Louis Armstrong (1901–1971), affectionately known as “Satchmo,” was an American trumpeter, singer, and bandleader from New Orleans, one of the founders of jazz as the art of the improvising soloist. It was he who, in the 1920s, shifted the emphasis from collective playing to the virtuoso individual solo, forever changing the face of the genre.
Armstrong had an instantly recognisable gravelly voice and became a populariser of scat singing — vocal improvisation on nonsense syllables. His recordings “West End Blues,” “Hello, Dolly!,” and especially the lyrical “What a Wonderful World” are known the world over. With his charisma and warm humour, Armstrong made jazz a phenomenon of popular culture, while remaining an unsurpassed innovator whose influence is felt by every generation that has followed.
