Louis Armstrong
A junk dealer's family advanced him $5 for a cornet; a reform home taught him to play it.
- Born
- 1901 · New Orleans, Louisiana, US
- Roots
- Black American; grandson of enslaved people
- Family
- Poverty
- His father left at birth; he grew up in the neighborhood called the Battlefield, working from childhood.
- Education
- Left school in fifth grade; the Colored Waif's Home band was his conservatory
- Started with
- A $5 cornet
- Advanced by the Karnofskys, the Jewish junk-dealer family he worked for; he wore a Star of David for the rest of his life in tribute.
- Affiliations & societies
- None documented.
- Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.
The pathway
- 1913 · age 11The Waif's Home
Sent away for firing a pistol on New Year's Eve; the home's band teacher puts a cornet properly in his hands.
- 1922 · age 21Chicago
Summoned north by his mentor King Oliver, up the river from the riverboat bands.
- 1925 · age 24The Hot Five
The recordings that move jazz from ensemble to improvised solo.
- 1926 · age 25Scat
Heebie Jeebies — by his telling, the lyric sheet fell and he kept singing.
- 1957 · age 56Little Rock
Publicly excoriates Eisenhower over school desegregation and cancels a state-sponsored Soviet tour.
- 1964 · age 62Hello, Dolly!
Knocks the Beatles off number one — the oldest artist to top the US chart.
Sources
Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.