]] Orchestra, with Earl Hines on piano, which was renamed Louis Armstrong and his Stompers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Collier|first=James Lincoln |author-link=James Lincoln Collier| title=Louis Armstrong | publisher=Pan Books | year=1985|isbn=978-0330286077|pages=160–162}}</ref> However, Hines was the music director, and Glaser managed the orchestra. Hines and Armstrong became fast friends and successful collaborators. It was at the [[Sunset Cafe|Sunset Café]] that Armstrong accompanied singer [[Adelaide Hall]]. During Hall's tenure at the venue, she experimented, developed, and expanded her scat singing with Armstrong's guidance and encouragement.<ref>Williams, Iain Cameron [http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/underneath-a-harlem-moon-9780826458933/ ''Underneath a Harlem Moon: The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226182123/https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/underneath-a-harlem-moon-9780826458933/ |date=February 26, 2021 }}. Bloomsbury Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|0826458939}}. {{oclc|51780394}}</ref>

In the first half of 1927, Armstrong assembled his Hot Seven group, which added drummer Al "Baby" Dodds and tuba player [[Pete Briggs]] while preserving most of his original Hot Five lineup. John Thomas replaced Kid Ory on the trombone. Later that year, Armstrong organized a series of new Hot Five sessions, which resulted in nine more records. In the last half of 1928, he started recording with a new group: [[Zutty Singleton]] (drums), Earl Hines (piano), [[Jimmy Strong (musician)|Jimmy Strong]] (clarinet), Fred Robinson (trombone), and Mancy Carr (banjo).<ref>Harker (2011), p. 145.</ref>

===The Harlem Renaissance===
Armstrong made a huge impact during the 1920s [[Harlem Renaissance]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2007/08/01/12208712/louis-armstrong-the-man-and-his-music-part-1 |title=Louis Armstrong: 'The Man and His Music', Part 1 |date=August 1, 2007 |website=[[National Public Radio]] |access-date=May 21, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803154258/https://www.npr.org/2007/08/01/12208712/louis-armstrong-the-man-and-his-music-part-1 |archive-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref> His music touched well-known writer [[Langston Hughes]]. Hughes admired Armstrong and acknowledged him as one of the most recognized musicians of the era.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/louis-armstrong-about-louis-armstrong/528/|title=Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong|date=July 6, 2005|website=PBS|access-date=May 21, 2019|archive-date=May 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528012453/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/louis-armstrong-about-louis-armstrong/528/|url-status=live}}</ref> Hughes wrote many books that celebrated jazz and recognized Armstrong as one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance's newfound love of African-American culture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.openculture.com/2015/03/langston-hughes-presents-the-history-of-jazz-i.html|title=Langston Hughes Presents the History of Jazz in an Illustrated Children's Book (1995)|first=Josh |last=Jones|date=March 31, 2015|website=Open Culture|access-date=May 21, 2019|archive-date=May 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521005205/http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/langston-hughes-presents-the-history-of-jazz-i.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The sound of jazz, along with musicians such as Armstrong, helped shape Hughes as a writer. Just like the musicians, Hughes wrote his words with jazz.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69394/jazz-as-communication|title=Jazz as Communication (1956)|last=Hughes|first=Langston|date=October 13, 2009|website=Poetry Foundation|access-date=May 21, 2019|archive-date=May 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528013957/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69394/jazz-as-communication|url-status=live}}</ref>

Armstrong changed jazz during the Harlem Renaissance. As "The World's Greatest Trumpet Player" during this time,<ref>{{cite web |last=Andrews |first=Evan |date=August 22, 2018 |title=9 Things You May Not Know About Louis Armstrong |url=https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-louis-armstrong |url-status=live |work=[[History (American TV network)|History]]|publisher=A&E Television Networks |location= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120054543/https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-louis-armstrong |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> Armstrong cemented his legacy and continued a focus on his vocal career. His popularity brought together many black and white audiences.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Collins|first= Willie|title=Armstrong, Louis (1901–1971)|journal=St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture|editor=Thomas Riggs|edition=Second|volume=1|publisher=[[St. James Press]]|date=2013|pages=133–135|url=http://0-link.galegroup.com.library.4cd.edu/apps/doc/CX2735800126/GVRL?u=plea38277&sid=GVRL&xid=30818ba4}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Emerging as a vocalist===
Armstrong returned to New York in 1929, where he played in the pit orchestra for the musical ''[[Hot Chocolates]]'', an all-black revue written by [[Andy Razaf]] and pianist [[Fats Waller]]. Armstrong made a cameo appearance as a vocalist, regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "[[Ain't Misbehavin' (song)|Ain't Misbehavin']]." Armstrong's version of the song became his biggest-selling record yet.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/lao.html |title=Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra |publisher=Redhotjazz.com |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116083427/http://www.redhotjazz.com/lao.html |archive-date=January 16, 2013 }}</ref>

Armstrong started to work at [[Connie's Inn]] in Harlem, chief rival to the [[Cotton Club]], a venue for elaborately staged floor shows,<ref name=morgenstern>{{citation|last=Morgenstern|first=Dan|author-link=Dan Morgenstern|contribution=Louis Armstrong and the Development and Diffusion of Jazz|title=Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy|editor-first=Marc H.|editor-last=Miller|publisher=Queens Museum of Art in association with University of Washington Press|year=1994|page=110}}</ref> and a front for gangster [[Dutch Schultz]]. Armstrong had considerable success with vocal recordings, including versions of songs composed by his old friend [[Hoagy Carmichael]]. His 1930s recordings took full advantage of the RCA [[ribbon microphone]], introduced in 1931, which imparted warmth to vocals and became an intrinsic part of the "[[crooning]]" sound of artists like [[Bing Crosby]]. Armstrong's interpretation of Carmichael's "[[Stardust (1927 song)|Stardust]]" became one of the most successful versions of this song ever recorded, showcasing Armstrong's unique vocal sound and style and his innovative approach to singing songs that were already standards.

Armstrong's radical re-working of [[Sidney Arodin]] and Carmichael's "[[Lazy River]]", recorded in 1931, encapsulated his groundbreaking approach to melody and phrasing. The song begins with a brief trumpet solo. Then, the main melody is introduced by sobbing horns, memorably punctuated by Armstrong's growling interjections at the end of each bar: "Yeah! ..."Uh-huh"..."Sure"..."Way down, way down." In the first verse, Armstrong ignores the notated melody and sings as if playing a trumpet solo, pitching most of the first line on a single note and using strongly syncopated phrasing. In the second stanza, he breaks into an almost entirely improvised melody, which then evolves into a classic passage of Armstrong's scat singing.

As with his trumpet playing, Armstrong's vocal innovations served as a foundation for jazz vocal interpretation. The uniquely gravelly coloration of his voice became an archetype that was endlessly imitated. Armstrong's scat singing was enriched by his matchless experience as a trumpet soloist. His resonant, velvety lower-register tone and bubbling cadences on sides such as "Lazy River" greatly influenced younger white singers such as Bing Crosby.

===Work during hard times===
[[File:Maud Cuney Hare-154-Louis Armstrong.jpg|thumb|Armstrong in 1936]]
The [[Great Depression]] of the early 1930s was especially hard on the jazz scene. After a long downward spiral, the Cotton Club closed in 1936, and many musicians stopped playing altogether as club dates evaporated. [[Bix Beiderbecke]] died, and Fletcher Henderson's band broke up. King Oliver made a few records but otherwise struggled. [[Sidney Bechet]] became a tailor, later moving to Paris, and Kid Ory returned to New Orleans and raised chickens.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 320.</ref>

Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930 to seek new opportunities. He played at the New Cotton Club in Los Angeles with [[Lionel Hampton]] on drums. The band drew the Hollywood crowd, which could still afford a lavish nightlife, while radio broadcasts from the club connected with younger audiences at home. Bing Crosby and many other celebrities were regulars at the club. In 1931, Armstrong appeared in his first movie, ''Ex-Flame''. He was also convicted of marijuana possession but received a suspended sentence.<ref>Collier (1985), pp. 221–222.</ref>

Armstrong returned to Chicago in late 1931 and played in bands more in the [[Guy Lombardo]] vein, and he recorded more standards. When the mob insisted that he get out of town,<ref name="ArmstrongInThe30s">{{cite web|title=Louis Armstrong in the 30s|url=http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/louis-armstrong-30s-tribute-life-and-music-armstrong-30s|website=riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu|access-date=May 5, 2015|archive-date=March 26, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326032953/http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/louis-armstrong-30s-tribute-life-and-music-armstrong-30s|url-status=live}}</ref> Armstrong visited New Orleans, had a hero's welcome, and saw old friends. He sponsored a local baseball team called Armstrong's Secret Nine and had a cigar named after him.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 344.</ref> However, Armstrong was on the road again soon. After a tour across the country shadowed by the mob, he fled to Europe.

