Louis grew up in New Orleans, and most will agree that jazz was created here. Louis was able to listen to the sounds of blues. He lived in an area where there were tonks, which were rough bars, and musicians played on the streets. He also listened to the bands on the steamboats. Louis was a good singer so he taught himself about music and he developed perfect pitch, which is being able to hear a tune or note and being able to identify it correctly. He and a few friends sang on the streets and made a little money.

When Armstrong was in his teens he got into trouble and had to go to the Waif’s home, which was a school

James Collier’s book Louis Armstrong an American Success Story, gave me an idea of Louis Armstrong’s journey to becoming a great jazz musician. Louis Armstrong grew up listening to the blues, not jazz. When Armstrong began to play, he understood the music more than many other performers. Louis would change the melody a little when he played and he gave jazz more of a swing than others had. “Louis had a growing ability to put into his playing that lilt, that swing, that was so exciting a part of the new hot jazz. By holding back a little on this note, jumping in early on that one, so that many of the notes didn’t land smack on the beat but came unexpectedly a little early or late, he made the music seem to leap along. Then, too, he didn’t play his notes evenly, but accented some and passed lightly over others, so that music seemed to be alive, to breathe” (Collier, p63).

James Lincoln Collier suggests a few books to read to learn more about Louis Armstrong. A few of these books are Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans, an Armstrong autobiography; Louis Armstrong: an American Genius by James Lincoln Colli

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