PREVIEW: Celebrating Louis Armstrong, 50 Years On

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong was a highly influential jazz artist who revolutionized jazz trumpet and coronet playing, solo improvisation and scat singing. July 6th of this year marks the 50th anniversary of his passing.

A year after his death, Armstrong was honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, in addition to the Grammy he won for one of his most iconic songs, “Hello, Dolly!”, in 1964, as well as being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and immortalized in a US postage stamp in 1995.

The iconic musician's charming personality earned him various movie roles in such classics as Hello, Dolly!, High Society, The Glenn Miller Story and Cabin in the Sky, to name a few.

Armstrong was also a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and a major influence on another key figure of that movement, Langston Hughes.

For those who wish to expand on their knowledge on, or even introduce themselves to this great artist, Toronto Public Library has material both about and by him:

Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life by Laurence Bergreen