After returning to the United States, Armstrong undertook several exhausting tours. His agent, Johnny Collins's erratic behavior and his own spending ways left Armstrong short of cash. Breach of contract violations plagued him. Armstrong hired [[Joe Glaser]] as his new manager, a tough mob-connected wheeler-dealer who began straightening out his legal mess, mob troubles, and debts. Armstrong also began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, aggravated by his unorthodox playing style. As a result, Armstrong branched out, developing his vocal style and making his first theatrical appearances. Armstrong appeared in movies again, including Crosby's 1936 hit ''[[Pennies from Heaven (1936 film)|Pennies from Heaven]]''. In 1937, Armstrong substituted for [[Rudy Vallee]] on the CBS radio network and became the first African American to host a sponsored national broadcast.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 385.</ref>

===Reviving his career with the All-Stars===
[[File:Louis Armstrong2.jpg|thumb|upright|Armstrong in 1953]]
After spending many years on the road, Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York, in 1943 with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of [[Tin Pan Alley]] and the gangster-ridden music business, as well as anti-black prejudice, Armstrong continued to develop his playing.

Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940s due to changes in public tastes. Ballrooms closed, and competition from other types of music, especially pop vocals, became more popular than big band music. Under such circumstances, it became impossible to finance a 16-piece touring band.

A widespread revival of interest in the 1940s in the traditional jazz of the 1920s made it possible for Armstrong to consider a return to the small-group musical style of his youth. Armstrong was featured as a guest artist with Lionel Hampton's band at the famed second [[Cavalcade of Jazz]] concert held at [[Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)|Wrigley Field]] in Los Angeles, produced by [[Leon Hefflin, Sr.|Leon Hefflin Sr.]], on October 12, 1946.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Black music history of Los Angeles, its roots : 50 years in Black music : a classical pictorial history of Los Angeles Black music of the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s: photographic essays that define the people, the artistry and their contributions to the wonderful world of entertainment|last=Reed, Tom.|date=1992|publisher=Black Accent on L.A. Press|isbn=096329086X|edition= 1st limited |location=Los Angeles|oclc=28801394}}</ref> Armstrong also led a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring him with trombonist/singer [[Jack Teagarden]]. During the concert, Armstrong and Teagarden performed a duet on Hoagy Carmichael's "[[Rockin' Chair (1929 song)|Rockin' Chair]]" they then recorded for [[Okeh Records]].

Armstrong's manager, Joe Glaser, changed the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947, into a six-piece traditional jazz group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, [[Earl Hines]] and other top swing and Dixieland musicians, most of whom were previously leaders of big bands. The new group was announced at the opening of [[Billy Berg's]] Supper Club.

This smaller group was called Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, [[Barney Bigard]], [[Edmond Hall]], Jack Teagarden, [[Trummy Young]], [[Arvell Shaw]], [[Billy Kyle]], [[Marty Napoleon]], [[Sid Catlett|Big Sid "Buddy" Catlett]], [[Cozy Cole]], [[Tyree Glenn]], [[Barrett Deems]], [[Mort Herbert]], [[Joe Darensbourg]], [[Eddie Shu]], [[Joe Muranyi]] and percussionist [[Danny Barcelona]].

On February 28, 1948, [[Suzy Delair]] sang the French song "[[C'est si bon]]" at the [[Hotel Negresco]] during the first [[Nice Jazz Festival]]. Armstrong was present and loved the song. On June 26, 1950, he recorded the American version of the song (English lyrics by [[Jerry Seelen]]) in New York City with [[Sy Oliver]] and his Orchestra. When it was released, the disc was a worldwide success, and the song was then performed by the greatest international singers.

Armstrong was the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine on February 21, 1949. He and his All-Stars were featured at the ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert also at [[Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)|Wrigley Field]] in Los Angeles produced by [[Leon Hefflin, Sr.|Leon Hefflin Sr.]] held on June 7, 1953, along with [[Shorty Rogers]], [[Roy Brown (blues musician)|Roy Brown]], Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, [[Earl Bostic]], and [[Nat King Cole|Nat "King" Cole]].<ref>"Satchmo Band Spice To Open Air Show." ''Los Angeles Sentinel'', May 28, 1953.</ref>

Over 30 years, Armstrong played more than 300 performances a year, making many recordings and appearing in more than 30 films.

===A jazz ambassador===
[[File:Louis Armstrong (1955).jpg|thumb|Armstrong in 1955]]

By the 1950s, Armstrong was a widely beloved American icon and cultural ambassador who commanded an international fanbase. However, a growing generation gap became apparent between him and the young jazz musicians who emerged in the postwar era, such as [[Charlie Parker]], [[Miles Davis]], and [[Sonny Rollins]]. The postwar generation regarded their music as abstract art and considered Armstrong's vaudevillian style, half-musician and half-stage entertainer, outmoded and [[Uncle Tom syndrome|Uncle Tomism]]. "... he seemed a link to [[Minstrel show|minstrelsy]] that we were ashamed of."<ref name="Starkey2015">{{cite book |last=Starkey|first=Brando Simeo|title=In Defense of Uncle Tom: Why Blacks Must Police Racial Loyalty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzHCBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA147|access-date=June 13, 2018|year=2015 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316214084|pages=147–}}</ref> Armstrong called bebop "Chinese music".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Music: the definitive visual history|publisher=DK|editor=Ziegler, Robert |year=2013|isbn=978-1465414366 |location=London|pages=247|oclc=828055596}}</ref> While touring Australia in 1954, he was asked if he could play bebop. "'Bebop?' he husked. 'I just play music. Guys who invent terms like that are walking the streets with their instruments under their arms.'"<ref name="reception">{{cite news |title=Louis Armstrong And Band Get A Hot Reception |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18448805 |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842–1954) |access-date=June 13, 2018 |page=1 |date=October 28, 1954 |archive-date=June 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613210841/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18448805 |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Ficha Consular de Louis Armstrong.jpg|thumb|Record of Armstrong's visit to Brazil, 1957]]

After finishing his contract with [[Decca Records]], Armstrong went freelance and recorded for other labels.<ref name="Nollen2004">{{cite book|last=Nollen|first=Scott Allen |author-link=Scott Allen Nollen |title=Louis Armstrong: The Life, Music, and Screen Career |url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrongli0000noll|url-access=registration|access-date=June 13, 2018|year=2004 |publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786418572|page=[https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrongli0000noll/page/127 127]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/louis-armstrong-mn0000234518/biography|title=Louis Armstrong|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 19, 2019|archive-date=November 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102175628/http://allmusic.com/artist/louis-armstrong-mn0000234518/biography|url-status=live}}</ref> He continued an intense international touring schedule, but suffered a heart attack in 1959 while in Italy and had to rest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/louis-armstrong-9188912|title=Louis Armstrong|website=Biography.com|access-date=October 19, 2019|archive-date=April 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411104456/https://www.biography.com/people/louis-armstrong-9188912|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1964, after more than two years without setting foot in a studio, Armstrong recorded his biggest-selling record, "[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]", a song by [[Jerry Herman]], originally sung by [[Carol Channing]]. Armstrong's version remained on the Hot 100 for 22 weeks, longer than any other record produced that year, and went to No.&nbsp;1, making him the oldest person to accomplish that feat at 62 years, nine months, and five days. Armstrong's hit dislodged [[The Beatles]] from the No.&nbsp;1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.<ref name="Breihan">{{cite web |last1=Breihan |first1=Tom |title=May 9, 1964 The Number Ones: Louis Armstrong's "Hello, Dolly!" |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2001439/the-number-ones-louis-armstrongs-hello-dolly/columns/the-number-ones/ |website=www.stereogum.com |date=June 14, 2018 |access-date=January 17, 2024 |archive-date=December 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226164156/https://www.stereogum.com/2001439/the-number-ones-louis-armstrongs-hello-dolly/columns/the-number-ones/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | audio1 = [https://soundcloud.com/studsterkel-radio-archive/louis-daniel-armstrong-talks-with-studs-terkel-on-wfmt-1962624 Louis Daniel Armstrong talks with Studs Terkel on WFMT; 1962/6/24], 33:43, [[Studs Terkel Radio Archive]]<ref name="studs">{{cite web | title =Louis Daniel Armstrong talks with Studs Terkel on WFMT; 1962/6/24 | publisher =[[Studs Terkel Radio Archive]] | date =June 24, 1962 | url =https://soundcloud.com/studsterkel-radio-archive/tracks | access-date =September 27, 2016 | archive-date =October 2, 2016 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20161002004100/https://soundcloud.com/studsterkel-radio-archive/tracks | url-status =live }}</ref> }}

