Louis Armstrong, universally known as Satchmo, was born into extreme poverty in August, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His first contact with music was in a reformatory for abandoned children when he was admitted to the band for good behavior. Soon he learned to play the bugle, clarinet, horn, and began to familiarize himself with the trumpet from the informal lessons he received from jazz musician King Oliver. He never had a real music lesson and, until seventeen years old, lacked the money to buy his own musical instrument. Even though Armstrong did not learn to read music until he was over twenty, he was a musical genius and his talents were groundbreaking.
Thanks to the support of his teacher Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong played in some of his bands in New Orleans, and when Joe Oliver left town in 1919, Armstrong took the place of his mentor in the band
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In 1925 Armstrong returned to Chicago and started his own band, quintet The Hot Five, which later became septet The Hot Seven. His first recording as a bandleader was held on November 12, 1925, marking the beginning of a prolific record production. Some of the pieces that became hits are "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles" and "West End Blues".
Armstrong moved to New York again in 1929, then moved to Los Angeles in 1930 and soon after he starred in a European tour. He moved permanently to New York in 1943.
In 1946, Armstrong made an appearance in the film "New Orleans," in which he performed works from the repertoire of classical jazz.
In 1947, Armstrong cut his band to six instruments (trombone, clarinet, bass, piano and drums), thus returning to the Dixieland style that made him famous early in his career. This group was called All Stars. During this new stage with the band, he made countless recordings and appeared in film productions on several