Essay/Term paper: Louis armstrong: from childhood to adulthood

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Composition

Louis Armstrong: From Childhood to Adulthood



When you think of Louis Armstrong you probably think of a jolly middle-aged man

who can play the cornet like no one else, a man who had it all, a man who had the good

life. Well, Louis was not always that lucky. From childhood to his adulthood, Louis

Armstrong changed much as a person and a musician. He worked very hard to become

what he became and did not let anything get in the way of becoming a musician. In this

paper, you will read about how Louis Armstrong became one of the most influential

people/musicians of his time.

Louis Armstrong"s childhood was not of the normal childhoods most of us have

had. He had a very hard and painful childhood. He was treated very harshly by his family

and the people around him. His mother did not even care enough to keep his birth

certificate. That is why no one is really sure of Louis"s birthdate ,but people believe he

was born around 1898, in New Orleans. Around Louis"s time of birth, many blacks were

confined to live in the slums. The slums were in a way like ghettos. They were very poor,

dirty areas where people who hadn"t much money would live. In the slums, there was

much violence, drug circulation and prostitution. The only people that made any money in

the slums were either the hustlers or the musicians. Considering Louis was not related to

anyone of that status he and his family had very little money. That left Louis with no

possessions whatsoever. He hadn"t any toys to play with, he didn"t even have a simple

stick just to keep him occupied. His clothes were at the lowest of the low class. He was

confined to wearing a dress as a younger child until he was a little older, then he had hand

me down shirts and shorts to wear. His choice of foods was limited to rice and beans. His

family did not make enough money to get better food than that. His family did not have

enough of anything to keep him happy. He felt like nobody loved him. When he was born

his father left his mother and him to start another life with another family. His mother

always was out leaving Louis to fend for himself. But before Louis had lived with his

mother he lived with his grandmother. His grandma took the best care of him out of

anybody in his family. She always made sure that Louis was fed and that he was not alone.

She was the only person that really loved him. She would always take him to church on

Sundays which gave Louis his first singing experience. Louis loved his grandmother but,

after seven years of living with her he moved 18 blocks away to live with his mother

,Mayann.

When he went to her house he found out that he had a new sister named Beatrice.

She was nicknamed Mama Lucy. His mother would always be working long hours and

drink in bars all night. That left Louis to take care of Mama Lucy and himself. Louis was

luck enough to get work from a young white boy who helped him sell papers for pennies.

He also sang in a street choir with some of his friends. As he got into his teen years he

took up crapshooting. All of these odd jobs brought in enough money to feed Mama Lucy

and himself. When working was not getting him anywhere he could always find a careless

or drunk person stumbling in the streets who would drop his/her money. Also, when

nothing was working at all he would occasionally steal some food from the local grocery

stores. But still being just a boy he was not satisfied with the title of being the bearer of

food for his family. He wanted to be and do so many things. He idolized hustlers and their

easy lives. With a life like one of theirs, Louis could do more things with his life and still

support his family. Also, Louis was starting to notice music. He always would admire the

marching bands that would come booming down the streets and the blues that would

come blasting out of all the bars and "honky tonks". Louis just wanted to be something

more than he was. He was more into being a musician than being a hustler. That"s what he

really wanted. So, on New Years Eve there was a big celebration. One kid picked up a

gun with blanks and shot it at Louis. Louis then did the same to the kid but was caught in

the act. Louis was put on a small trial in which the judge decided something that would

start Louis off on his music career. Louis was sent to the Colored Waif"s Home for poor

black boys which he spent most of his childhood.

The home was run under military lines. A bugler would use his bugle to wake up

the boys, tell them when it was time to eat, and send them to bed. Also, the boys would do

intensive drills with fake guns. There were many chores that each boy had to do as well to

learn responsibility. At first the home was very new to him. He was homesick for quite

some time. After a while though, people started to enjoy Louis"s company and that made

him feel more welcome. Once Louis got settled in, he noticed something that changed his

life drastically. He found out that there was a band at the home. It was sort of a school

band. They played some old tunes that had some blues influence to them. Louis liked this

band a lot. He liked it so much that he would sit down at every band practice in hope that

the band teacher ,Mr. Davis, would notice him and ask his to join the band. Finally a man

that worked at the home named Captain Jones (he was called that because of the military