Armstrong toured well into his 60s, even visiting part of the [[Communist Bloc]] in 1965. Armstrong also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under the [[Jazz ambassadors|sponsorship of the US State Department]] with great success, earning the nickname "Ambassador Satch" and inspiring [[Dave Brubeck]] to compose his jazz musical ''[[The Real Ambassadors]]''. His travels included performances in [[Egypt]], [[Ghana]] and [[Nigeria]].<ref name="Kelley2012">{{cite book|last=Kelley |first=Robin D. G. |author-link=Robin D. G. Kelley|title=Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gduqiA16Ng8C&pg=PA72 |access-date=June 13, 2018|year=2012|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674065246|pages=72–}}</ref><ref name="Company1971">{{cite magazine|magazine=Jet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7EDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59 |access-date=June 13, 2018|date=December 30, 1971 |page=59|title=James Brown Goes Through Some New Changes}}</ref>

By 1968, Armstrong was approaching 70, and his health was failing. His heart and kidney ailments forced him to stop touring, though he continued to record, including "[[What a Wonderful World]]", which topped the British charts for a month. Armstrong did not perform publicly in 1969 and spent most of the year recuperating at home. Meanwhile, his longtime manager, Joe Glaser, died. By the summer of 1970, Armstrong's doctors pronounced him fit enough to resume live performances. Armstrong embarked on another world tour, but a heart attack forced him to take a break for two months.<ref name="Von Eschen">{{cite book |last1=Von Eschen |first1=Penny M.|author1-link= Penny Von Eschen |title=Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War |date=2004 |publisher=Harvard Univ. Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0674015012 |pages=79–91}}</ref>

Armstrong made his last recorded trumpet performances on his 1968 album ''[[Disney Songs the Satchmo Way]]''.<ref name="Whitaker2011">{{cite book|first=Matthew C. |last=Whitaker|title=Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bT1jf8PcqAUC|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0313376429 |page=41}}</ref>

==Personal life==
===Pronunciation of name===
The Louis Armstrong House Museum website states:

{{blockquote|Judging from home recorded tapes now in our Museum Collections, Louis pronounced his own name as "Lewis." On his 1964 record "Hello, Dolly", he sings, "This is Lewis, Dolly", but in 1933, he made a record called "Laughin' Louie." Many broadcast announcers, fans, and acquaintances called him "Louie", and in a videotaped interview from 1983, Lucille Armstrong calls her late husband "Louie" as well. Musicians and close friends usually called him "Pops".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/faq/|title=FAQ – Louis Armstrong House Museum|work=louisarmstronghouse.org|access-date=June 14, 2017|archive-date=August 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808074334/https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/faq/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

In a memoir written for [[Robert Goffin]] between 1943 and 1944, Armstrong stated, "All white folks call me Louie", suggesting that he himself did not, or that no whites addressed him by one of his nicknames such as Pops.<ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Armstrong
 |first1=Louis
 |last2=Brothers
 |first2=Thomas
 |year=2001
 |title=Louis Armstrong, In His Own Words: Selected Writings
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdxDDe-fb8sC&pg=PA109
 |page=109
 |location=New York
 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]
 |isbn=978-0195140460
 |access-date=December 8, 2014
|archive-date=September 15, 2015
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915205007/https://books.google.com/books?id=fdxDDe-fb8sC&pg=PA109
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref><ref>Goffin, Robert. ''Horn of Plenty: The Story of Louis Armstrong''. Da Capo Press, 1977. {{ISBN|0306774305}}{{page needed|date=December 2022}}</ref> That said, Armstrong was registered as "Lewie" for the [[United States Census, 1920|1920 U.S. census]]. On various live records, he is called "Louie" on stage, such as on the 1952 "Can Anyone Explain?" from the live album ''In Scandinavia vol.1''. The same applies to his 1952 studio recording of the song "Chloe", where the choir in the background sings "Louie ... Louie", with Armstrong responding, "What was that? Somebody called my name?". "Lewie" is the French pronunciation of "Louis" and is commonly used in Louisiana.

===Family===
[[File:Lucille Wilson and Louis Armstrong.jpg|thumb|Armstrong with Lucille Wilson, c. 1960s]]

Armstrong was performing at the Brick House in [[Gretna, Louisiana]] when he met Daisy Parker, a local prostitute, and started an affair as a client. Armstrong returned to Gretna on several occasions to visit her. He found the courage to look for her home to see her away from work. There, Armstrong found out she had a [[Common-law marriage in the United States|common-law husband]]. Not long after that, Parker traveled to Armstrong's home on Perdido Street<ref name="bergreen134">Bergreen (1997), 134–137.</ref> and they checked into Kid Green's hotel that evening. On the next day, March 19, 1919, Armstrong and Parker married at City Hall.<ref name="bergreen134" /><ref name="Collier2">{{cite book |last=Collier |first=James Lincoln |author-link=James Lincoln Collier |title=Louis Armstrong: An American Genius |date=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0195033779 |page=[https://archive.org/details/louisarmstro00jam/page/81 81] |url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstro00jam |url-access=registration }}</ref> They adopted a three-year-old boy, Clarence, whose mother, Armstrong's cousin Flora, had died soon after giving birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled as a result of a head injury at an early age. Armstrong spent the rest of his life taking care of him.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0316,giddins,43368,22.html |title=Satchuated |first=Gary |last=Giddins |newspaper=[[Village Voice]] |date=April 16–22, 2003 |access-date=October 17, 2007 |archive-date=June 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605231223/http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0316,giddins,43368,22.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> His marriage to Parker ended when they separated in 1923.

On February 4, 1924, Armstrong married [[Lil Hardin Armstrong]], King Oliver's pianist. She had divorced her first husband a few years earlier. Armstrong's second wife helped him develop his career, but they separated in 1931 and divorced in 1938. Armstrong then married Alpha Smith.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/lil.html |title=Lillian Hardin Armstrong |website=RedHotJazz.com |access-date=January 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023073640/http://www.redhotjazz.com/lil.html |archive-date=October 23, 2013 }}</ref> His relationship with Alpha began while he was playing at the Vendome during the 1920s and continued long after.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|pages=318}}</ref> Armstrong's marriage to her lasted four years; they divorced in 1942. He then married Lucille Wilson, a singer at the [[Cotton Club]] in New York, in October 1942. They remained married until his death in 1971.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.louisarmstrongfoundation.org/louis.php |website=LouisArmstrongFoundation.org |title=Biography of Louis Daniel Armstrong |publisher=Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation |access-date=January 16, 2015 |archive-date=December 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228222300/http://www.louisarmstrongfoundation.org/louis.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Armstrong's marriages produced no offspring.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/about/faq.htm# |title=Louis Armstrong: FAQ |publisher=[[Louis Armstrong House]] Museum |access-date=December 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116083432/http://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/about/faq.htm |archive-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> However, in December 2012, 57-year-old Sharon Preston-Folta claimed to be his daughter from a 1950s affair between Armstrong and Lucille "Sweets" Preston, a dancer at the Cotton Club.<ref>{{cite news |title=Louis Armstrong's secret daughter revealed, 42 years after his death |first= Jacqui |last= Goddard |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=December 15, 2012 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9747518/Louis-Armstrongs-secret-daughter-revealed-42-years-after-his-death.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121219071602/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9747518/Louis-Armstrongs-secret-daughter-revealed-42-years-after-his-death.html |archive-date=December 19, 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In a 1955 letter to his manager, Joe Glaser, Armstrong affirmed his belief that Preston's newborn baby was his daughter, and ordered Glaser to pay a monthly allowance of $400 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|500|1955}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars){{inflation-fn|US}} to mother and child.<ref name="Collier3">{{cite book |last=Collier |first=James Lincoln |author-link=James Lincoln Collier |title=Louis Armstrong: An American Genius |date=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0195033779 |page=[https://archive.org/details/louisarmstro00jam/page/158 158] |url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstro00jam |url-access=registration }}</ref>

===Personality===
[[File:LouisArmstrong1959.jpg|thumb|Armstrong in 1959 during a night concert in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam]]
Armstrong was colorful and charismatic. His autobiography vexed some biographers and historians because Armstrong had a habit of telling tales, particularly about his early childhood when he was less scrutinized, and his embellishments lack consistency.<ref name="bergreen7">Bergreen (1997), pp. 7–11.</ref>

In addition to being an entertainer, Armstrong was a leading personality. He was beloved by an American public that usually offered little access beyond their public celebrity to even the most significant black performers, and Armstrong was able to live a private life of access and privilege afforded to few other black Americans during that era.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

Armstrong generally remained politically neutral, which sometimes alienated him from other black Americans who expected him to use his prominence within white America to become more outspoken during the [[civil rights movement]]. However, Armstrong criticized [[President Eisenhower]] for not acting forcefully on civil rights.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

===Health problems===
The trumpet is notoriously hard on the [[lips]], and Armstrong suffered from lip damage over most of his life. This was due to Armstrong's aggressive playing style and preference for narrow mouthpieces that would stay in place more easily but tended to dig into the soft flesh of his inner lip. During his 1930s European tour, Armstrong suffered an ulceration so severe that he had to stop playing entirely for a year. Eventually, Armstrong took to using salves and creams on his lips and also cutting off scar tissue with a razor blade. By the 1950s, Armstrong was an official spokesman for Ansatz-Creme Lip Salve.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/nyregion/louis-armstrongs-lip-balm.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831214922/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/nyregion/louis-armstrongs-lip-balm.html |archive-date=August 31, 2016 |title=Louis Armstrong's Lip Balm |first=Bill |last=Schulz |date=August 26, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

