Louis Armstrong had a significant influence in the development and direction of jazz, and he was certainly one of the leading musicians that emerged during jazz music’s formative years. He shared his birthplace, New Orleans, with the actual genre that he was able to help create. Since he was born in the Storyville District which was very dangerous, he spend most of his earliest years along side of his grandmother - however, eventually he had to go back to his mother who had to resort to prostitution thanks to abject poverty.
Working Young:
By the time that he reached seven, he was already working so that he could help to support his family by singing on the corners of the streets being a special part of a vocal quartet as well as doing several different jobs in order to get a junk wagon that was owned at the time, by the Karnofskys, which was a family made up of Jewish immigrants from Russia. This was around the time that Armstrong gained possession of his very first cornet which was purchased with the money that was lent out by his employers.
Strangely enough, the very first development that helped Louis Armstrong in his very own escape from living a life of poverty was brought on by him being arrested at the young age of thirteen. After he was actually caught firing a gun up into the air during a New Year’s Eve celebration, at that time, he was taken away from his family and then placed into the custody of the Colored Waifs Home for boys. Here he was able to receive his very first form of musical instruction from Peter Davis who was the band director for the home. Peter by the time that Armstrong’s end of the year internment had rolled around, promoted the young talent to the bandleader position. Upon Armstrong’s release, he started to support himself by selling newspapers as well as doing other different forms of manual labor, while he spent all of his free time absorbing all of the sounds of the jazz scene that was emerging in the local nightclubs.
The Move To Chicago:
Later on, Armstrong was placed under the tutelage of Joe Oliver, who was a cornetist, and after he made the move to Chicago during ’18, Armstrong was to act as Joe’s replacement in “The Kid Ory Band”, which was New Orleans leading jazz group. The following year, Armstrong was first offered an opportunity like no other, to perform on the Mississippi Riverboat as a part of the ever-so-popular The Fate Marable Orchestra, which was during the time that Armstrong, working under Marable, was able to receive his most intensive form of musical training. In ’22, Armstrong received an invitation to work with Oliver, his old mentor, again which brought about a two year stint as the second cornetist for his Creole Band along with his very first recording session during the month of April the next year.
