Born in New Orleans, trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
was the first big Jazz-star. He became interested in music early on and began playing the popular music of his hometown on cornet. Legendary trumpeter King Oliver gave Armstrong, who had gotten his first musical education at the �Colored Waifs Home for Boys�, some lessons. Brass bands were playing on the Mississippi steamers at the time and Armstrong soon landed a gig with the orchestra of Fate Marable, where he significantly expanded his technical skills and later was able to master even the most difficult scores.
After replacing King Oliver in Kid Ory's band, he soon followed his teacher to Chicago, the Jazz center of the 1920s. Armstrong was one of the first musicians to emerge as a soloist from the collective improvisations of early Jazz with his own style and stretched out soloing. He celebrated his debut as a record artist with Kid Oliver in 1923. In New York, pianist Fletcher Henderson led the best African-American orchestra, to which Armstrong would belong in 1924 for a significant period of 14 months. In addition he recorded with the great blues singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Upon his return to Chicago, Armstrong began appearing with his first important bands Hot Five and Hot Seven, which included his wife Lil Harding - a rare interview with her about this period is included in this set � and later Earl Hines as a pianist, resulting in many of his greatest recordings.
From the 1930s on, Armstrong was a world-acclaimed star trumpeter and singer who recorded successful records with a wide repertoire and mostly in big band accompaniment, appeared in many films and toured extensively around the world with his All Stars.
Some of the best and rarest albums by the Jazz superstar, incl. recordings available on CD for the first time.
