Special Dedication – August 4, 2021 – Celebrating the 120th birthday of Louis Armstrong
Celebrating the 120th birthday of Louis Armstrong
August 4, 1901-July 1, 1971
We talked in earlier Monday Musicales about the career of the legendary Louis Armstrong. Today we honor what would be his 120th birthday. He was the most influential instrumentalist and singer in jazz history.
Early jazz featured the syncopated rhythms of ragtime but with a slightly looser “swing” to them. As ragtime gradually morphed into jazz between the end of WWI and the early 1920’s, the person who did the most to create this new music was the African American jazz genius, Louis Armstrong.
Born in 1901 into abject poverty in New Orleans, his talent, his discipline, and his passionate love for jazz and the trumpet made possible his 50-year career as the greatest jazz artist of all time. I lived in Orleans from 1990 to 1996, and I knew several jazz musicians who worked with Armstrong. They confirmed to me that Armstrong preferred for his name to be pronounced “Lewis”—not “Louie.” Louis had several nicknames, including Pops and Satch—or Satchmo, short for “satchel mouth” (meaning that he had a big mouth). But his influence on American pop music was even larger, and permanent. My admiration for his music and his ebullient personality knows no bounds.
To me, next to Mozart, he is my Apostle of Musical Joy. My Louis Armstrong collection.
Join me in celebrating his birthday with four of my favorite Louis Armstrong selections.
Louis Armstrong was also a superb jazz singer, whose performances displayed an instrumental virtuosity and a deep comprehension of the lyrics. His last hit was “What a Wonderful World,” the Number 1 song on UK charts in 1968. But only after Armstrong’s death did it become a hit in America, with its use in the 1987 Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam.
Two years after the recording’s initial release, Armstrong added a spoken introduction. His words, a worthy prelude to the poignant poetry of the song, offer an optimistic message that we especially need to hear during these times.
By Bob Thiele (as “George Douglas”) and George David Weiss
Recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967, with his spoken introduction added in 1970
William Henry Curry
Music Director
Durham Symphony Orchestra
Copy Editor & Digital Layout: Tina Biello
Celebrating Maestro Curry’s 50 years conducting & 11 years with the Durham Symphony!
“Monday Musicale with the Maestro”
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Thank you for being a important part of the
Durham Symphony Orchestra family!
Funding is provided (in part) by the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund, the N.C. Arts Council (a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources), and a grant from the Triangle Community Foundation.
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