ranking influence) got Louis involved with music. A woman named Mrs. Spriggins would

come to the home now and then to conduct a boy"s choir. Jones put Louis in the choir. He

did so well that at the next practice as Louis sat and watched that band, Mr. Davis walked

over and asked Louis to join the choir. Of course he said yes and was from then on a

musician no matter how bad he was. Davis started Louis on the tambourine. Louis"s joy

turned a little sour when he was presented with the instrument but, he knew that it was a

custom among the New Orlean"s African Americans to start out with rhythm instruments

such as the tambourine or the drums. It gets the musicians a feel for the beat they are to be

playing so when they graduate to a more complicated instrument they will be able to keep

an accurate beat throughout the whole song. So Louis swallowed his disappointment and

played his tambourine as best as possible. It was simple for Louis. he had been growing up

listening to ragtime marches so keeping beat was natural to him. Not long after he started

the tambourine Davis realized that Louis was ready to move a level up to the base drum.

Louis played that with ease. He played it so well that not long after that he was moved up

to mellophone or what we would today call an alto horn. This was an important switch for

Louis. The alto horn is very much like the cornet he played later in his life. Now Louis was

in a spot. Like most of the boys in the band he could not read music. This is where singing

in the street choir comes in to play. Louis was able to work out the notes by just hearing

them. Once he found the notes on the horn, it was easy to play. He was so good that he

was moved up to the bugler. The bugle was much different. It helped him form notes by

forming his lips around the mouthpiece a special way and using his tongue as well then by

blowing into the bugle would create different notes. Soon Louis was moved to the cornet

and became the head of the band. Louis was admired by the rest of the band not just for

the music he played but for his humor as well. In the book the author writes that Davis

said:



" I remember Louis used to walk funny with his feet and at the first note of music he"d

break into comedy dances. He could sing real well as a boy, too, even though his voice

was coarse. I"d play the horn and he"d dance, and when I"d put my horn down he"d pick

it up and start playing it."(Collier, Page 32)



One day as the band was marching in the streets ,with Louis leading, they headed down

Louis"s old street. As Louis was playing some of the best music he had ever played at that

time in his life all the people that knew him would point out their Little Louis. Louis felt

so amazingly good. he was a musician, that was all he ever wanted to be.

Louis was now around 16 years old. he had been living at the home for quite a few

years. Sometimes his mother ,Mayann, would visit him. But one day Louis got a

surpassing visit from someone he has not heard from since he was born. His own father,

Willie Armstrong. Louis was curious why his father had come to see him. Willie wanted

him out of the home. But why? Louis was pondering that thought for some time and came

to the conclusion that Willie wanted him to babysit his two sons because Willie and his

wife had to work to provide for their family. Louis did it anyway as soon as his father

convinced the judge to set him free. Louis did a lot of work caring for the kids. He did it

until finally, Willie"s wife was again pregnant. That left Willie no choice but to send Louis

back to his mother. Mayann and Mama Lucy were glad to see him all grown up. Once

Louis was back, it was back to the same old thing. But this time Louis had a new plan. He

was going to become the musician he always wanted to be.

Louis tried to become a big musician in the area of New Orleans he lived in. He

wanted to be a person that people would always mention when they talked about music.

To do that he tried to befriend some bigger musicians that could help him get gigs. So

Louis would go to some of the "honk tonks" and listen to some music and get himself a 5

cent beer. He hung around there so much that he ended up meeting a drummer/hustler

named Benny Williams. Benny would be conversing with another musician and Louis

would stand there and wait to be noticed. When Benny finally did so they talked for a

while. Finally Benny noticed this short teenager was hanging around him quite a lot. He

liked this kid. So Benny Williams adopted Louis as one of his very good friends. Benny

was a tough guy who no one messed with and when people found out he was watching

out for Louis, nobody messed around with him. Louis was on easy street. Benny helped

Louis become a better musician by letting Louis sit for Benny and play with the other

musicians though he was not yet good enough. As Louis would sit in and play with the

musicians he would get increasingly better. He was getting good enough to play in the

"honky tonks", and so he did. A while after Louis"s becoming a real musician, Benny was

shot by his girlfriend. Louis would brag how Benny still lived a week with that old bullet

in his heart, but that just is not possible. Louis was very sad but he got over it shortly.

