David Wargo Gallery
Louis Armstrong was born in 1900 in New Orleans and died in 1971. He was well-known for playing 2nd cornet in King Oliver band on early recordings from 1923. However, he left the band in 1924. His music from this time is traditional New Orleans style, polyphonic, emotional and denotative. Louis Armstrong soon became a soloist at the time he performed with the band of Flecher Henderson. He finished recording "Hot Five" and "Hot Seven" in 1952 and shifted from the cornet to the trumpet. His music style was very unusual, building solos to the highest point and holding very bright clarity and shakes and vibrato. Louis Armstrong was an excellent musician of his time. In 1963 Armstrong scored a huge international hit with his version of "Hello Dolly". This number one single even knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts. In 1968 he recorded another number one hit with the touchingly optimistic "What A Wonderful World".
