Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or
Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player,
Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from
collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice,
Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an
improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He
was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using syllables instead of
actual lyrics.
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and deep, instantly recognizable
voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extended
well beyond jazz, and by the end of his career in the '60s, he was widely regarded
as a profound influence on popular music in general: critic Steve Leggett describes
Armstrong as "perhaps the most important American musician of the 1900's."[4]
Flea once proclaimed that "Louis Armstrong was probably the greatest musician
that ever lived...one note implies that if he wanted to he could play ten billion notes,
but just one simple note is a beautiful thing."