After the incident with Benny, Louis started being noticed musically. But Louis

knew that he needed his own cornet by now. He could become even better if he could

practice by himself more often. Louis has been borrowing other musicians instruments to

play but he can"t take them home with him. So one day Louis met up with that white boy

that had helped him sell papers as a child. This boy said that he would sell him a cornet for

ten dollars. Louis bought the beat up old thing but made it play beautifully. After Louis

had acquired his own instrument, he was used as a substitute for other cornet players. But

when Louis substituted for these musicians he really showed them up. He played so well

that the manager finally told him that he was good enough to be a regular player which

meant he could be a star attraction. The manager of the club arranged him to play in a

band with a drummer named Garbee, and a pianist named Boogus. While Louis was

playing in the band he started to get attached to another big musician. he was very well

known throughout New Orleans. His name is Joe "King" Oliver. Oliver was the best

cornetist in New Orleans. Louis got to know Oliver and his wife. Oliver would help Louis

with cornet and Louis would often sit in for Oliver. Sometimes Oliver"s wife would invite

Louis over to eat dinner with them. Finally Oliver got Louis on the right track. He

recommended Louis to Kid Ory the best trombonist in New Orleans. Kid let Louis into his

band. Louis did very well and Kid liked him a lot. Louis was proud to be in the best Jazz

band in New Orleans. The band mostly played dances. As Louis played in a band he also

worked on a coal cart to earn more money. By doing those jobs he was earning a higher

income and could afford more food. So with the steady income and the great band Louis

was pretty satisfied with himself. But one day the band had to break up. Kid"s doctor told

him to move to dryer climates because of coughing spells. So Kid moved to Los Angeles,

California. Louis just played parades and had some non-serious bands with his musician

friends while Ory was gone. One dat Ory wrote to Louis asking him to move to L.A. with

him. Considering Louis was scared of moving away from an area he already knows he said

no. Louis then made himself even a better musician.

Louis was asked by a man named Fate Marable to join a band on the Streckfus

Line riverboat. Streckfus people were very strict with how they wanted the music to be

played. The wanted perfect timing and a very clear sound. Louis was very worried because

he could not read music. Luckily, two musicians named Joe Howard and David Jones

helped Louis with his music reading abilities. Considering Louis did not play all year

"round, Marable asked him to and he said yes because he was now ready. When Louis

played many enjoyed listening to him. One time a man named Fletcher Henderson asked

him to tour with him. Louis would only say yes if they would take along his friend Arthur

Singleton ,Zutty, a good drummer. They said that they could so Louis said the same and

they went their separate ways for the time being. Finally Louis heard from Oliver. He was

in Chicago and wanted Louis to come down a play in his band. Louis was ready to do so.

He knew Oliver and felt comfortable around him so he did not feel alone. When Louis

moved to Chicago, Oliver introduced him to a woman pianist named Lilian Hardin. At first

she did not like Louis. She felt that he was a hick in a way because of his ratty old clothes

and how he did not speak as proper as she did. But after a while she got to like Louis.

They started dating a lot. Then on February 5, 1924 they were wed. Lil loved Louis very

much and wanted only the best for him. She though ,and so did many other musicians, that

Louis was too good for the band and should start his own. Louis did not want to do that

because after all, Oliver had done so much for him. But it happened anyway. The band

started to fall apart because not only of Oliver"s bossiness but also he was holding each of

the member"s pay secretly so they all turned on him and just quit.

After that was over Louis joined and band with band leader Ollie Powers. That

band was moving slowly but the pace for Louis was just about to pick up. Fletcher

Henderson ,who asked him to tour with him when he was playing on the riverboats, wrote

him to come to New York. He wanted him to be in his Jazz orchestra. Louis said yes.

While Louis was there he amazed them with his talents. He was and influence to many of

them. One man would dress like him, talk like him and follow him around everywhere. He

was now being considered the new king of Jazz. Louis was now asking Henderson if he

could sing as well. Henderson was hesitant about it and would let him sing but not while

they record records. Louis then got a letter from Lil and she wanted him to come back to

Chicago because she had arranged a band for him to lead. Louis thought it over and in

October of 1925, Louis moved back to Chicago. His new band was great. Louis recorded

with his band ,The Hot Fives, at OKeh records. Those were some of the most important

records he ever made. Louis would also sing and entertain at the Sunset Theater on the

side. And later ,after some changes in the line up, the final group of Hot Fives were

without many of the originals such as Lil on the piano. You could now tell that their

marriage was now in trouble because of that. By 1928 they divorced and Louis got Earl

Hines to replace her on the piano. The problem with Jazz then was that it was closing

down in Chicago so Louis moved to Manhattan in 1929. Now Louis was the best.

