GREENE COUNTY
The Jazz Legacy Project (JLP) returned to Greensboro’s historic Festival Hall on May 14, with a tribute concert celebrating the music and life of jazz legend Louis Armstrong.
Opening with “Bourbon Street Parade,” JLP featured guest vocalist, trumpeter, and composer Michael Cruse performing alongside JLP drummer and event narrator Justin Varnes, bassist Kevin Smith, pianist Louis Devereax, and saxophonist John Sandford. The quintet set Festival Hall ablaze, ending 90 minutes later to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.
Nicknamed “Satchmo”, “Satch,” and “Pops,” Armstrong was born Aug. 4, 1901, in New Orleans and went on to become one of the most influential figures in jazz music, with his professional career spanning five decades.
He came into prominence as a trumpet and cornet player in the 1920s and went to Chicago to play with Joe “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. From there, Armstrong moved to New York City, where he became an influential band soloist and recording artist. By the 1950s, he was an international band soloist and recording artist, appearing on radio, television, and film.
In 1965, Armstrong won a Best Male Vocal Performance Grammy for “Hello, Dolly!” and, following his death on July 6, 1971, he was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Armstrong has been inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Some of his best-known songs were “What a Wonderful World,” “Hello Dolly,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” He also recorded three records with Ella Fitzgerald, and his films included “A Rhapsody in Black and Blue,” “Cabin in the Sky,” “High Society,” “Paris Blues,” “A Man Called Adam,” and “Hello Dolly.”
Armstrong’s rich and gravelly voice was easily recognizable, and he was skilled in scat singing. By the time of his death, his influence had spread to popular music, and Armstrong was one of the first African-American entertainers to “cross over” and gain massive popularity with white and international audiences.
“My whole life has been happiness. Through all the misfortunes … I did not plan anything. Life was there for me, and I accepted it,” Armstrong once said. “And life, whatever came out, has been beautiful to me, and I love everybody.”