During a backstage meeting with trombonist Marshall Brown in 1959, Armstrong was advised to see a doctor and receive proper treatment for his lips instead of relying on home remedies. However, Armstrong did not get around to that until his final years, by which point his health was failing, and the doctors considered surgery too risky.<ref>"Louis Armstrong: An American Genius", [[James Lincoln Collier|James L. Collier]], 231 pp.</ref>

In 1959, Armstrong was hospitalized for [[pneumonia]] while on tour in Italy. Doctors were concerned about his lungs and heart, but by the end of June, Armstrong rallied on.<ref>"Satchmo Rallies, Jokes" [[The Ottawa Citizen]], June 26, 1959, p. 1</ref>

===Nicknames===
[[File:Armstrong-Alassio (crop).jpg|thumb|An autograph of Armstrong on the muretto of [[Alassio]]]]

The nicknames "Satchmo" and "Satch" are short for "Satchelmouth". The nickname origin is uncertain.<ref name="bergreen7"/> The most common tale that biographers tell is the story of Armstrong as a young boy in New Orleans dancing for pennies. He scooped the coins off the street and stuck them into his mouth to prevent bigger children from stealing them. Someone dubbed Armstrong "satchel mouth" for his mouth acting as a [[satchel]]. Another tale is that because of his large mouth, Armstrong was nicknamed "satchel mouth", which was shortened to "Satchmo."<ref name="bergreen7"/>

Early on, Armstrong was also known as "Dipper", short for "Dippermouth", a reference to the piece ''Dippermouth Blues''<ref>Armstrong, 1954, pp. 27–28</ref> and something of a riff on his unusual [[embouchure]].

The nickname "Pops" came from Armstrong's own tendency to forget people's names and simply call them "Pops" instead. The nickname was turned on Armstrong himself. It was used as the title of a 2010 biography of Armstrong by Terry Teachout.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

After a competition at the Savoy, he was crowned and nicknamed "King Menelik", after the Emperor of Ethiopia, for slaying "[[ofay]] jazz demons."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|page=291}}</ref>

===Race===
Armstrong celebrated his heritage as a black man from a poor New Orleans neighborhood and tried to avoid what he called "putting on airs." Many younger black musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of [[racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] audiences and for not taking a stronger stand in the [[American civil rights movement]].<ref>Collier (1985), pp. 317–320</ref> When Armstrong did speak out, it made national news. In 1957, journalism student Larry Lubenow scored a candid interview with Armstrong while the musician was performing in Grand Forks, North Dakota, shortly after the [[Little Rock Nine|conflict]] over school [[school integration in the United States|desegregation]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]]. Armstrong denounced both Arkansas Governor [[Orval Faubus]] and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Dwight D. Eisenhower]], saying the President had "no guts" and was "two-faced." Armstrong told his interviewer that he would cancel a planned tour of the [[Soviet Union]] on behalf of the [[State Department]], saying, "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell"; he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people.<ref name="Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/armstrong-eisenhower.html | title = Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | date = September 19, 1957 | access-date = August 30, 2007 | archive-date = April 10, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090410084159/http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/armstrong-eisenhower.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=September 23, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/opinion/23margolick.html|first=David|last=Margolick|author-link=David Margolick|title=The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 17, 2017|archive-date=February 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221145559/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/opinion/23margolick.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[FBI]] kept a file on Armstrong for his outspokenness about integration.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 472.</ref> Armstrong’s outburst drew both praise and backlash; figures like [[Jackie Robinson]] and [[Lena Horne]] publicly supported him, while a Mississippi radio station banned his records. His longtime road manager, [[Pierre Tallerie]], attempted to walk back Armstrong’s comments to the press, prompting a sharp public rebuke from Armstrong, who nearly fired Tallerie and insisted on speaking for himself going forward.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hoople |first=Major |date=September 20, 1957 |title=Armstrong Cancels Trip Due to Integration Crisis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/596988965/ |url-access=subscription |website=Okmulgee Daily Times |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 25, 1957 |title=Satchmo insist that he speaks for himself |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/748725015/ |url-access=subscription |website=Daily Record |page=9}}</ref>

===Religion===
When asked about his religion, Armstrong answered that he was raised a [[Baptist]], always wore a [[Star of David]], and was friends with the pope.<ref name=Gabbard>{{cite AV media notes |title=Louis and The Good Book |others=Louis Armstrong |year=2001 |first=Krin |last=Gabbard |page=1 |type=CD booklet |publisher=[[Verve Records]] |location=New York City }}</ref> Armstrong wore the Star of David in honor of the Karnoffsky family who took him in as a child and lent him money to buy his first cornet. Armstrong was baptized a Catholic in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans,<ref name=Gabbard /> and he met [[Pope Pius XII]] and [[Pope Paul VI]].<ref name="bergreen7"/>

===Personal habits===
[[File:Armstrong secret 9.jpg|thumb|The [[Armstrong Secret 9]], 1931]]
Armstrong was concerned with his health. Armstrong used [[laxatives]] to control his weight, a practice he advocated both to acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title ''Lose Weight the Satchmo Way''.<ref name="bergreen7" /> Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was [[Pluto Water]], but when he discovered the herbal remedy [[Senna glycoside|Swiss Kriss]], he became an enthusiastic convert,<ref name="bergreen7" /> extolling its virtues to anyone who would listen and passing out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the [[British royal family]].

Armstrong also appeared in humorous risqué cards that he had printed to send to friends. The cards bore a picture of Armstrong sitting on a toilet—as viewed through a keyhole—with the slogan "Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!{{'"}}<ref name="LeaveItAllBehindYa">{{cite web| first = Peter | last = Gilstrap | url = https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/leave-it-all-behind-ya-6431842 | title = Leave It All Behind Ya | website = Phoenix New Times |date = February 29, 1996 |access-date = August 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111214821/https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/leave-it-all-behind-ya-6431842|archive-date=November 11, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The cards have sometimes been incorrectly described as ads for Swiss Kriss.<ref>[[Terry Teachout|Teachout, Terry]] (2009). ''Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong''. pp. 293–294.{{ISBN|978-0151010899}}.</ref> In a live recording of "[[Baby, It's Cold Outside]]" with [[Velma Middleton]], he changes the lyric from "Put another record on while I pour" to "Take some Swiss Kriss while I pour."<ref>Armstrong, Louis. ''Christmas Through the Years'', Laserlight 12744.</ref> Armstrong's laxative use began as a child when his mother would collect [[dandelion]]s and [[peppergrass]] around the railroad tracks to give to her children for their health.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|pages=390}}</ref>

Armstrong was a heavy [[marijuana]] smoker for much of his life and spent nine days in jail in 1930 after being arrested outside a club for drug possession. Armstrong described marijuana as "a thousand times better than whiskey."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-louis-armstrong|title=9 Things You May Not Know About Louis Armstrong|first=Evan|last=Andrews|website=History.com|date=October 17, 2022|access-date=April 3, 2021|archive-date=November 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120054543/https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-louis-armstrong|url-status=live}}</ref>

Armstrong's concern with his health and weight was balanced by his love of food, reflected in such songs as "Cheesecake", "Cornet Chop Suey",<ref>Satchmo.net. 'Red Beans and Ricely yours, Louis Armstrong.'</ref> and "Struttin' with Some Barbecue", though the latter was written about a fine-looking companion, and not food.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031227020046/http://www.cabcalloway.cc/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/jive_dictionary.htm ''Jive Dictionary''], by [[Cab Calloway]]: "''Barbecue (n.) – the girl friend, a beauty''." Retrieved February 10, 2009.</ref> Armstrong kept a strong connection throughout his life to the [[Louisiana Creole cuisine|cooking of New Orleans]], always signing his letters, "[[Red beans and rice]]ly yours ...".<ref>Elie p. 327.</ref>

A fan of Major League Baseball, Armstrong founded a team in New Orleans that was known as Raggedy Nine and transformed the team into his Armstrong's "[[Secret Nine Baseball]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/rare-footage-duke-ellington-highlights-when-jazz-baseball-were-perfect-harmony-180950303/|title=Rare Footage of Duke Ellington Highlights When Jazz and Baseball Were in Perfect Harmony|last=Hasse|first=John E.|date=April 1, 2014|website=Smithsonian|access-date=March 6, 2017|archive-date=March 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307050207/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/rare-footage-duke-ellington-highlights-when-jazz-baseball-were-perfect-harmony-180950303/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Writings===
Armstrong's gregariousness extended to writing. On the road, he wrote constantly, sharing favorite themes of his life with correspondents around the world. Armstrong avidly typed or wrote on whatever stationery was at hand, recording instant takes on music, sex, food, childhood memories, his heavy [[Medical marijuana|"medicinal" marijuana]] use, and even his bowel movements, which Armstrong gleefully described.<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 4.</ref>

