Louis Armstrong essays

Louis Armstrong essays Louis Satchmo (Satchelmouth) Armstrong was born August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana (the birthplace of jazz). Putting together the facts around his birth and childhood is difficult because what is known depends mostly on what he later told people. He was raised by his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, as an infant. At the time of his birth his father walked out on him and his mother. Louis spoke with anger about his dad when he mentioned him at all. He hated his father so much that he told reporter Larry King, I was touring Europe when my father died. Didnt go to his funeral, didnt send nothing. Why should I? He never had no time for me or Mary Ann (his mother). (Collier 19) Armstrong had a genuine affection for his mother, even though se was very undependable, leaving her son to take care of himself and his sister for days at a time. Louis grew up in a tough area in New Orleans knows as The Battle Field where gun play and knife fights were common. At the age of seven he moved to black Storyville. It consisted of dance halls, honky tonks, and brothels. Like Londons Soho, it was an entertainment district. He grew up with music all around him. He could hear music outside his house when he woke up and when he went to bed. It is recorded that Louis did attend school at the Fish school where he learned to read and write. It is not a known fact how long he attended school, but we do know that on New Years Eve, 1912, he was arrested for shooting a gun. He was about eleven years old at the time, and this was considered a very serious offense. He was sent to a reform school on the outskirts of New Orleans called the Coloreds Waif House. It was here that he was introduced to organized music in the form of the school band. Captain Joseph Jones led the band in a military fashion that was extremely strict. This is where Louiss life changed from a delinquen...