This months image of the month is the great Louis Armstrong.
One of musics great innovators. The timing and seemingly simple phrases of his playing are capable of delivering huge waves of emotional content. The trumpet was like an extension of his voice.
Armstrong was born August 4th 1901, to a poor family. He was abandoned by his father as an infant. His mother, left him and his younger sister, to be raised by his grandmother Josephine Armstrong.The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable. As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone, and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument, and his innovations raised the bar musically for all who came after him. Armstrong is considered to have essentially invented jazz singing. He had an extremely distinctive gravelly voice, which he deployed with great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or wordless vocalising, and according to some legends he invented it. During his recording “Heebie Jeebies” where the sheet music fell on the floor he simply started singing nonsense syllables. Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are just two singers who were indebted to him.
Louis Armstrong died of a heart attack on July 6, 1971, aged 69 just weeks after recording, “We Have all The time in The World” for the Bond movie. This piece subsequently went on to become a key element of one of the most memorable Guinness adverts.
