LOUIS IN NEW YORK AND BIG BANDS ARE BORN
That tradition, however, was too restricting for a creative genius like Louis
Armstrong. He left Oliver in late 1924, accepting an offer from New
York's most prestigious black bandleader, Fletcher Henderson
(1897-1952). Henderson's band played at Roseland Ballroom on
Broadway and was the first significant big band in Jazz history.
Evolved from the standard dance band of the era, the first big Jazz bands
consisted of three trumpets, one trombone, three saxophones (doubling all
kinds of reed instruments), and rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass (string
or brass) and drums. These bands played from written scores
(arrangements or "charts"), but allowed freedom of invention for the
featured soloists and often took liberties in departing from the written
notes.
Though it was the best of the day, Henderson's band lacked rhythmic
smoothness and flexibility when Louis joined up. The flow and grace of his
short solos on records with the band make them stand out like diamonds in
a tin setting.
The elements of Louis' style, already then in perfect balance, included a
sound that was the most musical and appealing yet heard from a trumpet; a
gift for melodic invention that was as logical as it was new and startling,
and a rhythmic poise (jazzmen called it "time") that made other players
sound stiff and clumsy in comparison.
His impact on musicians was tremendous. Nevertheless, Henderson didn't
feature him regularly, perhaps because he felt that the white dancers for
whom his band performed were not ready for Louis' innovations. During
his year with the band, however, Louis caused a transformation in its style
and, eventually, in the whole big band field. Henderson's chief arranger,
Don Redman, (1900-1964) grasped what Louis was doing and got some of
it on paper. After working with Louis, tenor saxophonist Coleman
Hawkins (1904-1969) developed a style for his instrument that became the
guidepost for the next decade.
While in New York, Louis also made records with Sidney Bechet, and
with Bessie Smith (1894-1937), the greatest of all blues singers. In 1925,
he returned to Chicago and began to make records under his own name
with a small group, the Hot Five. Included were his wife Lil Hardin
Armstrong (1899-1971) on piano, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, and guitarist
Johnny St. Cyr. The records, first to feature Louis extensively, became a
sensation among musicians, first all over the United States and later all
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over the world. The dissemination of jazz, and in a very real sense its
whole development, would have been impossible without the phonograph.
KING LOUIS
The Hot Five was strictly a recording band. For everyday work, Louis
played in a variety of situations, including theater pit bands. He continued
to grow and develop, and in 1927 switched from cornet to the more
brilliant trumpet. He had occasionally featured his unique gravel voiced
singing, but only as a novelty. Its popular potential became apparent in
1929, when, back in New York, he starred in a musical show in which he
introduced the famous Ain't Misbehavin' singing as well as playing the
great tune written by pianist Thomas (Fats) Waller (1904-1943), himself
one of the greatest instrumentalists-singers-showmen in Jazz.
It was during his last year in Chicago while working with another pianist,
Earl (Fatha) Hines (1903-1983), that Louis reached his first artistic peak.
Hines was the first real peer to work with Louis. Inspired by him, he was
in turn able to inspire. Some of the true masterpieces of Jazz, among them
West End Blues and the duet Weatherbird, resulted from the
Armstrong-Hines union.
THE JAZZ AGE
Louis Armstrong dominated the musical landscape of the 20's and, in fact,
shaped the Jazz language of the decade to come as well. But the Jazz of
the Jazz Age was more often than not just peppy dance music made by
young men playing their banjos and saxophones who had little
understanding of (or interest in) what the blues and/or Louis Armstrong
were about. Still, a surprising amount of music produced by this
dance-happy period contained genuine Jazz elements.
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