===Social organizations===
Louis Armstrong was not, as claimed, a [[Freemason]]. Although he has been cited as a Montgomery Lodge No. 18 (Prince Hall) member in New York, no such lodge ever existed. In his autobiography, Armstrong stated that he was a member of the [[Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia]], an African American non-Masonic fraternal organization.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Louis Armstrong
| website = Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
| url = http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/armstrong_l/armstrong_l.html
| access-date = September 3, 2010
| archive-date = January 1, 2013
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130101014320/http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/armstrong_l/armstrong_l.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> During the krewe's 1949 [[Mardi Gras in New Orleans|Mardi Gras]] parade, Armstrong presided as King of the [[Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club]], for which he was featured on the cover of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]].<ref>{{Citation | title = Louis the First | newspaper = Time | date = February 21, 1949 | url = https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,805063-1,00.html | access-date = February 5, 2021 | archive-date = June 16, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210616225029/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,805063-1,00.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

==Music==

===Horn playing and early jazz===
[[File:Selmer Trumpet given by King George V to Louis Armstrong.jpg|thumb|right|[[Henri Selmer Paris|Selmer]] trumpet, given as a gift by [[King George V]] of the United Kingdom to Louis Armstrong in 1933]]
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. Along with his "clarinet-like figurations and high notes in his cornet solos", Armstrong was also known for his "intense rhythmic 'swing', a complex conception involving accented upbeats, upbeat to downbeat slurring, and complementary relations among rhythmic patterns.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Harker |first=Brian Cameron |date=1997 |title=The early musical development of Louis Armstrong, 1901–1928 |publisher=Columbia University |id={{ProQuest|304443911}} }}</ref> The most lauded recordings on which Armstrong plays trumpet include the [[Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven Sessions|Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions]], as well as those of the [[Red Onion Jazz Babies]]. Armstrong's improvisations, while unconventionally sophisticated for that era, were also subtle and highly melodic. The solo that Armstrong plays during the song "[[Potato Head Blues]]" has long been considered his best solo of that series.<ref name="bergreen7"/><ref>Lynn Rene Bayley, "More Jazz: 'Louis Armstrong{{snd}}The Early Years." ''Fanfare{{snd}}The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors''. 09 2008: 408–410. ProQuest. Web. July 14, 2016.</ref>

Prior to Armstrong, most collective ensembles playing in jazz, along with its occasional solos, simply varied the melodies of the songs. He was virtually the first to create significant variations based on the chord harmonies of the songs instead of merely on the melodies. This opened a rich field for creation and improvisation, and significantly changed the music into a soloist's art form.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

Often, Armstrong re-composed pop tunes he played, simply with variations that made them more compelling to jazz listeners of the era. At the same time, Armstrong's oeuvre includes many original melodies, creative leaps, and relaxed or driving rhythms. His playing technique, honed by constant practice, extended the range, tone, and capabilities of the trumpet. In his records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what had been essentially a piece of collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

Armstrong was one of the first artists to use recordings of his performances to improve himself. Armstrong was an avid audiophile. He had a large collection of recordings, including reel-to-reel tapes, which he took on the road with him in a trunk during his later career. Armstrong enjoyed listening to his own recordings, and comparing his performances musically. In the den of his home, Armstrong had the latest audio equipment and would sometimes rehearse and record along with his older recordings or the radio.<ref>Michael Cogswell, ''Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo'' (Collector's Press, [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], Oregon, 2003) {{ISBN|1888054816}} pp. 66–68.</ref>

===Vocal popularity===
As Armstrong's music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became very important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it with the first recording on which he scatted, "[[Heebie Jeebies (composition)|Heebie Jeebies]]." At a recording session for [[Okeh Records]], when the sheet music supposedly fell on the floor, and the music began before Armstrong could pick up the pages, he simply started singing nonsense syllables while Okeh President E.A. Fearn, who was at the session, kept telling him to continue. Armstrong did, thinking the track would be discarded, but that was the version that was pressed to disc, sold, and became an unexpected hit. Although the story was thought to be apocryphal, Armstrong himself confirmed it in at least one interview as well as in his memoirs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2007/08/22/13829155/louis-armstrong-the-singer|title=NPR's Jazz Profiles from NPR: Louis Armstrong: The Singer|newspaper=NPR|publisher=National Public Radio|date=August 22, 2007|access-date=June 16, 2021|archive-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614225900/https://www.npr.org/2007/08/22/13829155/louis-armstrong-the-singer|url-status=live}}</ref> On a later recording, Armstrong also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas."

Such records were hits, and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, and using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.<ref name="bergreen7"/> Armstrong once told [[Cab Calloway]] that his scat style was derived "from the Jews ''rockin''", an Orthodox Jewish style of chanting during prayer.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://forward.com/culture/197338/louis-armstrongs-secret-lessons-from-judaism/|title=Louis Armstrong's Secret Lessons From Judaism|work=The Forward|access-date=January 12, 2018|archive-date=March 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317114334/https://forward.com/culture/197338/louis-armstrongs-secret-lessons-from-judaism/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrong00laur|title=Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life|last=Bergreen|first=Laurence|year=1998|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-0767901567|edition=Reprint|location=New York|language=en|url-access=registration}}</ref>

===Composing===
Armstrong was a gifted composer who wrote more than 50 songs, some of which have become [[jazz standards]] (e.g., "Gully Low Blues", "Potato Head Blues", and "Swing That Music").

===Colleagues and followers===
[[File:Satchmo Messuhallissa.jpg|thumb|With [[Jack Teagarden]] (left) and [[Barney Bigard]] (right), Armstrong plays the trumpet in [[Helsinki, Finland]], October 1949]]

During his long career, Armstrong played and sang with some of the most important instrumentalists and vocalists of the time, including Bing Crosby, [[Duke Ellington]], [[Fletcher Henderson]], [[Earl Hines]], [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]], [[Bessie Smith]], and [[Ella Fitzgerald]]. His influence upon Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music. Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931).<ref name="bergreen7"/> The ''New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in precise detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name:

{{blockquote|Crosby ... was important in introducing into the mainstream of popular singing an Afro-American concept of song as a lyrical extension of speech ... His techniques—easing the weight of the breath on the vocal cords, passing into a [[head voice]] at a low register, using forward production to aid distinct [[enunciation]], singing on consonants (a practice of black singers), and making discreet use of [[appoggiatura]]s, [[mordent]]s, and [[slur (music)|slurs]] to emphasize the text—were emulated by nearly all later popular singers.}}

Armstrong recorded two albums with Ella Fitzgerald, ''[[Ella and Louis]]'' and ''[[Ella and Louis Again]]'', for [[Verve Records]]. The sessions featured the backing musicianship of the [[Oscar Peterson]] Trio with drummer [[Buddy Rich]] on the first album and [[Louie Bellson]] on the second. [[Norman Granz]] then had the vision for Ella and Louis to record ''[[Porgy and Bess (Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong album)|Porgy and Bess]]''.

Armstrong's two recordings for [[Columbia Records]], ''[[Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy]]'' (1954) and ''Satch Plays Fats'' (all [[Fats Waller]] tunes) (1955), were both considered masterpieces, as well as moderately well selling. In 1961, the All-Stars participated in two albums, ''The Great Summit'' and ''The Great Reunion'' (now together as a single disc) with [[Duke Ellington]]. The albums feature many of Ellington's most famous compositions (as well as two exclusive cuts) with Duke sitting in on piano. Armstrong's participation in [[Dave Brubeck]]'s high-concept jazz musical ''[[The Real Ambassadors]]'' (1963) was critically acclaimed and features "Summer Song", one of Armstrong's most popular vocal efforts.

[[File:Louis Armstrong NYWTS 4.jpg|thumb|upright|Louis Armstrong in 1966]]
[[List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1964|In the week beginning May 9, 1964]], Armstrong's recording of the song "[[Hello Dolly (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]" went to number one. An [[Hello, Dolly! (Louis Armstrong album)|album of the same title]] was quickly created around the song, and also shot to number one, knocking [[The Beatles]] off the top of the chart. The album sold very well for the rest of the year, quickly going "Gold" (500,000). His performance of "Hello, Dolly!" won for best male pop vocal performance at the 1964 [[Grammy Awards]].

===Hits and later career===
Armstrong had 19 "Top Ten" records<ref name="billboard.com">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/308288/louis-armstrong/biography|title=Louis Armstrong|magazine=Billboard|access-date=March 19, 2020|archive-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614200258/https://www.billboard.com/artist/308288/louis-armstrong/biography|url-status=live}}</ref> including "[[Stardust (1927 song)|Stardust]]", "[[What a Wonderful World]]", "[[When The Saints Go Marching In]]", "[[Dream a Little Dream of Me (song)|Dream a Little Dream of Me]]", "[[Ain't Misbehavin' (song)|Ain't Misbehavin']]", "[[You Rascal You]]", and "[[Stompin' at the Savoy]]". "[[We Have All the Time in the World]]" was featured on the soundtrack of the [[James Bond]] film ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'', and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it was featured on a [[Guinness]] advertisement. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.