Louis was now famous. He was the best cornetist in the world. He received an

engraved watch that said so. But being famous was not all rewards. His introduction to

the world of commercial music was very tough. There followed six years of desperate

over work, nagging personal problems, appalling management and conflicts with Chicago

and New York gangs. Also, Louis was arrested and suspended for smoking pot, then he

went right back to doing it. Another problem was still with Lil and the final relationship,

but it all turned out that Lil and Louis stayed good friends. He also had a problem with

dated all the way back to the Waif"s Home. He has been using the wrong part of his lip to

play cornet. It has been getting callused and that limited his playing abilities. It even got

worse when in 1931, Louis made a mistake in hiring a failed mobster with a drinking

problem ,named Johnny Collins, as management. Collins saw Louis as a meal ticket.

Collins cheated Louis out of a lot of money and as a result of Collins" gangland

connections, Louis"s lucrative secrets became the subject of gang rivalry. But besides the

gangs and personal problems, Louis was still trying to entertain the crowd. So Louis

entered the movie business around the 1930"s. He was seen dressed in a leopard"s skin in

Rhapsody in Blue and was a band conductor in a later film known as Hello Dolly. Also, in

a Betty Boop cartoon, Louis is seen conversing with Betty and then serenading her. He

career in t he movie business was rapidly growing.

Louis was starting to enter the final phases of his career. First of all, he was

remarried to a girl named Alpha Smith. Alpha was very worried of what happened to

Louis and Lil would happen to her, but it seemed to have not. But that was not the biggest

issue going on in Louis"s life. The biggest started off in a 1946 movie called New Orleans.

The movie had quite a line up of wonderful Jazz musicians. There was Kid Ory on

trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Zutty Singleton on drums, and the young Red

Callendar on bass. This movie branched off a new band led by Louis called The All Stars.

The All Stars were some of the guys from the movie and some old Hot Fives colleagues

such as Earl Hines on Piano. Traditional Jazz was back in business for quite some time.

This band was the most well known band of all that Louis was in. They had a succession

of hits, but the most well known would have to be Blueberry Hill.

Now Louis was finally up to the peak of his career. In 1952 he was voted the most

important musical figure of all time in Downbeat Magazine. Louis was also starting to

speak his mind. Louis"s fame made him more confident to speak out against one of his

biggest problems. Louis was standing up against racism. Louis was protesting on

Eisenhower"s policy on race as gutless. This angered many blacks who thought Louis

should have stood up much earlier. Now Louis was trying to stay on top. Armstrong"s

corncerts started to settle into a steady, routine of love songs and old favorites. Louis"s

final phase of his career was getting nearer as the days passed. His health problems were

getting worse as he ignored them which foreshadowed his final days on earth. He tried to

ignore his heart problem for ten years. He was forced to acknowledge his precariousness

of health when he had woke up one morning to discover that he had swollen up so much

that he could not get his shoes on. Soon after that Louis was ordered to stay at the Beth

Israel Hospital under doctor"s orders. After his final concert he returned there for the last

time. He was planning another concert when he died July 6, 1971. Louis"s death was

deeply saddening for everyone, but especially Lil. She conducted the band at his funeral in

his memory. A memorial service followed which President Nixon attended and spoke at.

That was the sad ending of Louis Armstrong.

To conclude my paper I would like to highlight Louis"s life. He was just a poor

child from New Orleans. He had very little education. He had to take care of his sister and

himself 90% of the day until he was and adult. He had to work twice as hard as most

people have to worked to get where he got to. He was just a simple man who from the

beginning just wanted to play music. But he got so much more than just that and was able

to fulfil his life to the fullest. Louis Armstrong will always be remembered as a wonderful

man with a passion for playing the cornet beautifully. At least we have his music, movies

and television appearances which keep him a live to this very day.