Meet Louis Armstrong: The Man Who Put the Soloist at the Centre
MentorMinds
New Orleans
Louis Armstrong learned the cornet in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he was sent at twelve for firing a pistol on New Year’s Eve. His mentor King Oliver brought him to Chicago in 1922.
The records that changed jazz
His Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925–1928) made the improvised solo the centre of the music. "West End Blues" opens with a cadenza musicians still study.
A public stand
In 1957, over the Little Rock school crisis, he condemned the government and refused to go on a planned State Department tour.
In 1964 "Hello, Dolly!" knocked the Beatles off the top of the chart.
Why they belong at your table
Seat Armstrong when you want joy and seriousness at the same table — he never thought they were opposites.
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