In 1964, Armstrong knocked [[The Beatles]] off the top of the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart with "[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a number one song. His 1964 song "Bout Time" was later featured in the film ''[[Bewitched (2005 film)|Bewitched]]''.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

In February 1968, Armstrong appeared with Lara Saint Paul on the Italian [[RAI]] television channel, where he performed "Grassa e Bella", a track Armstrong sang in Italian for the Italian market and C.D.I. label.<ref>Louis Armstrong: "''Grassa e bella''" [http://michaelminn.net/armstrong/index.php?section8 Louis Armstrong Discography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111230507/http://michaelminn.net/armstrong/index.php?section8 |date=January 11, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the UK with "[[What a Wonderful World]]", which topped the British charts for a month. Armstrong appeared on the October 28, 1970, ''[[The Johnny Cash Show (TV series)|Johnny Cash Show]]'', where he sang [[Nat King Cole]]'s hit "[[Ramblin' Rose]]" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel No. 9".

===Stylistic range===
Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from blues to the arrangements of [[Guy Lombardo]], to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted him to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] as an ''early influence''. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the [[rock and roll|hard rocking]] version of "[[St. Louis Blues (song)|St. Louis Blues]]" from the ''WC Handy'' album, show that the influence went in both directions.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

==Film, television, and radio==
{{See also|Louis Armstrong filmography}}
[[File:Louis Armstrong and Grace Kelly on the set of "High Society", 1956.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Armstrong entertains [[Grace Kelly]] on the set of ''High Society'', 1956]]

Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, usually playing a bandleader or musician. His most familiar role was as the bandleader ''cum'' narrator in the 1956 musical ''[[High Society (1956 film)|High Society]]'', starring Bing Crosby, [[Grace Kelly]], [[Frank Sinatra]], and [[Celeste Holm]]. Armstrong appears throughout the film, sings the title song, and performs the duet "[[Now You Has Jazz]]" with Crosby.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.tcm.com/video/192833/high-society-1956-high-society-calpyso|title= High Society (1956) – High Society Calpyso|website= [[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date= November 24, 2020|archive-date= February 25, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210225090502/https://www.tcm.com/video/192833/high-society-1956-high-society-calpyso|url-status= live}}</ref> In 1947, Armstrong played himself in the movie ''[[New Orleans (1947 film)|New Orleans]]'' opposite Billie Holiday, which chronicled the demise of the [[Storyville, New Orleans#Closure|Storyville district]] and the ensuing exodus of musicians from New Orleans to Chicago. In the 1959 film ''[[The Five Pennies]]'', Armstrong played himself, sang, and played several classic numbers. He performed a duet of "When the Saints Go Marching In" with [[Danny Kaye]], during which Kaye impersonated Armstrong. He had a part in the film alongside James Stewart in ''[[The Glenn Miller Story]]''.

In 1937, Armstrong was the first African American to host a [[The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour#Guests|nationally broadcast radio show]].<ref name=LAHM-still>{{cite web |last=Riccardi |first=Ricky |date=May 11, 2020 |title='I'm Still Louis Armstrong – Colored': Louis Armstrong and the Civil Rights Era |url=https://virtualexhibits.louisarmstronghouse.org/2020/05/11/im-still-louis-armstrong-colored-louis-armstrong-and-the-civil-rights-era/ |url-status=live |work=Louis Armstrong House Museum |location=[[Louis Armstrong House]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123064520/https://virtualexhibits.louisarmstronghouse.org/2020/05/11/im-still-louis-armstrong-colored-louis-armstrong-and-the-civil-rights-era/ |archive-date=January 23, 2021 |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> In 1969, he had a cameo role in [[Gene Kelly]]'s film version of ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' as the bandleader Louis where he sang the title song with actress [[Barbra Streisand]]. Armstrong's solo recording of "[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]" is one of his most recognizable performances.<ref name="bergreen7"/> Armstrong was heard on such radio programs as ''The Story of Swing'' (1937) and ''This Is Jazz'' (1947), and he also made television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]''.<ref name="bergreen7"/>

In [[1949 in radio|1949]], Armstrong's life was [[radio drama|dramatized]] by scriptwriter [[Richard Durham]] in the Chicago [[WSCR|WMAQ]] [[radio series]] ''[[Destination Freedom]]''.<ref name="MacDonald">{{cite book |editor1-last=MacDonald |editor1-first=J. Fred |editor-link=J. Fred MacDonald |title=Richard Durham's Destination Freedom |date=1989 |publisher=Praeger |location=New York |isbn=0275931382|chapter=The Trumpet Talks|pages=215–229}}</ref><ref>Recording {{OCLC|1323055804|13571274|26452918}}</ref>

Argentine writer [[Julio Cortázar]], a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the [[Théâtre des Champs-Élysées]] in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called [[Cronopio (literature)|Cronopios]] that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar once called Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (The Great Cronopio).<ref name="bergreen7"/>

There is a pivotal scene in ''[[Stardust Memories]]'' (1980) in which [[Woody Allen]] is overwhelmed by a recording of Armstrong's "[[Stardust (1927 song)|Stardust]]" and experiences a nostalgic epiphany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19800101%2FREVIEWS%2F1010330%2F1023 |title=Stardust Memories |publisher=Rogerebert.suntimes.com |date=January 1, 1980 |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-date=February 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130206163732/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19800101%2FREVIEWS%2F1010330%2F1023 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2022, Armstrong was subject of the documentary film ''[[Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Brody |first=Richard |title=Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/louis-armstrongs-black-and-blues |access-date=May 1, 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501074447/https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/louis-armstrongs-black-and-blues |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Satchmo's place.jpg|thumb|Louis Armstrong's grave at [[Flushing Cemetery]] in [[Queens]], New York City]]
Against his doctor's advice, Armstrong played a two-week engagement in March 1971 at the [[Waldorf-Astoria]]'s Empire Room. At the end of it, he was hospitalized for a [[heart attack]].<ref>[[Dan Morgenstern|Morgenstern, Dan]], and Sheldon Meyer (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=GVWrw0dtuAMC&pg=PT95 ''Living with Jazz''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512103354/https://books.google.com/books?id=GVWrw0dtuAMC&pg=PT95 |date=May 12, 2023 }}. New York: Pantheon Books. {{ISBN|037542072X}}</ref> Armstrong was released from the hospital in May and quickly resumed practicing his trumpet playing. Still hoping to get back on the road, Armstrong died of a heart attack in his sleep on July 6, 1971. Armstrong was residing in [[Corona, Queens]], New York City, at the time of his death.<ref>Krebs, Albin. [https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0804.html "Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter and Singer, Dies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206142237/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0804.html |date=December 6, 2016 }}, ''The New York Times'', July 7, 1971. Accessed October 1, 2009. "Louis Armstrong, the celebrated jazz trumpeter and singer, died in his sleep yesterday morning at his home in the Corona section of Queens."</ref>

Armstrong was interred in [[Flushing Cemetery]], [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]], in [[Queens]], New York City.
His honorary [[pallbearers]] included [[Bing Crosby]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Duke Ellington]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Pearl Bailey]], [[Count Basie]], [[Harry James]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Ed Sullivan]], [[Earl Wilson (columnist)|Earl Wilson]], [[Benny Goodman]], [[Alan King]], [[Johnny Carson]] and [[David Frost]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Collier|first=James Lincoln |author-link=James Lincoln Collier|title=Louis Armstrong|url=https://archive.org/details/louisarmstrongam00coll|url-access=registration|year=1985|publisher=Pan|isbn=978-0330286077|page=333}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Burton|first=Anthony|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/07/05/louis-armstrongs-body-is-laid-to-rest-in-queens/|title=Louis Armstrong's body is laid to rest in Queens|work=New York Daily News|date=July 10, 1971}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Lelyveld|first=Joseph|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/10/archives/friends-bid-louis-armstrong-a-nostalgic-farewell-at-simple-service.html|title=Friends Bid Louis Armstrong a Nostalgic Farewell at Simple Service|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 10, 1971}}</ref> [[Peggy Lee]] sang "[[The Lord's Prayer]]" at the services while [[Al Hibbler]] sang "[[Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen]]" and [[Fred Robbins (broadcaster)|Fred Robbins]], a long-time friend, gave the eulogy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title |title=Louis Armstrong Dies: 1971 Year in Review |publisher=Upi.com |date=December 28, 1971 |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503142809/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/ |archive-date=May 3, 2009 }}</ref>

