Louis Armstrong

Jordi Husemann Roviró

Louis Armstrong was one of the first trumpet players to change the focus from
collective improvisation to solo trumpet performance throughout the song. He
is known for his scat singing (a wordless way of singing) and individual
phrasing of trumpet solos, he used daring rythm choices, swing rhythm and
high notes. He used accented upbeats, did upbeat to downbeat slurring and
complementary relations among rhythmic patterns.

Louis Armstrong was on tour in Arkansas and played in the Central High
School. In Little Rock there were 9 african american students trying to
desegregate the school. African Americans were not allowed to see Louis
Armstrongs concert in the high school. Armstrong was told to not talk about
politics but he standed for the desegregation of the school in Little Rock. He
was critisized by other musicians though because he played infront of
segregated crowds so when he spoke out it was more effective. He criticized
President Eisenhower because didn‘t act during the Little Rock crisis. He also
cancelled a tour to the Soviet Union where he should have represented the
american government but he didn‘t want because of the way the american
government treated african american people.
The FBI kept a file on him because of his activism