Louis Armstrong is the king,
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Practically invented swing,
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Hero of the twentieth century.
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Did duets with many a fella,
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Father Hines, Bing, Hoagy, Ella,
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Strange he never thought of Kenny G.
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- "I agree with Pat Metheny" - Richard Thompson
The article is now *much* improved, IMHO. --Robert Merkel
The section on "Was Armstrong an Uncle Tom?" is interesting but slightly non-NPOV and non-encyclopedic in style. For a start, it would be good to identify those who labelled him one.
I knew it was pushing it, which is why I put it in the summary, which I just did again.
I felt the Uncle Tom accusation was such a common perception|misperception that it had to be dealt with. The quickie version of his career is "from artist to irrelevant cartoon". Downbeat magazine complained about the Zulu king bit. I have a couple of URLs on the rest of it I'll add soon.
I tried to keep the arguments neutral "he was born in the south in 1901" so people could put 2+2 together. also the Little Rock statement belongs, so only the Miles Davis quote is a bit of a stretch and basically unattributed (but wow).
I think of kids doing term papers. Lots of encyclopedias have sidebars where they take up interesting issues.
- Just to clarify (I'm the one who commented on the Uncle Tom issue, sorry for not signing), I agree that it is highly relevant to the article. I just felt that that section was too close to an argument rather than description of facts and opinions. --Robert Merkel
-- I thought it was the same person, which is why I left your compliment in when I took out the other stuff (but I just now put back the Pat Metheny bit).
My thought on the Uncle Tom section -- here are points to be discussed about Armstrong -- I tried not to be offensive about his act (obviously an admirer, but it was corny to say the least) and I tried to mention some items that put the thought in context -- it was entertainment after all, and old-timey at that, he did speak out at least once, and Miles Davis of all people stuck up for him. I really tried not to make an overt argument. Maybe you or someone else will come up with a better way to handle it, but that's my best shot, so if it's up to me, I'm keeping it. Thanks for your interest. Ortolan88
"Oliver's band brought New Orleans style ensemble jazz to the attention of a wide public for the first time, and Armstrong blossomed. The Armstrong-Oliver recordings of 1923 were the first jazz most of the world had ever heard. "
I changed this because, alas, it is not true. Outside of Chicago and New Orleans, the Oliver Creole Jazz Band recordings attracted little notice at the time other than in a circle of "in the know" musicians. They sold in tiny amounts compared to the recordings of other groups of the time like the Original Dixieland Jass Band and Paul Whiteman. They are important as doccumenting this band that had an important influence on other musicians in Chicago, who then spread this influence widely. -- Infrogmation
- So you took out the black bands because the white bands sold more. The ODJB was important (I wrote most of the article on them), but Paul Whiteman was a fraud and his orchestra played nothing like jazz. I will be replacing these paragraphs after some additional research. Musical influence is much more important than record sales. Ortolan88
- "Musical influence is much more important than record sales." I agree completely! Don't misconstrue what I said. The earlier version said "Armstrong-Oliver recordings of 1923 were the first jazz most of the world had ever heard." This is wrong; most of the world unfortunately did not hear them at all. I wish they did! But alas in the early '20s the public at large were first hearing jazz (or commercial products marketed as "jazz") from the likes of Whiteman, Ted Lewis, Red Nichols... and even for African American bands, groups like Wilber Sweatman and Johnny Dunn were selling more records at the time. That's why I changed the paragraph. -- Infrogmation.
78 collectors know that "scat" singing was recorded a number of times before Armstrong's "Heebie Jeebies" (including by Red Nichols a few years earlier and by Gene Greene in the 1910s).
The trumpet was a lead instrument in jazz before Armstrong; the trumpet or cornet was the usual lead instrument in the early New Orleans style. Armstrong's stylistic change was to make it a soloing instrument.-- Infrogmation
I cut the sentance "He learned music in a reform school." since that understates the importance of what he learned from older musicians, and the subject is dealt with in more detail further down in the article. -- Infrogmation 18:39 Jan 20, 2003 (UTC)
I removed the misinformation just added alledging the Armstrong was born in Storyville. (Jane Alley is a good distance from the District). -- Infrogmation 23:18 Jan 31, 2003 (UTC)
I know nothing of Tad Jones's research, but if the only source for Armstrong's "actual" birthdate is "church documents from when his grandmother took him to be baptised", then I think there is still room for a bit of doubt. I once phoned up a relative of mine to wish her a happy birthday, having found her date of birth (21st Jan 1919) on a transcription of her baptism record in the OIOC. But she replied that it wasn't her actual birthday for another four days: she kept 21st Jan as her "official" birthday (written on forms and so on), because that was the date she had documentation for, but she had been told by her parents that she was actually born on 25th Jan, the priest having made an error when he filled it in on the baptism record. -- Oliver P. 20:31 Feb 10, 2003 (UTC)