==Awards and honors==

===Grammy Awards===
Armstrong was posthumously awarded the [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award]] in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the recording field.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/ |title=Lifetime Achievement Award |publisher=Grammy.com |date=February 8, 2009 |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212143148/http://grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/ |archive-date=February 12, 2009 }}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year
! Category
! Title
! Genre
! Label
! Result
|-
| 1964
| Male Vocal Performance
| "[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]"
| Pop
| Kapp
| Winner
|}

===Grammy Hall of Fame===
Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]], which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame |title=Grammy Hall of Fame Database |publisher=Grammy.com |date=February 8, 2009 |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122042616/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame |archive-date=January 22, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FINAL.pdf |title=The Recording Academy |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612184539/http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FINAL.pdf |archive-date=June 12, 2009 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year recorded
! Title
! Label
! Year inducted
! Notes
|-
| 1925
| "[[St. Louis Blues (song)|St. Louis Blues]]"
| Columbia
| 1993
| [[Bessie Smith]] with Louis Armstrong, cornet
|-
| 1926
| "[[Heebie Jeebies (composition)|Heebie Jeebies]]"
| OKeh
| 1999
|
|-
| 1928
| "[[West End Blues]]"
| OKeh
| 1974
|
|-
| 1928
| "[[Weather Bird]]"
| OKeh
| 2008
| with [[Earl Hines]]
|-
| 1929
| "[[St. Louis Blues (song)|St. Louis Blues]]"
| OKeh
| 2008
|with [[Red Allen]]
|-
| 1930
| "[[Standing on the Corner (Blue Yodel No. 9)|Blue Yodel No.&nbsp;9<br />(Standing on the Corner)]]"
| Victor
| 2007
| Jimmie Rodgers (featuring Louis Armstrong)
|-
| 1932
| "[[All of Me (Ruth Etting song)|All of Me]]"
| Columbia
| 2005
|
|-
| 1938
| "[[When the Saints Go Marching In]]"
| Decca
| 2016
|
|-
| 1955
| "[[Mack the Knife]]"
| Columbia
| 1997
|
|-
| 1958
| ''[[Porgy and Bess (Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong album)|Porgy and Bess]]''
| Verve
| 2001
| Album, with [[Ella Fitzgerald]]
|-
| 1964
| "[[Hello, Dolly! (song)|Hello, Dolly!]]"
| Kapp
| 2001
|
|-
| 1967
| "[[What a Wonderful World]]"
| ABC
| 1999
|
|}

===Rock and Roll Hall of Fame===
The [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] listed Armstrong's "West End Blues" on the list of 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rockhall.com/exhibits/one-hit-wonders-songs-that-shaped-rock-and-roll/ |title=Experience The Music: One Hit Wonders and The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll |publisher=Rockhall.com |access-date=May 7, 2011 |archive-date=May 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509180015/http://rockhall.com/exhibits/one-hit-wonders-songs-that-shaped-rock-and-roll/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year recorded
! Title
! Label
! Group
|-
| 1928
| "[[West End Blues]]"
| [[Okeh Records|Okeh]]
| [[Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five]]
|}

===Inductions and honors===
In 1995, the [[List of people on stamps of the United States|U.S. Post Office]] issued a Louis Armstrong 32-cent commemorative postage stamp.

{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year inducted
! Title
! Notes
|-
| 1952
| [[DownBeat|DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame]]
| First inductee into DownBeat Hall of Fame
|-
| 1960<ref name=HollywoodWalkOfFame>{{cite web |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/louis-armstrong |title=Louis Armstrong |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |date=February 8, 1960 |access-date=October 2, 2011 |archive-date=March 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307214732/http://www.walkoffame.com/louis-armstrong |url-status=live }}</ref>
| [[List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame|Hollywood Walk of Fame]]
| Star at 7601 Hollywood Blvd.
|-
| 1978
| Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
|
|-
| 1990
| [[List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees|Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]]
| Early influence
|-
| 2004
| Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
| At [[Jazz at Lincoln Center]]
|-
| 2007
| [[Louisiana Music Hall of Fame]]
|
|-
| 2007
| [[Gennett Records]] Walk of Fame, [[Richmond, Indiana|Richmond]], Indiana
|
|-
| 2007
| [[Long Island Music Hall of Fame]]
|
|-
| 2017
| [[National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame]]
| Early influence
|-
|}

===Film honors===
In 1999, Armstrong was nominated for inclusion in the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars|100 Years ... 100 Stars]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars500.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Stars Nominees |access-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-date=March 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328082208/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars500.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Legacy==
In 1950, [[Bing Crosby]], the most successful vocalist of the first half of the 20th century, said, "He is the beginning and the end of music in America."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/reviews/010211.11gottlit.html|title=A Long Way From Tacoma|website=movies2.nytimes.com|access-date=September 28, 2018|archive-date=September 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929000507/http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/reviews/010211.11gottlit.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Duke Ellington, [[DownBeat]] magazine in 1971, said, "If anybody was a master, it was Louis Armstrong. He was and will continue to be the embodiment of jazz."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Storb |first=Ilse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40FU7dEiB78C&q=%22%22If%20anybody%20was%20a%20master,%20it%20was%20Louis%20Armstrong.%22%22&pg=PA168 |title=Jazz Meets the World-the World Meets Jazz |date=2000 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3825837488 |language=en}}</ref> Though Armstrong is widely recognized as a pioneer of scat singing, [[Ethel Waters]] and others preceded his scatting on record in the 1920s according to [[Gary Giddins]] and others.<ref>See ''Ken Burns' Jazz'' CD Set liner notes.</ref>

According to literary critic Harold Bloom, "The two great American contributions to the world's art, in the end, are Walt Whitman and, after him, Armstrong and jazz ... If I had to choose between the two, ultimately, I wouldn't. I would say that the genius of this nation at its best is indeed Walt Whitman and Louis Armstrong".<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 30, 2007 |title=At Home with Harold Bloom: (3) The Jazz Bridge |url=http://radioopensource.org/at-home-with-harold-bloom-3-the-jazz-bridge/ |access-date=October 19, 2019 |website=Radioopensource.org |archive-date=May 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530103832/https://radioopensource.org/at-home-with-harold-bloom-3-the-jazz-bridge/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2023, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked Armstrong at No. 39 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=January 1, 2023 |title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/louis-armstrong-3-1234643140/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |access-date=September 12, 2023 |archive-date=October 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006045347/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/louis-armstrong-3-1234643140/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1991, an asteroid was named [[9179 Satchmo]] in Armstrong's honor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=9179|title=IAU Minor Planet Center|website=minorplanetcenter.net|access-date=December 11, 2022|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180231/http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=9179|url-status=live}}</ref> In the summer of 2001, in commemoration of the centennial of his birth, New Orleans's main airport was renamed [[Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport]]. The entrance to the airport's [[Former terminal of New Orleans International Airport|former terminal building]] houses a statue depicting Armstrong playing his cornet. In 2002, the [[Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five|Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven]] recordings (1925–1928) were preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a registry of [[Sound recording and reproduction|recordings]] selected yearly by the [[National Recording Preservation Board]] for preservation in the [[National Recording Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2002reg.html |title=Library of Congress archive |website=[[Library of Congress]] |date=February 18, 2009 |access-date=August 17, 2009 |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315025418/http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2002reg.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[US Open (tennis)|US Open]] tennis tournament's former main stadium was named [[Louis Armstrong Stadium]] in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usta.com/Active/News/National-Tennis-Center-News/National-Tennis-Center/14185_Ashe__Armstrong_Stadiums/ |title=Ashe & Armstrong Stadiums |publisher=Usta.com |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=May 7, 2011 |archive-date=October 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001025842/http://www.usta.com/Active/News/National-Tennis-Center-News/National-Tennis-Center/14185_Ashe__Armstrong_Stadiums/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Congo Square]] was a common gathering place for blacks in New Orleans for dancing and performing music. The park where Congo Square is located was later renamed [[Louis Armstrong Park]].<ref>Bergreen (1997), p. 11.</ref> Dedicated in April 1980, the park includes a {{Convert|12|ft|m|adj=on}} statue of Armstrong, trumpet in hand.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 16, 1980 |title=Armstrong Park Dedicated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24648140/louis_armstrong_louis_armstrong_park/ |newspaper=Daily World |location=Opelousas, Louisiana |page=3 |agency=[[United Press International|UPI]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=October 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030034956/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24648140/louis_armstrong_louis_armstrong_park/ |archive-date=October 30, 2018 |url-status=live }} {{Open access}}</ref>

