Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

               Louis Daniel Armstrong on August 4, 1901, Louis was destined for greatness. For much of Louis' life he and many others believed that he had been born on the fourth of July in 1901. But soon after his death, it was revealed that he was born in August. The proof, Louis' baptismal certificate. Three weeks after he was born, he was taken to Sacred Heart of Jesus Church and baptized in the Roman Catholic Tradition.

              Louis had little to know formal education. The only schooling that he ever received was at the Fisk School for Boys. He dropped out of school when he was only 11. He was then sent to the Colored Waif's Home where he joined the Waif's Home Brass Band and began playing the Cornet. He followed the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, and above all Joe 'King' Oliver. Armstrong later played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and first started traveling with the well regarded band of Fate Marable which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River When Joe Oliver left town in 1919, Armstrong took Oliver's place in Kid Ory's band, regarded as the top hot jazz band in the city. From there he moved to Chicago where is career started to take off