Louis Armstrong - The Louis Armstrong Story

Title: Louis Armstrong - The Louis Armstrong Story, Volume IV: Louis Armstrong Favorites
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1951, Traditional Jazz, New Orleans Jazz, Early Jazz, New Orleans, Louisiana 9/26
Matrix #: ML54386
Condition: VG (LM) | Members: Louis A (01' - 71') | Producer: George Avakian
Cultural Facts:

1. Sent to the Waifs' Home: Armstrong grew up in extreme poverty in New Orleans and was sent to the Colored Waifs' Home after firing a pistol into the air on New Year's Eve. There he learned cornet under bandmaster Peter Davis, turning a juvenile detention sentence into the beginning of his musical life.

2. King Oliver Changed His Life: Joe "King" Oliver became an early mentor to the young Armstrong, even giving him a cornet. In 1922 Oliver summoned him from New Orleans to join his Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, putting Armstrong alongside one of his heroes and launching the next stage of his career.

3. No Royalties From His Own Classics: Columbia created The Louis Armstrong Story series from Armstrong's historic OKeh recordings, but Armstrong's original contracts had paid him flat session fees without future royalties. Even as these recordings were celebrated and repackaged as essential jazz history in 1951, Armstrong complained privately that he wasn't receiving money from the LP sales.