''[[A Wonderful World (musical)|A Wonderful World]]'', a musical based on his life story, had its world premiere run at [[Miami New Drama]] from December 4, 2021, to January 16, 2021,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Wonderful World |url=https://miaminewdrama.org/show/a-wonderful-world/ |access-date=October 5, 2023 |website=Miami New Drama |archive-date=September 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927093529/https://miaminewdrama.org/show/a-wonderful-world/ |url-status=live }}</ref> after mounting previews beginning March 5, 2020<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clement |first=Olivia |date=March 5, 2020 |title=Louis Armstrong Musical A Wonderful World Kicks Off World Premiere in Miami |url=https://playbill.com/article/louis-armstrong-musical-a-wonderful-world-kicks-off-world-premiere-in-miami#:~:text=Performances%20begin%20March%205%20at,stars%20as%20jazz%20legend%20Armstrong. |access-date=October 5, 2023 |website=Playbill.com |archive-date=October 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022235816/https://playbill.com/article/louis-armstrong-musical-a-wonderful-world-kicks-off-world-premiere-in-miami#:~:text=Performances%20begin%20March%205%20at,stars%20as%20jazz%20legend%20Armstrong. |url-status=live }}</ref> and canceling opening night (March 14) due to COVID concerns.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 14, 2020 |title=Exclusive Photos/Video: Final Preview of A WONDERFUL WORLD; Opening Night Cancelled at the Colony Theatre |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/miami/article/Exclusive-PhotosVideo-Final-Preview-of-A-WONDERFUL-WORLD-Opening-Night-Cancelled-at-the-Colony-Theatre-20200314 |access-date=October 5, 2023 |website=Broadway World |archive-date=October 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022234313/https://www.broadwayworld.com/miami/article/Exclusive-PhotosVideo-Final-Preview-of-A-WONDERFUL-WORLD-Opening-Night-Cancelled-at-the-Colony-Theatre-20200314 |url-status=live }}</ref> Mirroring Armstrong's musical journey, the show stars [[James Monroe Iglehart]] and makes "pre-Broadway"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gans |first=Andrew |date=July 12, 2023 |title=Cast Complete for A Wonderful World Musical Starring James Monroe Iglehart; Vanessa Williams Joins Producing Team |url=https://playbill.com/article/cast-complete-for-a-wonderful-world-musical-starring-james-monroe-iglehart-vanessa-williams-joins-producing-team |access-date=October 5, 2023 |website=Playbill.com |archive-date=September 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925202808/https://playbill.com/article/cast-complete-for-a-wonderful-world-musical-starring-james-monroe-iglehart-vanessa-williams-joins-producing-team |url-status=live }}</ref> stops in New Orleans on October 1–8, 2023, and Chicago on October 11–29, 2023. The new musical charts the rise of Armstrong from the perspective of his four wives. It is conceived by Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee [[Christopher Renshaw]] and novelist [[Andrew Delaplaine]], and directed by Renshaw, ''A Wonderful World'' features an original book by [[Aurin Squire]]. The show will debut on Broadway in 2024.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thepressroomnyc.com/wonderful-world | title=A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical|website=The Press Room, NYC | access-date=April 6, 2024 | archive-date=April 6, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406082119/https://www.thepressroomnyc.com/wonderful-world | url-status=live }}</ref>

==The Louis Armstrong House Museum==
The house where Armstrong lived for almost 28 years was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] and opened to the public for guided tours in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Museum – About |url=https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/about/ |website=Louis Armstrong House Museum |access-date=18 January 2025}}</ref> The [[Louis Armstrong House|Louis Armstrong House Museum]], at 34–56 107th Street between 34th and 37th avenues in [[Corona, Queens]], presents concerts and educational programs,<ref>{{cite web |title=Events |url=https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/events/ |website=Louis Armstrong House Museum |access-date=18 January 2025}}</ref> operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research.<ref>{{cite web |title=Research Archives – Collections |url=https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/museum-collections/ |website=Louis Armstrong House Museum |access-date=18 January 2025}}</ref> The museum is administered by the [[Queens College, City University of New York]], following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will and is operated by the nonprofit Louis Armstrong House Museum. The museum opened to the public on October 15, 2003. A new visitors center opened across the street from the Armstrong home in the summer of 2023.<ref name="visitorscenter">{{Cite news|url = https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2023/07/07/louis-armstrong-house-museum-and-cuny-celebrate-opening-of-new-center/|title = Louis Armstrong House Museum and CUNY Celebrate Opening of New Center|publisher = The City University of New York|date = July 7, 2023|access-date = November 30, 2023|archive-date = November 27, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231127050846/https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2023/07/07/louis-armstrong-house-museum-and-cuny-celebrate-opening-of-new-center/|url-status = live}}</ref> The Museum website also includes the digitized Armstrong Archives, searchable to the public 24 hours a day.<ref>{{cite web |title=Catalogs |url=https://collections.louisarmstronghouse.org/ |website=Louis Armstrong House Museum |access-date=18 January 2025}}</ref>

==Essential discography==
{{main|Louis Armstrong discography}}

* ''The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings''
* ''The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935–1946) (Mosaic Records, 2009)''
* ''All Stars (Louis Armstrong's Town Hall Concert) (1947)''
* ''[[Struttin' (Louis Armstrong album)|Struttin']] (1947)''
* ''Satchmo Serenades (1950)''
* ''[[Satchmo at Pasadena|Satchmo at Pasadena]] (1951)''
* ''[[Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy]] (1955)''
* ''[[Louis Armstrong at the Crescendo, Vol. 1]] (1955)''
* ''[[Satch Plays Fats]] (1955)''
* ''[[The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve]]''{{snd}}contains ''Ella and Louis, Ella and Louis Again, Porgy and Bess (1997)''
* ''[[Louis and the Angels]] (1957)''
* ''[[Louis and the Good Book]] (1958)''
* ''[[Satchmo In Style]] (1959)''
* ''[[Hello, Dolly! (Louis Armstrong album)|Hello, Dolly!]] (1964)''

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Black and tan clubs]]
* [[Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong collaborations]]
* ''[[Little Satchmo]]'', 2022 documentary film

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
{{External media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?291140-1/pops-life-louis-armstrong Presentation by Teachout about ''Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong'', January 7, 2010], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?291150-1/terry-teachout-wall-street-journal-drama-critic-passes-age-65 ''Q&A'' interview with Teachout about ''Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong'', January 31, 2010], [[C-SPAN]]}}
* Armstrong, Louis (1954). ''Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans''. {{ISBN|0306802767}}.
* [[Laurence Bergreen|Bergreen, Laurence]] (1997). ''Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life''. {{ISBN|0553067680}}.
* Cogswell, Michael (2003). ''Armstrong: The Offstage Story''. {{ISBN|1888054816}}.
* Elie, Lolis Eric. ''A Letter from New Orleans''. Originally printed in ''Gourmet''. Reprinted in ''Best Food Writing 2006'', ed. by Holly Hughes, Da Capo Press, 2006. {{ISBN|1569242879}}.
* [[Terry Teachout|Teachout, Terry]] (2009). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pops/WrDB5XZbXZEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq&printsec=frontcover ''Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong'']. {{ISBN|978-0151010899}}.

==Further readings==
* [[Thomas Brothers|Brothers, Thomas]] (2006). ''Louis Armstrong's New Orleans''',''''' New York, N.Y.  W. W. Norton & Company
* Brothers, Thomas (2014). ''Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company
* {{cite book |last=Feather |first=Leonard | author-link=Leonard Feather | title=The Jazz Encyclopedia |publisher=Da Capo |date=1960 |isbn=0-306-80214-7}}
* [[Gary Giddins|Giddins, Gary]] (1988). ''Satchmo: The Genius of Louis Armstrong''. Da Capo Press
* [[Ted Gioia|Gioia, Ted]] (2022). ''The History of Jazz (Third Edition)''. Oxford University Press 
* [[Max Jones (musician)|Jones, Max]], and Chilton, John (1988). ''Louis: The Louis Armstrong Story, 1900–1971''. Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|978-0306803246}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Riccardi |first=Ricky |year=2012 |title=What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years |url= |url-access= |edition= |location=New York |publisher=Vintage  |isbn=9780307473295 |oclc=798285020 |access-date=}}
* {{Cite book |last=Riccardi |first=Ricky |author-mask=2 |year=2020 |title=Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong |url= |url-access= |edition= |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190914110 |oclc=1137836373 |access-date=}}
* {{Cite book |last=Riccardi |first=Ricky |author-mask=2 |year=2025 |title=Stomp off, Let's Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong |url= |url-access= |edition= |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780197614488 |oclc=1427941152 |access-date=}}
* Storb, Ilse (1999). ''Louis Armstrong: The Definitive Biography''. {{ISBN|0820431036}}.
* Willems, Jos (2006). ''All of Me: The Complete Discography of Louis Armstrong''. Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN|978-0810857308}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|lcheading=Louis Armstrong}}
* [https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/ Louis Armstrong House Museum]
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{discogs artist|Louis Armstrong}}
* {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/louis-armstrong}}
* [https://virtualexhibits.louisarmstronghouse.org/2025/11/12/hot-five-centennial-celebration-part-1-birth-of-the-hot/]

{{Louis Armstrong}}
{{Voyager Golden Record}}
{{Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance}}
{{Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{1990 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

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