How Did Louis Armstrong Contribute

New Orleans, Louisiana is the home to Jazz and Louis Armstrong. Born August 4, 1901, Louis Armstrong goes on to greatly contributing to the development of early Jazz, the spreading of Swing and his continual influences in the modern day. Armstrong grew up poor, therefore he spent many of his time traveling and working at various places. The traveling helped merge him into New Orleans festivities such as the parades and funerals. Being surrounded by all the music really inspired him to show off his singing on the streets and soon taught himself how to play the cornet. Later on, he would learn music in the colored Waif’s Home for boys. After that he began to play at small clubs, parades, and funerals and captured the attention of some very
…show more content…

As he continued, many others in New Orleans were also following his lead. They were testing out other instrumental parts with their own different instruments. For example, “New York trombonist Jimmy Harrison imitated Armstrong, memorizing his solos and even learning harmony parts to his lead” (Harker 143). Armstrong’s unique way of playing has now influenced a different take on playing your instrument. It seems that you are not limited to what your instrument can
…show more content…

Brent Hayes Edwards states that “scat is almost always defined, without further comment, as singing or vocal improvising with ‘nonsense syllables’” (622). There are many stories about how Armstrong introduced scatting into Jazz singing. But here is a story that Armstrong accounts for: apparently he was in the middle of recording the song “Heebie Jeebies” and he had dropped his lyrics. He didn’t want to interrupt the recording so he just started to scat horn-like. Many of the producers liked it so they kept it as part of the song (Edwards 619). According to NPR music, his singing was a “gritty tenor mirrored his trumpet style and influenced practically every singer in pop and jazz. Artists including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan deeply admired Armstrong’s singing and used his example to mold their own vocal styles” (Louis Armstrong: ‘The Singer’ 3). I believe that the reason why his innovative scat singing was so influential to the early development of Jazz is because he didn’t need to have a “nice” voice to sing. He sang like he was playing his cornet. The emotions he poured when playing the cornet, also showed when he scatted. Bill Monroe agrees by stating that “it was Louis who got across the idea that you don’t need a pretty voice to sing a song. That voice of his fell harshly on many ears when they first heard it. But the sheer music and feeling